🌱 Grow your brand as a person or a tree
When a small team in Delhi started selling budget headphones in 2016, nobody imagined they’d one day outsell Sony in India. Yet, within a few years, boAt wasn’t just a product — it became a lifestyle. The founders didn’t talk about decibels or drivers; they talked about attitude, hustle, and self-expression. That’s the difference branding makes.
In every market — from New York to Nagpur — brands don’t just sell, they signal. They tell people who they are, what they stand for, and why they matter. And in 2025, when attention spans are shorter than Instagram reels, branding is no longer a luxury. It’s survival.
Think about it. Apple’s logo doesn’t need a tagline, and Amul’s girl doesn’t need an introduction. Apple spends nearly a billion dollars every year not just on marketing, but on design and storytelling — the small details that make you feel something when you unbox an iPhone. That feeling is worth more than their devices; it’s what makes their brand value soar past $500 billion, larger than the GDP of many countries. And Amul, for decades, has done something similar for India — turning simple butter ads into a cultural timeline of our nation’s humor, politics, and pride.
Branding, at its core, is emotion engineered with intention. When Zomato jokes with you through a push notification, or when Nike’s swoosh quietly sits on a pair of shoes, they’re doing the same thing — reminding you that they’re not just selling; they’re speaking your language. That’s why 81% of global consumers, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, say trust in a brand is the deciding factor before buying.
India’s business scene is living proof of this shift. A decade ago, we defined success by sales; today, we define it by recall. Reports by KPMG and Inc42 show that brands with consistent storytelling and design see over 23% higher conversions and double the repeat customers. It’s not the price or product doing the magic — it’s the feeling of familiarity.
Even legacy giants understand this. When Tata Motors launched the Nexon EV, it didn’t market torque or battery specs. Instead, it sold a dream: India moving forward sustainably. That single narrative transformed the car into a movement and helped Tata capture 74% of India’s EV market. Across the ocean, Tesla did the same thing — not by selling cars, but by selling rebellion and revolution.
Every brand that wins today, wins emotionally. Coca-Cola once said that even if all their factories were destroyed, their brand could rebuild the company within a year — because the real asset isn’t infrastructure, it’s identity.
And identity compounds. A study by Salsify showed that consumers are willing to pay up to 16% more for brands they recognize and trust. That’s what makes branding less of a cost and more of a compounding investment — one that keeps earning interest long after your ad spend stops.
So when someone says “branding is just logos and colors,” remind them that the Tata logo stands for reliability, the Amul girl stands for wit, and the boAt wave stands for youth culture. These aren’t visuals — they’re emotions that have been carefully crafted, consistently nurtured, and universally recognized.
In the end, branding is what people remember when you stop talking. It’s the story that whispers your name long after your campaign ends. In 2025, you can have the best product, the best team, or even the best tech — but if you don’t have a brand, you’re just another option.
So build something people want to belong to. Because the future doesn’t belong to the loudest brand — it belongs to the one that feels the most human.