Delivered in style: “Mango in a Lambo”

Given the reputation of Pakistani mangoes, a marketing drive to attract customers isn’t something that usually springs to mind.

A Pakistani supermarket’s campaign to deliver mangoes in a Lamborghini, however, has proved to be massively popular with residents in Dubai.

For Brothers Gulraiz Yaseen and Muhammad Jehanzeb, managing directors of the Pakistan Super Market chain, the intention was to spread cheer in the midst of a pandemic.

“We wanted to come up with an idea to make people happy and put a smile on children’s faces. So we decided to introduce the Lamborghini as a delivery service for the ‘king of the fruit’ straight to their doorsteps,” Yaseen told TRT World.

“When the kids come outside and see the ‘mango in the lambo’ they get super excited. They take photos and we give them a ride.”

Yaseen and Jehanzeb started the campaign three weeks ago, when mango season arrived.

Shortly after rolling out the service on the supermarket’s Facebook page, it took off.

Yaseen recalled when deliveries began, surprised patrons began regularly documenting the royal delivery protocol.

Videos of delighted mango lovers taking exhilarating rides in the super car then started doing the rounds online.

“Every customer then posted videos of the delivery on social media, and ‘mango in a lambo’ started to go viral,” he said.

Initially delivery was only available once a week on Thursdays, but with growing demand it has increased to three times a week.

The high interest they’ve received in Dubai alone has kept operations limited within the Emirate for now. The Lamborghini Huracan was arranged just for the summer.

“We didn’t start the campaign because of the money,” Yaseen declared. “The intention was to make people happy.”

Nevertheless, lavishly spreading the fruit’s aromatic, sweet and pulpy goodness across the city appears to have positively impacted sales.

While the store traditionally targets the Pakistani community, their newfound success has now garnered interest across the board.

“We are getting orders from Indians and many nationalities because of the mangoes, and now they want to try other items as well,” Yaseen pointed out.

Pakistan is the world’s fifth largest exporter of mangoes, producing around 1.9 million tonnes annually. The UAE is one of the top destinations for Pakistani mangoes, along with over 50 other countries.

There are more than 250 varieties of Pakistani mangoes.

However, Pakistan’s traditional mango exports have taken a hit because of the pandemic, and it invariably had an impact on the supermarket’s seasonal mango operation.

“Last year, we used to do three to four flights daily. But because of the disruption, that became difficult,” Yaseen said.

He thanked the UAE government and the Emirates SkyCargo service, which has helped market suppliers stay afloat, particularly in the Gulf state where most products are imported.

“We were then able to import not only mangoes but all kinds of fruit and vegetables from Pakistan, which made it easier for our customers to have access to basic goods.”

Having specialised in transporting goods directly from Pakistan to the UAE for more than twenty years, the chain is set to grow further. At the moment, there are nine outlets across the UAE, with another opening soon.

Yaseen believes what distinguishes the store’s mangoes is their freshness. More than half a dozen varieties are sold from all regions of Pakistan, such as Chaunsa, Langra, Sindhri and Anwar Ratol.

“When someone enters the shop, the smell of the mangoes is very appealing. From Karachi, Lahore or Peshawar, they are brought onto our shelves within a few hours, which makes the quality very high.”

The Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib once said: “Aamo main buss do khubiyan honi chahiyen, ek methey hon aur bohot sarey hon.” (For mango to be good, it should have two qualities. One is that they should be sweet and secondly, they should be plentiful.)

With “mango in a lambo”, Yaseen and Jehanzeb have added a third quality: they need to be delivered in style.

After all, the exalted king of fruits deserves no less.