Zandu Balm is more than 100 years old. Yet its latest campaign, #UndoWithZandu, speaks directly to Gen Z, taking on doomscrolling and “tech neck”. It isn’t alone. Legacy brands from Bajaj Pulsar and Sunsilk to VIP Bags and even Badshah Masala are flexing Gen Z lingo.
Don’t dismiss it as aura farming. The numbers explain the rush. India’s 377 million Gen Zs, born between 1997 and 2012, already account for 43% of the country’s consumption spending, worth about $860 billion, according to a joint report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Snap Inc.
Winning them over, though, is no cakewalk. Big TV and outdoor bursts cut little ice with Zoomers, who live online. That is reshaping India’s advertising economy. Digital accounted for over 60% of ad revenue last year, according to FICCI-EY. Linear TV advertising fell 10%, while connected TV (CTV) jumped 42%. Experts say Gen Z is driving much of this shift.
The role of media itself is changing, says Keren Benjamin Dias, AVP, brand planning and lead, Capital Z, White Rivers Media. It is moving closer to commerce, consideration and action. “Television delivers scale and salience. Social drives discovery and participation. CTV combines premium storytelling with addressability. Search captures intent. Commerce media can shorten the path to purchase. This is particularly important with Gen Z, whose consumer journeys are fluid,” she says.
A Gen Z shopper might discover a product on Instagram, check it with creators or on Reddit, dig deeper on YouTube and finally buy on a commerce platform. Planning media for this generation, Dias says, is really about behaviour orchestration: advertisers map what consumers do in each environment and assign media to that job.
Purpose over posturing
Zoomers aren’t asking brands to look or sound young. They want to know what a brand adds to their lives. Trying too hard to seem young can make a brand less credible, not more relevant, says Bharat Subramaniam, founder & managing director, BigTrunk Communications.
The biggest mistake, he says, is treating Gen Z as a single personality type that can be reached through slang, memes and fast edits. That quickly turns performative. Being digitally fluent doesn’t mean every interaction must look like a reel or a meme. “Brands also risk confusing engagement with effectiveness by chasing views and likes without understanding whether those interactions move people towards consideration or purchase,” Subramaniam says. Communication, he adds, should be conversational, culturally aware and specific, and the product must live up to the promise.
The D2C effect
D2C and digital-first brands have led the rewrite. India’s D2C market grew from under $5 billion in 2020 to $12-15 billion in 2025, as per industry estimates, and several brands are racing past the Rs 100 crore mark. Nearly 80% of Gen Z consumers have bought from brands they discovered on social media, according to The Knowledge Company.
Traditional FMCG companies are responding in three ways. Some are handing their digital business to D2C specialists: Colgate-Palmolive India has brought in Bombay Shaving Company to run Palmolive’s D2C and e-commerce business. Some are buying D2C brands outright (Marico picked up major stakes in 4700BC and Cosmix). Others are borrowing their playbook of social and retail media, personalisation, creator recommendations and content integrations.
At Emami, the strategy is less about swapping one medium for another and more about building relevance across the consumer journey, says a company spokesperson. “We are therefore placing greater emphasis on digital and social ecosystems, creator-led conversations and content, while continuing to leverage mass media where it remains important for reach and scale.”
#UndoWithZandu is one step in that direction. Emami is also reworking its Gen Z conversations for BoroPlus From Maa and Kesh King Scalp First.
Advertisers say Gen Z doesn’t reward polish. It rewards authenticity, even when imperfect, whether in branded content or a get-ready-with-me reel. Brands that balance cultural relevance with real utility stand the best chance of earning lasting loyalty.
“Gen Z isn’t necessarily hard to reach, but they’re harder to interrupt,” says Vaidika Parashar, director, internal and external communications & branding, Zepto. Having grown up with infinite choice in what they watch, engage with and buy, they make relevance matter more than mere visibility. “That means showing up where culture and conversations are happening — across social, creators and mass media — in a way that feels native to the moment and true to the brand,” she says.
Owning attention
About half of all Zoomers spend around five hours a day consuming content across social media and other platforms, according to multiple reports. With content exploding across video and audio, the real challenge for brands is picking the right platforms.
Gen Z doesn’t think in channels, but marketers still do, says Pratish Mepani, founder & brand consultant, Starting Monday Design and Branding Co. Young consumers move seamlessly between YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, podcasts, retail platforms and messaging apps. “For these consumers, they are not separate channels but part of the same experience. The real shift that Gen Z is driving is where attention is moving. That is increasingly towards environments where participation, entertainment and commerce overlap,” he says.
That explains the boom in branded events and concerts, a big draw for Gen Z. Experiences and recommendations, Mepani adds, now carry more weight than ad campaigns.
Yet for all the research, many advertisers are still hunting for the right content and strategy to win Gen Z’s attention and loyalty. “Brands have clearly moved towards social, short-form video, creators, CTV, retail media, AI-led optimisation and first-party data. However, many businesses still manage these areas separately. The consumer, on the other hand, experiences one brand,” says Manish Deshmukh, media manager, BC Web Wise.
The winners, he says, will be brands whose touchpoints work as one, from discovery to purchase to advocacy.