Guest Column: Why Are Brands Investing More In Culture Than Traditional Advertising?

There was a time when brands built awareness by buying attention.

A prime-time television commercial, a newspaper front page, a celebrity endorsement or a large outdoor campaign was often enough to dominate consumer mindshare.

Today, that equation has fundamentally changed.

Consumers are exposed to thousands of commercial messages every day. Most are skipped, ignored or forgotten within seconds. At the same time, people are spending more time than ever engaging with music, creators, sports, gaming, fashion, communities and live experiences.

This is why brands are increasingly shifting investments from traditional advertising towards culture.Because culture is where attention lives naturally.

People may avoid ads, but they actively choose to attend concerts, follow artists, join fan communities, stream podcasts, watch creators and participate in cultural conversations online. The opportunity for brands is no longer just visibility. It is relevance.

The most important shift in modern marketing is that consumers no longer want brands to interrupt experiences. They want brands to contribute to them.

This trend is becoming increasingly visible across India.

Take live music, for example.

Events such as Lollapalooza India have evolved from entertainment properties into major cultural platforms where brands are building immersive experiences rather than traditional activations. Companies including H&M, Airbnb, Budweiser, Lenovo, Google and Nivea have invested heavily in creating interactive festival experiences designed around participation, creativity and community rather than direct product promotion.

One of the most interesting examples came from Lenovo and Intel's "Creators' House Party" at Lollapalooza India, where festival-goers could co-create content, experiment with AI-powered tools and participate in collaborative experiences. Instead of showcasing products through conventional advertising, the brand became part of the festival's creative culture itself.

That distinction matters.

The strongest brands today are behaving less like advertisers and more like enablers of experiences.

We are also witnessing this shift through music partnerships.

For decades, music sponsorship largely meant logo placement. Today, brands want deeper integration. They are supporting artists, investing in original content, creating fan experiences and building long-term cultural properties.

Why?

Because music is no longer just entertainment. It has become identity.

People build communities around artists. They express emotions through playlists. They discover culture through streaming platforms. Music creates emotional connections that traditional advertising often struggles to achieve.

The same trend is visible within creator culture.

Consumers increasingly trust creators because they feel human, relatable and culturally relevant. As a result, brands are investing heavily in creator-led storytelling rather than relying solely on polished advertising campaigns.

Industry conversations around creator-led marketing have highlighted how regional voices and culturally rooted storytelling are helping brands build stronger trust among audiences across India.

This becomes even more important in a market like India.

India is not one culture. It is hundreds of cultures moving simultaneously.

Regional music, local creators and language-first communities are becoming some of the most influential forces shaping consumption patterns today. Whether it is Punjabi music achieving global popularity, Haryanvi artists building massive digital audiences or independent regional creators driving engagement across platforms, culture is increasingly moving from the grassroots upward.

Forward-looking brands understand this.

Instead of creating one generic national campaign, they are investing in communities that already have emotional relevance.

That is why regional culture has become such a strategic priority.

What is particularly interesting is that this shift is not limited to entertainment brands.

Fashion, technology, automotive, beverage and even financial brands are now investing in cultural ecosystems.

New Balance's recent "Grey Days" initiative in India focused on sports, community and cultural engagement rather than traditional retail promotion, reflecting how global brands are increasingly using culture-led experiences to build emotional connections with younger consumers.

Similarly, Mahindra has spent years building long-term cultural properties across music, literature and the arts rather than approaching culture through one-off sponsorships. The philosophy is simple: culture creates lasting equity when brands invest in building it rather than merely branding it.

There is also a larger business reason behind this movement.

Traditional advertising typically optimises for impressions.

Culture optimises for memory.

And memory is becoming one of the most valuable assets in marketing.

As India's live entertainment industry continues to expand, marketers are increasingly viewing concerts, festivals and fandom-driven experiences as long-term relationship-building opportunities rather than short-term promotional exercises.

The brands winning today are often the ones creating moments people want to talk about, share and remember.

However, cultural marketing comes with responsibilities.

Consumers are incredibly good at spotting performative behaviour. They can immediately recognise when a brand is trying to force itself into a cultural conversation without understanding it.

Authenticity cannot be manufactured through a media plan.

Brands must participate meaningfully. They must support creators, empower communities and contribute genuine value.

The most successful cultural investments are rarely transactional.

They are long-term commitments.

They require listening before speaking.

Building before promoting.

Contributing before claiming.

This does not mean traditional advertising is disappearing.

Advertising remains essential for awareness, performance and scale. But increasingly, awareness alone is not enough. The brands creating the deepest impact today are combining media with meaning.

They are pairing reach with relevance.

Technology with emotion.

Visibility with participation.

Because in an age of infinite content, attention is no longer the hardest thing to buy.

Connection is.

And culture remains one of the most powerful ways to build it.