The median Indian consumer in 2026 is going to be Gen Z: curious, experimental, fluent in memes and Masala Dosa. They care less about legacy, more about values. They scroll past ads, but stop at brands that speak their language.
Branding in India is no longer just about aspiration. It’s about representation.
At Studio Sorted, we believe good branding doesn’t start with fonts or colours. It starts with clarity: on why your brand exists, who it’s for, and what difference it makes in the lives of its audience.
We’re sharing the strategic frameworks we use to build brands that aren’t just noticed, but remembered. From global models to real Indian examples, here’s how to think about branding for a new Bharat.
If everyone zigs, what’s your zag?
Marty Neumeier’s “ZAG” framework challenges you to define your brand’s radical differentiation. In saturated categories like tea, coffee, protein bars, or beauty — “better” isn’t good enough. You need to be the only.
Take Graza, a squeezy olive oil brand that turned a boring commodity into something cheeky and premium, all while standing out on grocery shelves. Or Imli Pop, a Sorted project that brought tamarind soda to life with comic-book mascots and unapologetic tang.
Your zag might be your story, your flavour, your price point — but you need one.
“Your differentiator is your truth, sharpened into a single sentence.”
At Sorted, we interpret value not just as product benefits, but as layers of meaning and motivation. Our version of the value pyramid looks like this:
Smash Guys, our grunge-diner burger brand, wasn’t built around health claims. Its foundation was craving and nostalgia. Its differentiator was a bold Hindi-English voice and high-contrast design. Its driver? A hunger for bold, affordable indulgence in a crowded market.
Oatly, globally, does something similar. The foundation is belonging; the differentiator is irreverent tone; the driver is dietary inclusion.
The deeper your pyramid, the longer your brand lasts.
Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework flips the script — your brand isn’t the hero. Your customer is. You’re the guide.
We’ve used this to great effect in Welly Belly, a gut-friendly food brand built for parents sick of guilt-driven “health food.”
When you position your brand as the enabler, not the saviour, your audience feels empowered — not sold to.
Think of your brand not just as a product — but as a world your audience wants to step into.
That world includes:
In 2025, this is what brand architecture really means.
It’s not just a corporate org chart of sub-brands and endorsements — it’s a cultural map of all the places your brand lives, plays, and grows.
Take Coca-Cola. One logo — but endless expressions.
From Coke Studio to Diwali campaigns, Share a Coke to Real Magic, Aamir Khan to vending machines to seasonal packs — every brand moment adds to the universe. The logo is just the entry point. The magic is what lives around it.
That’s brand architecture in 2025:
At Studio Sorted, we help founders build this early. Because if your brand is just packaging deep, it won’t scale. But if it’s a world, it becomes shareable, memed, loved, and remembered.
A brand isn’t a label. It’s a living system.
The deeper the system, the louder the recall.
In a culture as layered as India’s, the balance between newness and familiarity isn’t just a creative decision — it’s a survival strategy.
Raymond Loewy, the father of industrial design, called it M.A.Y.A — Most Advanced Yet Acceptable.
His principle?
“To sell something surprising, make it familiar. To sell something familiar, make it surprising.”
This is especially true for brands in emerging markets.
Launch something too familiar, and you’re ignored.
Go too alien, and you’re rejected.
M.A.Y.A is that sweet spot in the middle — the “almost expected, but slightly exciting” territory that makes people pause, smile, and say “oh, this is different.”
In India, this shows up in:
Take cult Indian brands like Paper Boat or Theka — they didn’t try to look Western. They leaned into what already felt Indian, and elevated it just enough to feel fresh.
This principle is at the heart of what we do at Studio Sorted. Whether we’re branding tamarind sodas, burger chains, or health-first staples — we find the tension between comfort and curiosity.
M.A.Y.A isn’t about playing it safe. It’s about making risk feel right.
Because in 2025, familiarity builds trust — but surprise creates recall.
The iconic M.A.Y.A principle is more relevant than ever in India’s emerging brandscape.
But here’s the catch: over-indexing on acceptability can trap you in sameness. In an era of content fatigue and digital clutter, playing it too safe is its own risk. If your audience always knows what to expect, they may stop paying attention altogether.
So how do you honour familiarity without becoming forgettable?
The 70/20/10 rule helps brands balance safety and surprise: especially when scaling across formats, audiences, or platforms.
Here's how it works:
Together, this approach keeps your brand evolving without losing the consistency that makes it recognisable.
Familiarity earns trust. Surprise earns attention. A great brand does both.
One of the most common mistakes early-stage brands make? Designing for “everyone.” Casting the widest net possible, hoping to catch the most fish.
But in today’s saturated market, the opposite works better. Brands that try to please everyone end up looking like no one.
At Studio Sorted, we use a framework we call the Three Circles of Audience, a simple but powerful way to clarify who you're really building for:
These are the people you’re truly designing for. The ones who resonate with your purpose, values, and tone. They may not have heard of you yet, but once they do, they’ll feel like you’ve been speaking to them all along.
They’re not just potential customers, they’re future fans.
This group is curious, but not convinced. They’re watching how you behave, how others talk about you, and whether your actions align with your claims.
They’re not early adopters but they’re influential. Win their respect, and your credibility spreads.
These are the people who follow the herd. They’re not looking to discover the next cool thing, they’re looking for signals from their community, their feed, or their favourite influencer.
They may not be part of your core, but they’ll come along once you’ve built real momentum.
Great branding starts with the first circle. Speak to your believers with precision, personality, and emotional resonance. When they feel seen, they don’t just buy—they advocate. They bring you into rooms you never entered, screens you never paid for.
Clarity with your core unlocks creative freedom. You know how to speak, what to say, and what to ignore. It influences your:
So remember:
You can flirt with the rest... but marry your core.
That’s how fandom starts. That’s how brands scale.
At its core, branding is about connection. But have you ever asked, what kind of relationship does your brand have with its audience?
Are you their hype crew? Their coach? Their therapist? Their calm?
The best brands behave like consistent characters. They show up in familiar ways, respond predictably, and hold space in your life like a person would.
This is where Jungian brand archetypes come in.
Originally developed by psychologist Carl Jung to classify human personalities, the 12 archetypes were later adapted to branding by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson, to help brands build stronger emotional relationships with their audiences.
Because when your brand behaves like a person, people build trust.
When that behaviour is consistent across your copy, campaigns, packaging, and tone: it starts to feel real.
At Studio Sorted, we use archetypes early in our brand strategy process, not just to define tone, but to align intent with expression.
Here are a few examples from our work:
Archetypes aren’t about labelling a vibe: they’re about choosing a role in your customer’s life.
When you know who you are, the world knows what to expect from you.
A strong brand relationship is built early, codified well, and expressed consistently.
It’s what turns a product into a personality and an audience into a community.
The strongest brands today don’t just have customers, they have collaborators.
In the past, branding was a top-down exercise. Founders built in isolation, focus groups came in later, and campaigns were broadcast from boardrooms. But in 2025, that dynamic has flipped.
Modern brands are co-created with their communities, not just for them.
At Studio Sorted, we’ve seen this first-hand. When we worked on OWN (Only What’s Needed), we weren’t just designing for the founder, we were designing with the FoodPharmer community. Feedback from nutrition-aware parents, educators, and early fans helped shape everything from product naming to content strategy.
This isn’t just about market research. It’s about building trust.
When people feel heard, they don’t just buy, they advocate. They share. They defend you when it matters.
Even globally, some of the most loved brands today are those that opened up their process:
In India, we’re witnessing another powerful shift, the rise of founder-led brands.
Consumers don’t just want products; they want people they can believe in.
Think:
These aren’t just entrepreneurs. They’re brand characters. Brand heroes.
They show up in newsletters, Instagram reels, investor decks and customers want to follow them.
In 2025, your founder story is part of your brand strategy.
Because people don’t just buy what you sell, they buy into what you stand for.
So ask yourself:
Who’s building this with us?
How do we include them earlier?
And how do we give them the mic, not just the checkout link?
When your audience helps build your brand, they don’t just remember you.
They root for you.
We’re not copying anymore, we’re creating.
Sorted brands like Only What's Needed, Welly Belly, Juny's, and Imli Pop aren’t trying to look Western. They’re confidently Indian, blending story, relevance, and joy.
We believe branding isn’t about decoration. It’s about clarity. It’s how India 2.0 introduces itself to the world.
If you're:
Book a Sorted Brand Clinic — a 1:1 session where we break down what’s working and what’s not.
✅ Free for female founders
✅ Limited slots each month
