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Brands and agencies must pay attention to subtle cultural signals to stay relevant, said Kartik Sharma, Group CEO, OMG India, at the e4m Confluence – The Media Investments Summit on Tuesday.
Sharma explained that culture influences consumer behaviour in subtle ways, often before it shows up in data. “Culture always whispers before it shouts,” he said, stressing the importance of observing emerging trends, rituals and symbols to understand audiences more deeply.
At OMG India, Sharma said, the agency uses a proprietary AI-powered platform to capture over 350 million signals daily. The tool tracks both fast culture from social media and blogs and slow culture from academic research and innovation reports. The platform tags signals to over 150 mega and micro trends, helping brands identify where culture is heading and informing campaign decisions.
He cited campaigns that demonstrate the impact of cultural intelligence. For Ariel, insights into invisible labour and emotional load in households shaped communication addressing gender bias in laundry.
For an international fitness bike brand, cultural hooks such as digital detox, warm tech, and camera culture repositioned it from a product company to an inclusive fitness platform.
In insurance, trends like nostalgia, meme culture, and icon toppling helped make a traditionally transactional category relatable and engaging.
“The best media doesn’t follow culture, it becomes it,” Sharma said, urging marketers to move beyond reach to cultural relevance. He stressed that speed, agility, and the integration of data with cultural intelligence are key to campaigns that connect meaningfully with audiences.