Swiggy – India’s #1 food-delivery app, valued at $11 billion, is on a journey towards transforming itself into an everyday super-app for millions of Indians across 500+ cities. What started out as a food-delivery business 8 years ago, now delivers groceries (Instamart), picks up & drops anything (Genie), offers deals and reservations at restaurants (DineOut) and even curates homegrown consumer brands (HandPicked). So much so, that Swiggy has become the poster-child of India’s tech start-ups with a consistent history of launching innovative services and features.

So instead of running the Diwali rat-race for media space during its busiest season, how could Swiggy remind its audience of how much they already love & know Swiggy? Or, do they really?

Objectives:

1. Create recall value for Swiggy’s myriad services and features

2. Increase brand preference during the year’s highest business season

3. Maximise the potential of the brand’s pop-cultural relevance

Smart brands understand that in 2023, media placements like print and outdoor aren’t just meant to remain print and outdoor. They’re print-led and outdoor-led viral opportunities that can travel on the social internet. This one image launched primarily through billboards and then through print and social media is now Swiggy's most successful user-generated campaign ever. And they pulled it off without making the campaign about Diwali but simply making users 'live the spirit of Diwali': to get together, discuss, laugh, collaborate and have a blast with a 'Swiggy ad' as an excuse. It became India's most searched question on Google for 3 days, even Google couldn't help but take part in it with a theory.

80K+ user-powered theories

700,000+ concurrent users discussing on Livestreams

100% uptick on positive sentiment

603% increase in brand mentions

35.5Mn Reach among Indian Gen-Z

1000% increase in engagement on Twitter

500% increase engagement on Instagram

In India, food, language and customs change every 100 kms. ‘Why Is This A Swiggy Ad’ needed to showcase our in-depth understanding of India - through the elements in the artwork that referenced food cultures of different cities, the Indian culture of one-upmanship, Bollywood and even Diwali.

While designing the artwork, a challenge was to pick elements that would resonate with maximum people across all walks of life in India. For example - NASA’s image of India on Diwali from space, depicted on our campaign image, is a hoax WhatsApp forward that everyone receives around Diwali.

We had to choose recognizable elements that would make people go ‘Oh, that’s why it's a Swiggy ad!’ We also needed to show our understanding of the nuances and psyche of the Indian market - helping each user to tie those elements together in their own unique way and see their own Swiggy ad.