Grab promotes hawker dishes in series of ‘punny’ ads on Instagram

Saw these ads while scrolling through Instagram stories? Over the past few weeks, Grab has rolled out a series of Instagram ads containing puns. According to the ride-hailing company, the ads serve to create a unique voice for GrabFood and to show off a cheekier side of Grab.An image of laksa is accompanied with a text “good food is good mood”, and Grab thinks that having a bowl of wanton noodles will leave customers “wanton” more. Last but not the least, a plate of curry chicken rice that is famously sold in Queensway Shopping Centre carries a “punny” comment, “We’re not trying to curry favour with you… but this is really yummy”. These ads are part of Grab’s hawker picks as more local merchants are added to the app. Apart from featuring on Instagram, these ads can also be seen at selected bus-stops.In a statement to Marketing, Gillian Ang, head of marketing, Grab Singapore said the series of “punny” GrabFood ads were cooked up by the in-house marketing team. She added that food is a topic that the team can have a lot of fun with and that puns were a great ingredient to give the ads more flavour. In a bid to celebrate more local favourites, the team at Grab is working on more savoury puns to feature across its social media accounts, offline, and in the Grab app.According to Ang, Singaporeans love a good pun almost as much as they love their food as puns are memorable, straight to the point and connect well with the audiences. “We’re really humbled by the positive response to our ads! Food brings people together and a good meal leaves us with a good feeling – both are what we strive to achieve in every piece of communications,” she said.Over the past few months, Grab has been reinforcing its “Super App” positioning through new services. In April, Grab launched hotel booking, video streaming, ticket purchasing and trip planning services on its app, in a bid to serve more of Singaporeans’ everyday needs, with added value and convenience. These new services came shortly after Grab’s integration of GrabFood into the main app the same month, as Grab aims to be Southeast Asia’s “everyday super app” offering users a “frictionless experience” with one platform offering.