e-commerce
When love sat down Instamart’s Phools bloom into a viral Valentine
A Bandra bench, two flowers and four million views spark quiet romance.
MUMBAI: Sometimes, romance doesn’t need a script, just a place to sit. This Valentine’s Day, Instamart discovered exactly that with Phools in Love, a public installation in Bandra, Mumbai, where two oversized sunflowers and an ordinary bench quietly stole the spotlight.
The idea was disarmingly simple. Instamart placed the installation in a public space and let people react without prompts or instructions. Couples, families, morning walkers and curious passersby were invited to sit, pause and interpret the moment for themselves. What followed was a stream of unfiltered responses, shy smiles, awkward laughter, tender glances and playful giggles, each moment shaped entirely by those who stumbled into it.
Captured as a digital-first film, Phools in Love struck an immediate chord online. Within 12 hours of release, the video clocked close to 4 million views, fuelled largely by organic sharing across social platforms. Viewers were drawn not by spectacle, but by recognition, the familiarity of understated, almost cinematic intimacy.
The installation leaned into a truth deeply rooted in Indian culture. Romance here has rarely relied on loud declarations. Instead, it thrives in suggestion, a look held a second longer, a shared laugh, a 90s hindi movie frame where two flowers say more than words ever could. In Bandra, those cues played out in real time. A couple in their 60s exchanged surprised smiles. A young pair broke into laughter. Children squealed as parents instinctively reached for their phones. A same-sex couple quietly held hands and leaned into the moment. To an onlooker, it was just two flowers. Everything else was imagined.
Instamart stayed deliberately in the background, acting as the quiet enabler rather than the hero of the scene. Participants were surprised with Valentine’s Day gifts, flowers, chocolates, teddies and small, thoughtful tokens delivered almost as instantly as the emotion itself. The gesture reinforced Instamart’s positioning as the brand that shows up in fleeting moments, especially when love arrives last minute.
“Romance in India has never been about spelling everything out,” said Swiggy head of brand Mayur Hola. “It’s always lived in suggestion, in old Bollywood frames where two flowers could say more than words ever could. With Phools in Love, we wanted to recreate that feeling in the real world and see how people interpret love in their own way.”
The campaign also tapped into a wider Valentine’s buzz around the platform. Instamart recently went viral for its limited-edition bouquets made of chocolates, condoms, protein bars, snacks and flower-shaped hair clutches, a playful nod to the growing appetite for personalised, unconventional gifting.
In a season crowded with grand gestures and loud declarations, Phools in Love stood out by doing the opposite. By letting people project their own stories onto a simple setup, Instamart turned an ordinary bench into a mirror and reminded the internet that sometimes, love only needs a moment to sit down and bloom.
BENGALURU: Culture-first sneaker label Comet has entered Indian e-commerce with its debut on Myntra, bringing over 40 footwear styles to the fashion platform’s 75 million monthly active users. The move marks Comet’s first online retail partnership as it looks to scale beyond its direct-to-consumer roots.
The launch features the brand’s popular ranges including X Lows, Aeon V2 and Alter, alongside an exclusive new design, X Lows Polaris, available only on Myntra. The collaboration strengthens Myntra’s growing sneaker portfolio aimed at Gen Z and millennial consumers drawn to streetwear culture and design-led brands.
Myntra head of category and revenue Ritesh Mishra, said Comet’s sharp design language and community-driven approach aligned with the platform’s focus on trend-forward labels shaping India’s contemporary sneaker culture.
Comet co-founders Utkarsh Gupta and Dishant Daryani said the partnership would help the brand reach a wider audience while staying rooted in its product-first philosophy and close customer engagement.
Built on the ethos “Never shy, never sorry”, Comet has gained traction for bold silhouettes, vibrant colourways and limited-edition drops inspired by cultural nostalgia and storytelling. The Myntra debut signals the brand’s next phase of growth in India’s fast-evolving sneaker and streetwear market.
