Swiggy’s Mayur Hola on how it celebrated mangoes through viral print ad

Mangoes are an integral part of Indian culture and cuisine, often hailed as the "king of fruits." Each summer, markets overflow with a variety of mangoes such as Alphonso, Kesari, etc., each prized for its unique flavour and aroma.

Swiggy Instamart's recent print ad, which has gone viral, celebrates India’s love for mangoes in a unique way. The latest ad by the quick commerce platform leveraged the power of sensorial advertising to launch an innovative scented print advertisement, inviting the audience to “smell” the image of the freshest mangoes.

“Read this ad with your nose,” says the ad, tempting people to smell the fresh fragrance of mangoes.

The innovative print campaign was executed in partnership with Havas Media India, circulating approximately 8,00,000 copies of the Times of India special edition across Mumbai.

Speaking about the execution of the campaign, Mayur Hola, vice president of brand at Swiggy, says, “The aroma of mangoes is the heady aroma of summer. We simply evoked that for folks around Bombay with this minimal and sensorial piece and compelled them to reach for their phones to get the king of fruits delivered in minutes. Which they did in large numbers.”

According to Hola, Swiggy released the ad in Mumbai to give a big push to mangoes before the season ends so that people can bid goodbye to their beloved fruit.

On being asked how a digital-heavy brand like Swiggy thinks about executing the campaign in print, he says, “Is anything today solely traditional? Everything that travels, does so via the online medium. We believe that if we do right by the medium, in this case print, word will spread through the digital grapevine. Besides, an idea that involves the sense of smell could only have been done on print.”

The rise of ‘sensory marketing’

Marketers are increasingly realising the value of sensory advertising. Exploring the sensory aspect of marketing through scent can create emotional connections and trigger nostalgic memories for consumers, say experts. Sensory marketing is recognised as a powerful tool as the five senses — sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch — play critical roles in human perceptions and can create positive experiences for consumers.

Recently, the fast-food giant McDonald’s set up a minimalist, unbranded billboard that diffused the aroma of its fries in France. The series of blank red and yellow billboards contained a hidden compartment for storing fries, and an internal heat and ventilation system made it possible to intensify the scent of the fries. All the billboards were set up within 200 meters of a McDonald’s so that cravings sparked by the scented billboards could be satisfied.