The food delivery giant reimagines fathers as the original multitaskers-long before the digital age.

Zomato Father’s Day Ad
In a world where convenience is just a tap away, Zomato’s latest Father’s Day campaign takes a heartwarming detour. With a clever twist, the food delivery platform repositions fathers as the original all-in-one service providers-long before apps became ubiquitous.

The film traces a father’s role through his son’s childhood, teenage years, and into adulthood. But what makes it stand out is its witty and nostalgic comparison of paternal gestures with the services offered by popular apps today-positioning “appa” (father) as the first app.

The story begins with a young boy receiving Chinese takeaway from his father. As his eyes light up, the Zomato logo appears-creating a clever link between dad’s loving gesture and the brand’s core offering.

The journey continues:

• Dad drops his son at school-cue Uber’s logo.
• He returns home with mangoes, the boy’s favorite-enter Blinkit.
• The child, exhausted, is lulled to sleep by a bedtime song-Spotify makes a quiet cameo.

As the narrative progresses, the references get even more inventive:

• A birthday party arranged by dad brings in a nod to District by Zomato.
• When the kitchen mixer breaks, the father’s fix-it skills summon Urban Company.
• A humorous moment arises when he picks up a call from his son’s (possibly) secret girlfriend—Truecaller steps in.

The ad culminates in the present day. The now-grown son, distracted by work, realizes he’s forgotten Father’s Day. As he fumbles to order food, his father calmly responds that he’ll eat whatever his son prepares-a subtle moment where Zomato steps back, giving space to the bond it just spent minutes celebrating.

In the YouTube description, Zomato writes:
“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 wordplay between “app” and “appa”, a common term for father in many Indian languages, adds emotional depth to the campaign.

What’s particularly striking is how Zomato brings other brands into the narrative without competition or criticism-instead, it uses them as cultural markers to honour the father figure as the original inspiration for the digital services we now depend on.