As tech products become commoditised, brands are shifting focus from features to meaning — building trust, cultural relevance, and authentic connections through storytelling and local engagement.
Arijeet Talapatra, CEO of TECNO Mobile India
In today’s tech landscape, most products start to feel the same. A good screen, a powerful processor, and maybe an AI feature or two — all neatly packaged and aggressively priced. But when innovation becomes easily replicable, the real question isn’t “what do you offer?” — it’s “what do you mean to your consumer?”
That’s where brand comes in.
Today, people aren’t just buying features; they’re buying into what a brand represents. As technology becomes commoditized, the brands that win are those that go beyond conversions and build connections — emotional, cultural, and credible.
Flashy ads and performance claims may drive clicks, but they rarely build relationships. Consumers are becoming more conscious, more skeptical — they don’t want to be “targeted”; they want to be understood.
The brands that stand out today are the ones that stand for something. Not just slogans, but stories. Not just influencers, but authentic voices that reflect the audience's aspirations.
This is why brand storytelling is no longer a buzzword — it’s a business strategy. And the most powerful stories are built on truth, trust, and cultural relevance.
One of the biggest shifts in marketing is how brands now engage with ambassadors. Gone are the days of generic endorsements. Today’s consumers can spot inauthenticity from a mile away.
Smart brands are partnering with people who genuinely align with their values — and it shows. When a celebrity truly uses a product, believes in it, and shares their story around it, the campaign becomes far more than an ad — it becomes a shared experience.
Pair this with user-generated content that validates those experiences, and the narrative becomes layered, relatable, and real.
Influencer marketing has moved past vanity metrics. It’s no longer about who shouts the loudest — it’s about who’s trusted the most. And increasingly, that’s the nano and local creators.
These voices may have smaller followings, but they command deeper engagement and trust. According to HypeAuditor, nano-influencers with under 5,000 followers have the highest engagement rates at 2.53%.
And as per a recent Kantar study, 67% of Indian consumers trust influencer recommendations over traditional advertising.
This shift proves one thing: authenticity scales — not through paid reach, but through real relevance.
Especially in a country like India, brand success doesn’t come from top-down messaging. It comes from deep cultural understanding. With over 98% of internet users in India accessing the web in Indic languages (Kantar-IAMAI, 2024), local language and relevance aren’t nice-to-haves — they’re table stakes.
Brands that build features tailored for Indian needs — like regional language support, longer battery life, or signal enhancements for remote areas — show that they’re not just here to sell, but to serve. And when those product choices are paired with campaigns that speak in local idioms, reflect regional pride, and celebrate diversity, brands become part of the culture, not just the market.
In a world of commoditised tech, brand recall isn’t built in specs. It’s built in sentiment. What people remember — and recommend — is how a brand made them feel. Did it reflect who they are? Did it listen? Did it stand for something more than a sale?
To succeed today, brands must move from broadcasting to belonging. From treating people as consumers to treating them as communities. And from making ads that convert to crafting campaigns that connect.
The real challenge in modern marketing isn’t visibility — it’s meaning. Anyone can be seen. But not everyone is remembered.
In this age of parity products, emotion is the new edge. It’s what transforms users into loyalists, buyers into believers. And it’s what turns a tech brand into a cultural icon.
Because in the end, brands that connect don’t just gain customers — they build communities that last.
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