Swiggy's new ad is a chaotic meme-fest: Is the trend oversaturating meme marketing?

Swiggy has launched a new campaign featuring a "multiverse of memes" to promote its group ordering feature. Conceptualised by Aakash Shah’s creative agency One Hand Clap, the campaign stars popular desi internet sensations like Puneet Superstar, Dolly Chaiwala, Ganji Chudail, Vadapav Girl, and Darshan. Each meme creator brings their unique style to the ad, adding playful chaos to the narrative.

The ad, captioned “Pathar pe pathar maare toh chingari nikalti, Swiggy pe order karne poori gang nikalti,” (When you strike stones, sparks fly; when you order on Swiggy, the whole gang shows up) opens with a man asking, "Toh kya khaenge aap?" (What will you eat?), mimicking the style of Bigg Boss announcements. 

What follows is a whirlwind of humorous demands: Prakash Kumar, aka Puneet Superstar, requests Yakhni Pulao; Dolly Chaiwala, who recently served tea to Bill Gates, is ready for anything foreign; Chandrika Gera, the famous Vadapav Girl and Bigg Boss OTT 3 contestant, suggests something for everyone; and Laxmi Sharma chimes in with her viral "Level sabke niklenge" dialogue.

The campaign quickly went viral, amassing around 9.2 million views and 1 million shares on Swiggy’s Instagram handle. While many on social media praised the campaign for uniting their favourite meme creators, some creative professionals critiqued it for lacking a clear storyline that effectively highlights the benefits and use cases of Swiggy's group ordering feature. They argue that this gap could hinder the campaign's long-term impact on customers.

It raises a big question: With the growing prevalence of meme culture in marketing campaigns, are memes being overused, potentially diminishing their effectiveness? Or do they still remain a powerful tool for brand engagement?

Edited Excerpts:

Nikhil Narayanan, head of creative strategy, Zlade,  a men’s grooming brand

The Swiggy ad featuring various viral sensations holds significant potential, yet the execution, particularly in terms of production, falls short. The campaign appears rushed, with an overabundance of characters squeezed into a brief duration, leaving insufficient room for their personalities to truly emerge. Consequently, while the campaign may be remembered for the internet personalities involved, it is unlikely to make a lasting impression as a distinctive 'Swiggy' campaign.The core message becomes obscured by the clutter, reducing its impact on the average viewer. A longer format, allowing more time to develop each character, could have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the concept.

Memes remain a popular marketing tool, but their effectiveness has waned as they have become increasingly widespread. The real challenge for brands now lies in their approach to utilising memes; not every meme-driven campaign succeeds in standing out, particularly when a brand depends heavily on this strategy.

Pragati Rana, head of originals, regional creative officer, founding partner, tgthr

Meme culture is fantastic and fascinating, acting as micro-nuclear conversation bombs when combined with humour, wit, and everyday insights. However, not all memes are enjoyable, and not all content created with them succeeds.

The Swiggy ad's ambition and concept were commendable, but the execution fell short, lacking the key elements that make memes effective—humour, wit, and relatable insights. Although an insight was present, the script's incoherence overshadowed it.

This doesn't mean the format is flawed. The key is to ensure that individuality doesn't overshadow the message. If their words or actions aren't clear, the content becomes incoherent and random. Clarity and quirkiness must be carefully balanced.

Each character's role in the ad must be distinct and drive the story forward. In a problem-solution format, the narrative should build up, driven by each character, which the Swiggy ad failed to achieve.

Azazul Haque, group chief creative officer, Creativeland Asia 

‘Memevertising’, if I may call it that, can be harmful to a brand's health—like a cigarette, it gives a quick kick but slowly damages the brand in the long run. While it leverages trending topics to create content that might make an audience laugh, the problem is that the customer just remembers the joke, not the brand or its use cases. 

In Swiggy's case, it happened the same way people might remember Ganji Chudail but not why Swiggy used it, especially when the brand has major other issues to address. Swiggy and Instamart are already hard to differentiate, and content like this just adds more confusion.

Like in the case of CRED, customers know the name of the brand but don’t know what the brand stands for. Relying on topical subjects to create funny content without a clear brand focus is ultimately damaging, giving a temporary thrill but slowly killing the brand.