In the carnival of contemporary commerce, outrage is rarely an obstacle; it’s an opening. While institutions issue clarifications and committees compose cautious communiqués, clever brands are busy composing copy. With a wink and a well-placed word, they don’t just join the conversation, they own it.
The digital storm surrounding Galgotias University at the India AI Impact Summit in February set social media simmering, but it was the home-services app, YesMadam, that turned the moment into marketing magic. Their billboard—bold, blithe, and brazen—declared: “Your 6 never can be our 9.” It was a cheeky play on numbers and narrative that refused to sermonise. It didn’t sulk; it sold.
This isn’t just novelty; it’s nimbleness. Marketing at its mischievous best has always caught culture mid-sentence and slipped in a slogan. Consider the gold standard: Amul. For decades, its topical hoardings have turned political potshots into pun-filled posters. From cricketing collapses to economic slowdowns, nothing escapes its buttered banter. “Utterly Butterly Delicious” is less a dairy declaration than a doctrine of timing. The brand doesn’t chase attention; it anticipates it.
Then there is Zomato, the digital daredevil of drollery. In the scroll-storm of smartphones, Zomato understands that humour travels faster than hunger. When servers stall or cities flood, its push notifications lean into parody rather than corporate platitudes. Food for the stomach, fodder for the screen.
{{/usCountry}}Then there is Zomato, the digital daredevil of drollery. In the scroll-storm of smartphones, Zomato understands that humour travels faster than hunger. When servers stall or cities flood, its push notifications lean into parody rather than corporate platitudes. Food for the stomach, fodder for the screen.
{{/usCountry}}Globally, the lineage of the lightning reflex is well-established. Nike mastered provocation long ago, proving that calibrated risk can convert dissent into distinction. A slogan becomes a stance, and a stance becomes a strategy. Who can forget Oreo during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout? As the stadium plunged into darkness, the brand tweeted: “You can still dunk in the dark.” The lights went out; the brand lit up. Marketing manna from a momentary mishap.
In the age of algorithms, attention is the most perishable product. A trending topic is a ticking clock. Brands that hesitate hibernate; brands that hustle harvest. Speed is no longer a stylistic flair; it is a strategic necessity for survival.
Yet, this opportunism walks a tightrope. There is a fine line between being playful and being predatory—between a wit and a wound. The most successful campaigns read the room before rewriting the rules. They tease without trivialising and provoke without poisoning. When marketing borrows from public turbulence, it must also borrow a sense of responsibility.
As thinker Ashis Nandy reminds us, modern public life is a theatre where symbols often outweigh substance. Marketing understands this dramaturgy instinctively. A flipped 6 becoming a 9 is not merely numerical; it is a signal that perspective shapes perception, and perception shapes profit.
In business schools, we teach consumer psychology and positioning. But billboards like these are brisk, real-time case studies. They remind us that messaging must move with the moment. The audience is no longer passive; it is participatory, sharing, and scrutinising. A clever billboard becomes a meme, and a meme becomes market share.
In an era saturated with information, imagination invoices. The sharpest brands are not merely loud; they are literate in the language of the present. Noise may fill the airwaves, but nuance fills the cash register. In the attention economy, the best brands know exactly when to strike. ritukumar.gmn@gmail.com
The writer is a retired principal of Mukand Lal National College, Yamunanagar.