India has always been many stories at once. A Durga Puja pandal glowing in Kolkata, a Ganesh visarjan procession dancing through Mumbai’s rain, a Pongal morning in Chennai smelling of jaggery and rice, a Bihu song echoing in Assam, different rhythms, one shared heartbeat. Yet in recent years, brands have realised that unity does not mean uniformity.
India’s next wave of consumption is no longer being driven by a handful of megacities. According to World Data Lab, 93 per cent of the country’s urban consumer-class growth through 2040 will come from cities beyond Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. By 2035, India is expected to have 499 ‘consumer cities’—more than double the number today—where at least three-fourths of the population will belong to the consumer class. As wealth decentralises across hundreds of emerging urban centres, brands are discovering that growth lies not in speaking louder, but in speaking locally.
The digital empowement is one reinforcing this transformation. Affordable smartphones and cheaper data have brought millions online, regional-language Internet usage has surged. Today, more than three-fourths of Indian Internet users consume content in regional languages, and nearly 40 per cent of search queries are made in Hindi or other Indian languages. Consumers are not merely translating content—they are engaging with culture using the language they think and celebrate in.
“India no longer behaves like one market with subtitles. It behaves like many cultures sharing a PIN code. Language is not vocabulary, it is worldview,” says Sujoy Roy, CCO, Ogilvy North, India. Hence, regional marketing is no longer about dubbing one big idea into many languages; it is about creating ideas that grow from local soil.
Abhijat Bharadwaj, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Creative Isobar, believes this marks a fundamental shift in how brands must communicate. “For decades, Indian advertising operated on the assumption that one Hindi TVC could speak to a country with 22 official languages and a thousand cultural micro-realities. That assumption has quietly collapsed. The Bharat user coming online doesn’t just prefer their language; they ignore everything else.”
CHANGES IN AGENCY APPROACH
Across the industry, that thought has begun to echo. A jewellery campaign around Pujo shows red-and-white saris and dhaak beats; a festive auto campaign in Punjab carries harvest colours and dhol rhythms. And that’s not all, brands are now even selecting regional brand faces—for instance, CaratLane appointed actor Kayadu Lohar as its brand ambassador in Tamil Nadu to connect more authentically with the local audience. In many ways, mass advertising has not weakened but the atmosphere around it is now changing. The shift was first noticed in Tier-II towns among first-time Internet users searching in Marathi, Bangla or Tamil, across different festivals celebrated in India, and in the changing local consumption patterns. The insight was subtle but powerful: visibility could be national, but emotion is always local.
At Hyundai Motor India, this shift appeared first in dealership data and customer profiles. More buyers were coming from smaller cities, where aspirations were global but identities deeply rooted in region. A campaign that worked perfectly in Mumbai or Delhi did not always speak with the same warmth in Guwahati or Coimbatore. Virat Khullar, Head, Marketing, Hyundai Motor India Limited, explains, “Over 50 per cent of our new customers now emerge from non-metro markets. Naturally, our marketing strategy must reflect this reality. Consumers in these markets are now more discerning, aspiration-driven, and media-literate. With OTT platforms, regional content, and connected TV democratising quality storytelling, Tier-II and Tier-III audiences today share the same aspirations as metro consumers but expect communication that feels locally rooted in their language and cultural nuances.” For Hyundai, that meant reshaping execution. Their campaign with actor Pankaj Tripathi was a TVC, adapted across seven regional languages, carrying local dialects and humour while keeping the core narrative intact.
Pidilite Industries views regional work as a deeper layer that strengthens national storytelling rather than replacing it. Sandeep Tanwani, Chief Marketing Officer, Pidilite Industries, says, “Media consumption of audiences has fragmented in the languages they consume, the platforms they prefer and the cultural contexts they relate to. This fragmentation has opened new opportunities and avenues to reach consumers in formats and narratives that feel native to them.” This thought has shaped initiatives like Fevicol’s ‘Kaala Teeka’ activation at Kumbh Mela and Dr. Fixit’s Wari campaign in Maharashtra—ideas rooted in local belief systems that travelled well nationally because they were authentic. For Pidilite, the shift is about balancing scale with relevance, especially because national campaigns build salience while regional storytelling deepens engagement.
For jewellery brands like CaratLane, the insight came from store counters, where buying choices widely vary across regions. With more than 365 stores across India, the brand saw clear differences in how jewellery is chosen, worn, and gifted in Tamil Nadu compared to Bengal or Uttar Pradesh. Shaifali Gautam, Chief Marketing Officer, CaratLane, shares, Our recent campaigns—from the engagement ring brand film featuring Kayadu Lohar in Tamil Nadu to Pujo in Bengal, Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra, and Teej and Karwa Chauth in Uttar Pradesh—resonated strongly because they reflected local sentiments and traditions.” According to Gautam, regional differences in consumer behaviour have led CaratLane to tailor campaigns around local culture, language and festivals.
Agencies began noticing the same shift from another angle. What they saw was not a decline in mass advertising, but a change in what audiences expected from brands. People were still watching national campaigns, still recognising taglines, and still reciting jingles. But when it came to trust or purchase, they responded more strongly to communication that reflected their own cultural world.
REDEFINING SCALE IN INDIA
Uday Mohan, COO, Havas Media India & Havas Play, explains, “Mass campaigns continue to play an important role in building scale and visibility,” but adds that “when messaging reflects local language, culture or context, consumers respond with higher engagement and stronger relatability.” For Mohan, this shift is less about replacing national work and more about recalibrating it with regional nuance.
Mohan also notes that regionalisation has made planning more insight-led and data-driven, with sharper audience segmentation, vernacular creativity and contextual media deployment shaping campaigns from the start. In sectors like consumer durables and retail, messaging aligned with local climate patterns, festivals or retail cycles has delivered stronger engagement than generic national communication, showing how regional insight is now guiding strategy rather than being added later.
For example, Sunfeast Marie Light’s #MarieLightMode campaign takes a regional approach by featuring South Indian actors Jyothika and Senthil, helping the brand connect more authentically with audiences in southern markets. By using familiar regional faces and culturally relatable storytelling around tea-time conversations, the campaign aims to make the message of reconnecting beyond phones feel more local and relatable.
If the first phase of the shift was about acknowledging diversity, the second is about confronting an uncomfortable question: why are regional campaigns gaining importance in a brand’s content calender, have mass campaigns lost their holding edge?
Bharadwaj believes the answer lies in what they are designed to do. “Mass campaigns still build fame. What they’ve lost is the ability to build feeling. A pan-India campaign can make sure 500 million people know your brand exists. Salience matters, shelf recognition matters. But the emotional connection, the thing that makes a consumer in Coimbatore feel like this brand gets their life, that’s not coming from a Hindi TVC shot in a Mumbai apartment with a North Indian family anymore.”
For Bharadwaj, this is not a creative complaint but a structural reality. Execution models have shifted from dubbing to origination. Regional celebrities, regional idioms and state-specific media plans now emerge from separate briefs rather than adapted scripts. The architecture may remain national, but intimacy is increasingly regional.
That layered thinking is echoed by Anirban Roy, Chief Strategy Officer Leo South Asia. “We’re definitely seeing a shift, not towards regional marketing as an alternative to national campaigns, but as a critical layer within a larger brand plan, especially in a market as culturally complex as India. A single national narrative can create scale, but regionalisation can help brands earn relevance.”
In practice, Roy argues, this means recognising micro-cultures rather than treating geography as a uniform block. Leo’s work for Oreo in Tamil Nadu reinterpreted eating rituals through movie fandom rather than simply replicating the Twist-Lick-Dunk narrative. The point was not translation, but participation in a cultural pulse the brand could authentically inhabit.
For creative leaders like Arpan Bhattacharyya, Executive Director - Head of Creative, Copy (South), Lowe Lintas (now known as TBWA\Lintas), the shift runs even deeper. “Earlier, most regional marketing was basically a translation or at best a transliteration of the national campaign. Nowadays, brands are digging deeper – often even at a product level.” He points to Tata Tea building region-specific blends and communication around them, and Tanishq’s Rivaah campaigns shaping stories around distinct bridal traditions while staying anchored to a larger brand idea.
The change is not cosmetic. Research teams now mine regional insights before the brief is written, and creative development often involves native thinkers rather than translators. In effect, regionalisation is moving upstream, influencing product, portfolio and positioning.
But if this explains the ‘why’, the sharper debate is around ‘returns’. Are regional campaigns simply more emotionally resonant, or do they provide better results– that are measurably more effective? For many marketers, the answer is visible in revenue geography. “Regional-first storytelling is proving more persuasive because it aligns with where growth lies. These markets now drive over 60 per cent of our revenue and engage deeply in local languages. Coupled with our 13,000+ PIN-code network, we can convert regional demand into adoption rapidly. With 79 per cent stronger engagement for local-language ads, regional content builds trust and conversion,” says Shyam Motwani, Business Head, Locks & Architectural Solutions, Godrej Enterprises Group. In categories like home security, communication cannot be divorced from service capability. Regional storytelling, in this case, is tied directly to operational readiness.
CULTURAL INTEGRATION IS KEY
At Godrej Foods, the return is even more data-led. “Mass campaigns still build salience and national visibility. But digital and commerce platforms have changed the rules of engagement. Relevance is now measurable, and regional effectiveness is trackable. At Godrej Foods, this does not mean moving away from scale. It means combining scale with precision. Regional focus today is less about fragmentation and more about data-led cultural depth,” shares Anushree Dewen, Head of Marketing and Innovation, Godrej Foods.
The company’s India Snacking Report revealed that 71 per cent of Indians turn to frozen snacks during festivals, with clear spikes in consumption across specific states. Vegetarian ranges saw 2X growth during Navratri in some markets, while chicken products performed better elsewhere. Media, product and messaging are now aligned market by market, reducing wastage and hence, sharpening ROI.
In sensitive categories, regional precision can be even more decisive. Kartik Johari, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, Friends Adult Diaper by Nobel Hygiene explains, “India today is highly fragmented in media consumption and cultural context, and a single narrative does not resonate uniformly across markets. This is especially in sensitive categories like adult incontinence. At the same time, media inflation has increased the cost of achieving effective frequency nationally. Hence for us, sharper regional dominance delivers stronger returns than broad national visibility.” For Friends Adult Diaper, regional campaigns combine vernacular communication with trade activation and distribution strength across clusters. They have leaned into regional storytelling through a UGC-led series featuring people from cities like Bengaluru and Chennai, where participants share their personal journeys and experiences. Education and stigma reduction vary across states, and aligning media with market maturity has delivered stronger engagement and better cost per meaningful reach for the brand.
In emerging sectors like electric mobility, localisation becomes almost inevitable. Madhumita Agrawal, Founder & CEO, Oben Electric notes, “The outcomes so far indicate that regional-first campaigns build deeper recall and stronger trust because they are rooted in lived experience. Overall, what’s working for us is not a one-size-fits-all strategy but a strong regional approach, where every campaign is customized to reflect local mindsets, media habits, and cultural nuances.” Oben Electric’s #SaluteAtSignal initiative in Bengaluru translated that insight into action. By responding to the city’s traffic realities, the campaign built recall and trust, showing how regional relevance can directly improve effectiveness, not just engagement.
But, what is equally significant is how regional agencies themselves view this shift, not as volume expansion, but as expectation transformation. Rashi Ray, Director, Response India, a creative agency based out of Kolkata puts it succinctly, “What’s changed is that brands are moving from asking ‘How do we enter this market?’ to ‘How do we belong here?’ And that’s where regional partnerships become essential. As media access and digital penetration have grown across East India, consumers in Tier-II and III markets are as aware and aspirational as metro audiences, but their cultural anchors remain deeply local.”
In eastern markets, she notes, national brands now seek immersion rather than execution. Sectors like fintech, banking, healthcare and real estate are increasingly approaching regional agencies to decode emotional codes, humour and sensitivities before crafting communication. The expectation is guidance, not translation.
A similar pattern is visible in how portfolios are being shaped. Amit Parekh, Founder & CCO & Amitabh Chaterjee, Executive Creative Director, Hetarsh Creative Force observe, “Many national brands are bolstering their market share by adding quite a few region-specific products in their portfolio – since they do not want to cede ground to the strong local brands. This is strongly visible in the FMCG sector especially the food and snacks category.” In such categories, localisation is not just about advertising tone but competitive defence. National brands are responding to strong regional incumbents by tailoring flavours, rituals and packaging and then building communication around those product truths. Here, regionalisation becomes embedded in business strategy.
Beyond dashboards and distribution models, there is another layer to this shift, one rooted in how brands earn cultural legitimacy over time. Vibhor Gulati, Co-founder, Defodio Digital, frames it from a digital-first vantage point. “Mass campaigns still play an important role in building visibility and brand stature. They create large cultural moments and ensure consistency across markets. However, the way audiences consume content in India has evolved significantly.” Gulati points to long-standing regional brands such as Aachi Foods in Tamil Nadu, Chitale Bandhu in Maharashtra, and Nandini in Karnataka — brands that did not scale by neutralising identity, but by embedding themselves within it. Their communication, packaging and tone reflect local rituals, humour and values. For national brands entering these markets, scale alone is no longer sufficient. Cultural fluency becomes a prerequisite for trust.
This is where regional strategy moves beyond media allocation and enters brand architecture. Rohit Sakunia, Founder and Director at Art-E Mediatech articulates the structural direction clearly, “One brand truth. Multiple cultural expressions. In a country like India, scale will no longer come from saying one thing loudly. It will come from saying the right thing, in the right way, in the right place.” His framing reflects the emerging consensus across agencies and brands alike. National campaigns continue to provide coherence, stature and memory structures. Regional execution provides immediacy, intimacy and behavioural traction. The future model is neither fragmented nor uniform– it is layered.
This is not fragmentation. It is structured decentralisation. Media is no longer bought as a blanket, but as clusters. Creative is no longer adapted at the end, but originated at the source of insight. Measurement, too, has shifted, from aggregate reach to per-market performance, from impressions to conversion efficiency.
A NEW KIND OF GROWTH
In that context, the debate is no longer whether mass campaigns still work. They do. They build memory, fame and shared moments. But they do not unlock emerging markets or reduce behavioural friction, or accelerate adoption in culturally distinct clusters. Regional marketing, hence is a structural response to where India’s next phase of growth is coming from: Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The future, then, is not a swing away from mass marketing. It is a recalibration of it.
National campaigns will provide the roof. Regional executions will provide the foundation. And the brands that grow fastest will be those that understand that in a country of many Indias, scale is no longer achieved by uniformity but by precision at scale.
