Alberta frozen-food brand Chef Bombay is rolling out its first-ever major brand spot after 25 years in business.
With creative by agency of record Hunting the Hunter, Chef Bombay’s 45-second video highlights family discussions about marriage, travel and sports in 10-year intervals from 2005 to the present.
Khadija Jiwani, CMO at Chef Bombay parent company Aliya’s Foods, describes the campaign as a playful, honest expression of dinner-table camaraderie.
“The uncle with too many opinions, the cousin who steals the last samosa, the laughter that cuts through the noise – these are the moments where food becomes more than a meal,” Jiwani says, adding that the creative concept was built around the catchphrase “family times are frozen in time.”
“Chef Bombay has always shown up for these moments – and this campaign is our way of celebrating the universal truth that what makes a meal memorable isn’t just what’s on the plate, it’s who’s around it.”
The company says it had yet to tell its story through a formal marketing campaign through it first 25 years.
Chef Bombay, which just expanded its distribution to Whole Foods stores in B.C., says the work is aimed at a multicultural food-loving audience seeking convenience and cultural connection, particularly in the millennial and Gen Z demographics.
“We don’t view competition narrowly,” Jiwani says. “Instead, we see ourselves as part of a wider ecosystem of brands vying for attention in the freezer aisle.”
The hero video will be featured on social-media channels and across owned platforms, YouTube and Crave TV advertisements.
The campaign is also prioritizing short-form video on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
“Our targeting focuses on urban, culturally attuned audiences across Canada and the U.S., but even more than geography, it’s about rhythm,” Jiwani says. “Are they listening to true-crime podcasts on their grocery runs? Are they watching throwback comedy with family after dinner? Are they mindlessly scrolling between meetings or bingeing cozy cooking content on a Sunday night?”
The media buy is also being handled by the Hunting the Hunter team.
The relationship between Chef Bombay and Hunting the Hunter began in December 2024.
Jiwani says the agency partner, which has a footprint in Toronto and international markets including Karachi, Pakistan, and Mumbai, India, understands the nuances of culture and community as well as the emotional pull of food, especially in immigrant and multicultural households.
She adds that Chef Bombay’s 202o packaging overhaul was a game-changer that helped better communicated the brand’s unique selling proposition and shelf presence while helping it connect with younger, design-conscious shoppers.
