Why Gen Z sat at the centre of marketing and content playbooks in 2025

New Delhi: In 2025, brands across sectors made Gen Z the clearest focal point of their marketing strategies. The shift played out across media, platforms, commerce, FMCG and jewellery.

Brands prioritised authenticity and platform-first storytelling to drive cultural relevance, digital momentum and deeper engagement.

The change was most visible in mainstream media’s digital-first pivot. As social consumption grew, legacy media groups chased relevance where Gen Z spends its screen time: Instagram, Reels and podcasts.

News platforms were not alone in this pivot. In 2025, the India Today Group launched an Instagram-first platform built for Gen Z.

Focus on Gen Z also expanded into general entertainment. JioStar, earlier this year, announced that it will boost Gen Z programming in South India by 7 to 10x.

For Swiggy, Gen Z is influencing product thinking and growth strategy. Speaking to BestMediaInfo, Swiggy’s leadership outlined how speed, affordability and hyper-localisation are shaping its next phase.

Sidharth Bhakoo, Chief Business Officer, Food Marketplace, Swiggy, underscored, “Affordability is a big aspect that is going to drive category growth. In 99 Store, we are essentially creating meals that are affordable to the end consumers, specifically targeted at Gen Z and people who want to transact more but find online delivery expensive. So there we have curated a 99 Store, which is currently running across 700 cities.”

Swiggy's 99 Store is a feature in the Swiggy app offering single-serve meals and dishes at a fixed price of Rs 99, aimed at budget-conscious users and Gen Z by providing affordable, everyday food with potential free delivery via their Eco Saver mode, making frequent, low-cost orders feasible. It features quick-prep items and aims to boost meal volume and user engagement in competitive markets, covering many Indian cities.

Even brands that have historically been driven by older consumers are recalibrating for Gen Z’s influence. The emphasis is on long-term relevance, not just immediate sales.

“Gold brands are increasingly targeting Gen Z because they represent a shift in mindset, not just age. While they’re not yet the primary spenders, they are highly influential, especially in dual-income households and gifting decisions. More importantly, they are tomorrow’s core consumers, and the investment today is about earning relevance early,” said Namita Kothari, Founder, Akoirah by Augmont.

Mia by Tanishq has built its positioning around this approach. “We dive deep into understanding our consumers and bring out an insight that actually resonates with them, because as a brand, we talk to the Gen Z and the millennials, and what we value is authenticity the most and practicality and functionality above everything else,” said Shyamala Ramanan, Business Head, Mia by Tanishq.

She added, “Mia has always stood for this position of everyday jewellery for Gen Z for the last five years. Everybody wants to talk to Gen Z because that is the single largest cohort right now. We have the first-mover advantage. We've been talking to the younger ones because we want to introduce them to the world of jewellery at an age when they are in the mood to express themselves.”

In FMCG, brands are leaning into cultural relevance and digital-native fandom to cut through clutter. Pulse Candy, a flagship brand from the Dharampal Satyapal Group (DS Group), recently launched a digital campaign featuring K-pop artist Aoora (Park Min-jun), tapping into global pop culture to engage Gen Z consumers.

Arvind Kumar, Senior General Manager, Marketing, Confectionery, DS Group, said the brand is looking to stay ahead of cultural trends.

Similarly, Tata Coffee Grand is reframing instant coffee through the lens of individuality and self-expression. Its campaign ‘Not Just Your Regular Coffee’ showcases everyday moments that reflect how Gen Z challenges convention and values authenticity.

According to the company, the narrative mirrors the mindset of young Indians who question norms and are comfortable voicing their opinions.

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At the premium end of personal care, The Body Shop is sharpening its India strategy around digital-first storytelling and influencer-led engagement. As traditional media declines, the brand is leaning into platforms that enable closer, more authentic conversations with younger consumers.

“We have gravitated towards digital media quite a lot, and of course, it's something which we did not shy away from,” Harmeet Singh, Chief Brand Officer, The Body Shop Asia South, told BestMediaInfo.com.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) has introduced OWND!, a new fashion brand positioned for Gen Z and younger trend-focused shoppers in India.

The platform behaviour underneath these shifts is changing how discovery works. More people are now turning to social and video platforms instead of traditional search engines to discover information online, especially among younger users.

This shift is explored in ‘The search before the search: How social and video have changed the way we seek, find and buy’, a report by WARC in partnership with TikTok. Based on surveys, experiments, and interviews, the report shows that search habits are spreading across platforms.

The research shows that nearly half of Gen Z consumers now search more frequently on social and video platforms than they did three years ago. In contrast, only 19% said they had increased their use of AI-based search tools during the same period.

The research points to a growing preference for community-driven discovery across platforms such as TikTok, particularly in lifestyle, fashion, and beauty categories.

News consumption, too, is shifting in ways that affect marketing and content planning. BestMediaInfo reports that India’s Gen Z is not switching off from news, but consuming it differently, stated a Google–Kantar study, Bridging the Gap: Reimagining News for Gen Z.

The study is based on qualitative work and a survey of 4,000+ respondents (15–28) across 40 markets and eight language clusters. It highlights that Gen Z makes up 16% of urban India and is the most connected cohort (87% online vs 75% urban average), with 96% being digital natives.

Discovery is often incidental during scrolling. Social media (91%) and video platforms (88%) are primary sources. Feeds mix publishers, creators and meme pages.

While more follow creators (48% niche/civic) than news organisations (43%), trust is higher for established publishers (47% vs 38–39% for creators). English is preferred for reading, while local languages dominate audio/video.

It flags heavy use of GenAI (84%) to simplify, translate and get quick answers. It also notes a preference for emotionally resonant, interactive, visual storytelling.

Kantar and Google view that publishers can win Gen Z by adapting formats and tone without losing rigour. Suggested approaches include short social video explainers, micro-story notifications, conversational local-language storytelling, creator collaborations, practical “life tool” news, and trust cues like embedded sources while avoiding sensationalism.

In intimate categories, too, brands say visibility has to follow the consumer. Enamor, which built scale in lingerie for over two decades without leaning on traditional PR playbooks, is now stepping into a louder, sharper phase.

“The consumer is evolving, and we have to evolve with them. The consumer is the queen. Wherever the consumer is, that’s where we need to be,” said Sandra Daniels, CMO, Enamor.

Across sectors, the takeaway is consistent. Marketing in 2025 was less about age demographics and more about cultural fluency.

Brands are treating Gen Z not as a segment to be targeted, but as a culture to be understood. At the same time, marketers acknowledge the pressure that comes with the shift.

Gen Z expects authenticity, rejects inauthenticity fast, and demands storytelling built for their feeds, not repurposed for them.