Cleartrip is using playful newspaper ads to turn its Big Billion Days 2026 sale into a pitch for holiday bookings, imagining how attractive travel deals could leave offices short-staffed as employees head out on leave.
The Flipkart-owned travel platform’s ‘Apology to Brands’ campaign appeared in the Bengaluru edition of The Economic Times and The Gurgaon Times on October 10. The ads address food delivery brands through tongue-in-cheek apologies for the possibility of employees taking time off to travel.
One ad, set against an orange background, reads: “To the folks who deliver three biryanis every second, we’re sorry if only three people show up to your office next week.” Another, on a red background, suggests that an entire office could soon be empty, adding that the chief of staff is not to blame — Cleartrip is.
The colour choices hint at Swiggy and Zomato without naming either brand directly. The humour rests on a familiar workplace scenario: when travel offers are difficult to resist, employees may be tempted to trade their desks for a holiday.
The campaign arrives as India’s festive shopping season gathers momentum. Redseer estimates that e-commerce platforms generated around ₹24,000 crore in gross merchandise value during the first two days of festive sales in 2026, across approximately 8–9 crore orders placed on marketplaces including Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and Ajio.
Rather than focusing only on shopping discounts, Cleartrip uses the festive sale moment to widen the conversation around what consumers could do with a good deal — including planning a getaway. The newspaper execution uses indirect references to familiar brands and workplace humour to make that proposition stand out.
