Virality Over Value? India's Iconic Brand-Building at Risk in Age of Influencers

• Indian advertising faces a tipping point as short-lived virality from influencers challenges traditional, enduring brand-building strategies.
• Unilever, despite investing heavily in influencers, built its iconic brands through consistent, insight-led storytelling, not fleeting trends.
• Marketers debate if influencer-driven content sacrifices long-term brand love for temporary attention and reach.
• Industry leaders like Harshdeep Chhabra (GCPL) and Anushka Sanghvi (Nofiltr Group) emphasize that true brand equity requires consistent storytelling and genuine affinity, not just rented attention.
• The disappearance of iconic jingles and taglines signals a shift from deep emotional connection to scroll-stopping metrics, raising concerns about Gen Z's brand recall.