India’s quick commerce sector, long defined by delivery speed and discount-led competition, is beginning to experiment with brand-led and cultural storytelling as companies search for additional ways to stand out amid intensifying competition and rising customer acquisition costs.

Over the past year, platforms such as Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart have leaned into content, characters, and topical storytelling—moving away from purely price- and performance-led messaging. The shift reflects a broader reassessment of how brand equity can support growth in categories where functional advantages are quickly copied.

“Performance marketing captures demand that already exists,” says Achyuta Nand Chand, Co-founder of marketing intelligence firm Mashrise. “Cultural and brand-led work builds future demand. The strongest brands treat both as part of a single system, not opposing strategies.”

Chand points to the “95–5 rule,” which suggests that only 5% of consumers are actively shopping at any given time. “Performance marketing targets that 5%. Culture nurtures the remaining 95%. Over time, this lowers blended acquisition costs because brand recall does the heavy lifting,” he says.

Culture as a hedge against rising costs

The push toward brand-building is partly driven by structural pressures. Last-mile fulfilment costs remain high, incentives are expensive, and customer loyalty is thin. Speed, once a differentiator, is rapidly becoming table stakes.

“In quick commerce, operational advantages don’t stay unique for long,” says Akhil Nair, Founder and CEO of BigTrunk Communications. “Everyone eventually matches on delivery time, assortment, and availability. Brand becomes the only lever that doesn’t get commoditised overnight.”

Nair argues that when campaigns move beyond advertising and trigger participation—through creator collaborations, user-generated content, or offline moments—they create what he calls “cultural switching costs.” “When people choose a platform for reasons beyond speed or discounts, that customer becomes more defensible,” he says.

Several brands are testing this thesis. Blinkit’s irreverent outdoor campaigns, such as its quirky year-end series that used real order data as humorous billboard copy — including lines like “India ordered 1,05,16,879 kg of ghee this year,” paired with the tongue-in-cheek tagline “Ab bas bhi karo mummy” — and Swiggy Instamart’s topical social media voice reflect attempts to build emotional salience alongside functional value.

Zepto’s culture-first experiment

Among quick commerce players, Zepto has been one of the most visible proponents of culture-led activations, with campaigns such as Mithai Wars, The Great Indian Fake Wedding, and Not Another New Year Party. These initiatives are designed as real-world experiences that later travel organically across social platforms.

For Chandan Mendiratta, Chief Brand Officer at Zepto, the objective is not to replace performance marketing, but to stabilise it. “Brand marketing isn’t something you measure week to week,” he says. “But done well, it can contribute meaningfully to long-term enterprise value. The impact shows up over time, not immediately.”

Mendiratta describes the approach as relevance at frequency. “Quick commerce isn’t an annual purchase category. Our top users order multiple times a day. To stay relevant, you can’t show up only during sale periods—you have to be part of everyday conversations.”

Internally, Zepto evaluates creative work through a simple filter: will people talk about it? “If something won’t earn attention organically, we go back to the drawing board,” he says. Earned media, Mendiratta adds, often delivers higher credibility than paid impressions because it comes through peers rather than platforms.

The fragility of affection

Not everyone is convinced that cultural relevance alone can sustain loyalty in a category as transactional as quick commerce. Prathap Suthan, Chief Creative Officer at Bang In The Middle, sees both upside and limitation in the strategy.

“Cultural work builds memory and warmth. It attracts users through familiarity rather than urgency,” he says. “But that affection is fragile.”

Suthan points out that consumer behaviour in quick commerce remains highly price-sensitive. “Home delivery is largely interchangeable. When a competitor offers a sustained financial advantage, much of the emotional pull fades,” he says.

He also cautions against assuming cultural permanence. “Brands often point to Amul as the gold standard. But that relevance took decades of consistency, speed, and wit—and unwavering client belief. It wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t cheap.”

Fatigue, he adds, is an ever-present risk. “The moment cultural storytelling becomes predictable, attention drops. Freshness at scale demands continuous investment.”

A longer-term recalibration

As the sector matures, quick commerce companies appear to be recalibrating how they think about marketing efficiency. Performance advertising continues to drive short-term growth, but brand-led strategies are increasingly viewed as a hedge against rising costs and competitive clutter.

Whether cultural relevance can consistently translate into retention and pricing power remains uncertain. What is clear is that the industry is no longer treating branding as a vanity exercise.

“The brands that will endure aren’t choosing between culture and performance,” says Chand. “They’re learning how to balance both—especially as the market gets more crowded and growth gets harder.”

For quick commerce, the next phase may not be about who delivers fastest, but who stays top of mind when everything else looks the same.