Before we had apps, we had appa: Zomato's touching Father's Day ad is here

In a world where there seems to be an app for everything, Zomato's approach to Father's Day marketing is to remind us that dads were the original multitasking platform. The food delivery giant's latest advertisement cleverly repositions fathers as the ultimate service provider, long before smartphones made convenience a swipe away.

The campaign follows a heartwarming yet familiar narrative: a father's journey through his son's childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. What makes this particular piece stand out, however, is its playful appropriation of other brands to illustrate just how comprehensive a father's services truly are.

The film opens with a scene of a father returning home with Chinese takeaway for his young son. As the child's face lights up, the Zomato logo appears on screen, drawing a parallel between the father's gesture and the brand's core service, a clever bit of self-referential marketing.

The storytelling continues with the father ferrying his son to school on a scooter, prompting the appearance of Uber's logo. When he brings home mangoes, clearly the boy's favourite fruit, Blinkit's branding makes its cameo. The sequence builds a compelling case for paternal omnipresence, with each act of care mirroring the services we've grown accustomed to accessing through our devices.

Perhaps the most endearing moment comes when the exhausted child falls asleep on the sofa. The father gently carries him to bed and croons a lullaby, whilst Spotify's distinctive logo flickers across the screen.

As the narrative progresses through the years, the comparisons become increasingly inventive. The father organises a birthday party for his teenage son, earning a nod to District by Zomato. When the mixer grinder breaks down, dad's handiwork summons the Urban Company logo. The inclusion of Truecaller, appearing when the father fields a call from his son's presumed girlfriend, adds a dash of humour.

The advertisement concludes in the present day, with the now-adult son absorbed in his laptop when his father mentions it's Father's Day. The mild panic on the young man's face as he scrambles to order food will resonate with anyone who's ever forgotten an important date. The father's response? that he'll eat whatever his son makes, as the ad subtly even ditches Zomato's services.

Zomato's YouTube description for the advertisement reads: "We all rely on apps today – to book a ride, order food or fix something at home. But long before these apps, there was appa — playing all these roles since we were kids. This Father's Day, we celebrate the man who works harder than 100 apps." The play on words app and "appa" being a colloquial term for father in several Indian languages.

What's particularly noteworthy about this approach is how it manages to acknowledge other brands whilst positioning them as mere digital echoes of paternal care. Rather than disparaging other services, Zomato elevates the father figure as the original inspiration for modern convenience culture.