MUMBAI: In another clever marketing ploy, Zomato and Culver Max Entertainment have 
partnered each other to give their respective brands -CID and Zomato – a bit of a nudge into consumers minds.  In an interesting and entertaining attempt at content integration, the duo has released a video that is grabbing eyeballs and generating conversations – basically buzz online.

It begins with a Zomato partner calling up ACP Pradyuman (Shivaji Satam) and informing him that he found the CID office door broken when he had come to make a delivery - a perfect set up for a CID investigation.

On arriving at his office, the ACP is informed of the break in and the missing door and he concludes in his typical style that “daal mein kuchch Kaala hain (There’s something funny about this.” )

To which the delivery boy responds “Nahin, Sir.  Daal Tadka ka order hain.”

CID’s investigation and forensics team discovers in a funny round about way that the burglar wears size 12 footwear. ACP Pradyuman immediately orders Daya (Daynanad Shetty)  to question the neighurhood shoe sellers to find out who in recent times has purchased  a size 12 shoe.

But Daya is not available so his replacement does the questioning of shoe shop owners and comes back to inform ACP Pradyuman that his deputy was the only recent buyer  of the footwear.

The assistant commissioner then questions Daya who is eating his favourite bhel about his act and his response is that inspector Abhijeet (Aditya Srivastava) had talked about having an open-door policy which is why he broke the door.

To which ACP Pradyuman responds: “We had talked about an open-door policy and not a broken door policy. Ab tumhe bhel bi nahing milegi, bail bhi nahin, sirf jail. (Now you will not get the snack, nor bail, only jail) to Daya’s astonishment.

The video then cuts to the dates and times when Sony is airing CIID.  

(To watch the video on I nstagram click here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD13n12T4jl/)

Does the video work for both brands equally?

The jury is out on this one. Some believe that the promotional message is probably more skewed towards CID, while others point out that it’s okay if the talent was provided and production was done by Sony.

“Zomato’s short form videos normally highlight the partner’s ability and back stories. Either they are informative or they bring forth a chuckle. Followers are familiar with their style of presentation; so let’s not make a hue and cry about this,” says a marketing consultant. “In my opinion the setting works for both. I see a lot of clever marketing and content integration coming out of Sony now that they have a leader who is creative on top.”