There was a time when brands only worried about competitors.
Today, they also worry about X, Linkedin, trolls, boycotts, elections, global tensions, and that one employee who forgets to log out of the brand handle before tweeting a rant about the company. We recently saw one on Blustmart’s handle.

Welcome to 2025.
Where every brand wants “engagement”, but nobody wants “the wrong engagement.”

When Brand Silence Is Actually Smart

In India, we’ve mastered the art of silence. Every family WhatsApp group is proof.

Your chacha posts something political. Your bua replies with flowers and you quietly mute the group for a year.

Sometimes, brands must do the same.

• When the world is on fire, don’t try to sell your new winter collection with a caption like, “Stay warm this season!”
• When elections are happening, don’t suddenly become the “voice of democracy.” Your job is to sell jeans, not solve geopolitics.

As a CMO, I’ve learned this the hard way.
Sometimes I type a caption thinking I’m poetic, and then read it again and realise I’ve accidentally written a manifesto.

That’s when you close the laptop, drink water, and say: “Not today.”

Silence can be strategy. Just like how in Bollywood, when the villain is too powerful, the hero disappears to his hideout and returns with a six-pack.

Brands should do that too minus the six-pack. (Working on it though.)

Neutral ≠ clueless. Neutral means being the wise middle child of Indian families. The one who knows everything happening but says nothing unless absolutely needed.

Brands must be culturally aware: Know what’s trending. Know what’s sensitive & Know which meme can ruin your brand love.

During the cricket world cup, every brand becomes patriotic. Which is fine, Until one brand posts “Bleed Blue!” right after India loses. That brand bled more than anyone else that day. Because Indians have two emotions: love and uninstall.

To me neutrality only means: Understand the moment, Read the room.

Today, every brand wants to say they’re ethical, inclusive, sustainable, transparent, modern, youthful. Basically everything except “We need to hit this month’s sales target.”

But values aren’t Instagram captions. Values are behaviour.

If you say you’re differentiated, but your offerings looks same as any other brands & the creative is not recognisable if the logo is hidden, the customers notice. If you say you are authentic and real, but 50% of your offerings looks like a “cheaper rip-off” people will ask questions. If you say you’re customer centric, but your online review, ratings and comments showcases negative sentiments and non-responsiveness on the social platforms” then clearly you’re not inclusive you’re confused.

As a marketer, I’ve realised: The louder a brand shouts its values, the more it hasn’t lived them yet. Real brands live their values silently, like that friend who actually goes to the gym without posting stories. And yes sometimes the best marketing strategy is simply doing the right thing quietly and consistently, so customers say it for you.

The world is complicated, consumers are emotional. Boycotts trend faster than your best campaign. In a world of culture wars, a brand must ask itself:“Is this our battle?”, “Do we add value, or are we adding noise?”, “Are we speaking because we mean it, or because we scheduled it on our social media calendar?”

Sometimes the smartest thing a brand can do is speak with clarity. Sometimes the smartest thing a brand can do is stay quiet and sit back and observe.

Because in the long run, it’s not the loudest brands that win, It’s the ones that stay true.