Food delivery app Zomato's new campaign showcases individuals from different demographics arguing over the correct pronunciation of the brand name, ZoMaito vs ZoMaato. Here's how this campaign played out.
Mispronouncing brand names wrong is a common sight in India, a land that's home to many cultures and languages. The paparazzi’s antics at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) launch was just another example. While many brands joined the paparazzi in giving a local accent to popular names, Zomato also posted a topical photo of two coffee cups labeled “Jhendaya" and “Tom Homecoming".
Turns out, it wasn't just another topical post. It was the beginning of a new campaign.
It released a campaign capturing how different people mispronounce the brand's name. It divides the audience into two teams over the brand's pronunciation; ZoMaito or ZoMaato.
The film starts with a family celebrating a birthday party that quickly turns into a heated discussion as members of the same family pick their respective sides in the argument over how the brand's name is pronounced.
The fight then makes the news as seasoned journalists Anil Singhvi and Nayantara Rai get into a heated discussion over pronunciation.
As this ad is timed around the ongoing Men’s Indian Premier League, Cricketers Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth are also seen in the advertisement along with actor Devika Vatsa, as the cricketers argue in an elevator on how to pronounce the company’s name. The film proceeds to show a rollercoaster journey of the argument traveling through the city and coming back to the very same house where the film started.
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Sharing the campaign on Twitter, Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato, wrote, “Hard to believe that no one was harmed in the making of this zoMaato ad.”
This led to a fun banter between Goyal and the brand as Zomato replied siding with team zoMaito.
hard to believe that you don't know your company is called zoMaito
— zomato (@zomato) April 8, 2023
Goyal left it to the audience of India to decide what is the right pronunciation of the brand’s name through a poll on Twitter.
Brands also joined the bandwagon and shared their take.
Zomato also used this campaign to create short versions of ads of other brands such as Fevikwik, Moov, Urban Company, Mamaearth, Ambuja Cement, and WWE India on its Instagram handle.
Zomato, known for its push notifications, made one on this ongoing campaign, too.
While the characters in the campaign and brands that shared their take may differ over the brand's pronunciation, they're all aligned on one thing that only two apps deliver food on time: zoMaito and zoMaato.