A passenger waiting in an airport asks the person behind the counter how much longer till they board. The airline staff is played by the famous Indian classical singer, Shankar Mahadevan. He says, “Just another fiiiiiiii…”, stretching the word in his signature singing style. The passengers look confused as he goes on and on. A VO comes in to say that if you’re fed up with people stretching time, order on Zepto, which always delivers on time. This is followed by the logo and line: Zepto. 10 minute grocery delivery.

The objective of the campaign was to build brand salience for Zepto, a grocery delivery service known for its prompt delivery. In a country notorious for its delays and long wait times, Zepto stands apart as an anomaly, with a reputation for always delivering on time. We used this as its key differentiator.

To make the idea of stretching time more impactful we cast the famous Indian classical singer, Shankar Mahadevan to play the role of the waiter. Shankar is a renowned exponent of a style called Hindustani classical, which is known for vocalists stretching notes (called alaaps). We used this ability to make him stretch time. While the creative idea wasn’t inspired by the casting, it became far more impactful once it had a celebrated classical Indian singer stretching time in their signature singing style.

Indians have no respect for time. 2 minutes means 10 minutes. 10 minutes means half an hour. It’s no surprise that Indian Standard Time is better known as Indian Stretchable Time. We used the famous Indian classical singer Shankar Mahadevan (who is known to stretch notes while singing) to drive home this point. And so make a case for Zepto, that always delivers on time.