Consider this: A brand drops a reel, Gen Z stitches it, memes it, comments on it, and the feedback section takes on the task of brand building. And does a better job than the ad itself.
Get the drift?
“Advertising used to be a monologue but Instagram has made it a group chat,” says Jeel Gandhi, CEO at Under25. “You now have under three seconds to earn attention with the right, engaging hook, and the content has to feel like a creator or a friend made it.”
Look no further than the recent Cockroach Janta Party protests for proof. Gen Z protesters turned political dissent into meme-driven content; creators reimagined stressful situations into mobile-gaming mockups (take the Subway Surfers edits as protesters ran from police batons); and everyone generally got together to push back brands looking to leverage trending hashtags for product outreach.
The takeaway: Gen Z is rejecting top-down broadcasting… of any kind.
Alongside, features such as Shop and Live on Instagram have collapsed the entire purchase funnel, with discovery, consideration, and purchase happening within the same scroll.
Platform-specific strategies are now the norm for brands. YouTube is for long-form storytelling, building trust that a 15-second ad spot simply cannot, says Gandhi. Snap, on the other hand, owns intimacy, so brands have to show up in a way that feels personal. Instagram is for discovery.
All of that would have added up nicely if advertisers had fully transitioned to where Gen Z is. Unfortunately, they are still playing catch-up. “Most decision-makers in the C-suite are still learning how Gen Z is consuming content,” says Kartik Mehta, chief business officer & Asia head, Channel Factory. “This consumer jumps between apps, and brands must be omnipresent across the platforms they use.” Creativity is evolving too. Brands that echo morality, sustainability, and climate change resonate more with Gen Z, he adds. More importantly, these consumers aren’t easily impressed with tried-and-tested tropes.
But there is a decisive shift towards social video, paid social, and creator partnerships across fashion, beauty, F&B, tech, and D2C, says Sam Thomas, senior VP, WPP Media. “For Gen Z, ads don’t just compete with other ads, they compete with creators, memes, music, and organic feed conversations. Instagram Reels have fundamentally shifted brand strategy from episodic campaigns to continuous content,” says Thomas.
Flipping the script
The stakes for brands are high. Advertisers who don’t adapt risk losing out to a generation that is already driving up to $50 billion in consumer spending across categories in India.
Large mainstream brands are now allocating an estimate of 20%–35% of their digital media budgets to paid social. Creator partnerships command 5-15% of digital ad spending. “The vital shift, however, is qualitative. Brands are moving from transactional posts to sustained ecosystems spanning macro, micro, and regional creators. Creator assets are integrated into e-commerce, and measured against business outcomes like search, leads and sales,” says Thomas.
Despite the shift, experts note that traditional ad formats like print or linear TV are still relevant. “The future of advertising will not be about choosing between traditional and digital platforms, but about creating meaningful connections across both. Brands that combine the trust of traditional media with the authenticity and interactivity of social platforms will be better positioned to engage the next generation,” sums up Yorick Pinto, senior creative director, BC Web Wise.
So do 30-second ads. In fact, 30-seconders have found a powerful resurgence on Connected TV, tentpole sporting events like the IPL, besides high-decibel emotional storytelling campaigns.