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Quirk was once a creative flex, something only a handful of brands dared to experiment with. But in 2025, the Indian adscape is overflowing with eccentric humour, meta-winks, self-aware roasts, and meme-bait storytelling. From fintech disruptors like CRED setting the tone with absurd celebrity cameos to quick commerce like Swiggy Instamart, snack brands like Noice, and sexual wellness brands like Boldcare trying to replicate the “did-you-see-that?” virality, quirk has become the aesthetic of the moment.
The question now is not whether quirky ads grab attention, (they obviously do) but whether they still build sustainable recall, brand love, and relevance beyond the scroll. As humour studies show, quirky tones help boost recall by up to 30% when executed meaningfully. Global insights echo this, 72% of consumers say humour helps them connect with brands more easily. But the same research warns that poorly executed humour may confuse, irritate, or alienate audiences.
The shift is visible even culturally: meta humour and “inside joke” creativity has exploded online, but fatigue is creeping in. With three major creative agencies weighing in, the picture becomes clearer, quirk is no longer a strategy; it is a default. And defaults don’t differentiate.
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Has quirky advertising become the new norm?
Across festivals, launch seasons, and digital-heavy campaigns, every other brand is trying to look “unexpected”, “offbeat” or “chaotic.” What once felt fresh now risks becoming formulaic. Industry research confirms the trend: humour is strongly linked with positive attitudes toward ads in India, but only when anchored to a brand truth. Without that grounding, the clutter becomes indistinguishable.
Even D2C players like Mamaearth, Sleepy Owl, and Boat have frequently embraced quirk-heavy, meme-first formats, especially during festive periods and flash sale bursts. The result is a timeline filled with similar high-energy edits, rapid cuts, wink-to-camera narratives, and self-referencing humour that start blending into each other.
Chetan Asher, Founder & CEO of Tonic Worldwide, sums up the fatigue bluntly: “The problem isn’t that quirk has lost its novelty, it has become a crutch, a creative shortcut. Most brands are mistaking eccentricity for strategy.” He points out that the real novelty is knowing when not to be quirky, a line his agency draws while switching between a Halloween-heavy, “Desi Bhoot Bachao” campaign for Bingo! Mad Angles and emotionally driven films for Shriram Finance in the same month.
Measuring recall when the joke becomes bigger than the brand
Brand recall is classically measured through unaided and aided awareness, but quirky advertising adds a new dimension: cultural seepage. Digital audiences often share ads not because they love the brand but because they love the punchline, meme, or edit moment. When humour aligns with the product, recall spikes. When it doesn’t, the brand disappears behind the joke. Agencies today track more than views and engagements, they look at shareability, meme velocity, and sentiment.
Kruthika Ravindran, Director at TheSmallBigIdea, agrees but cautions that the joke must serve the brand: “People may remember the gag but forget who it was for. That’s why we don’t just look at views or likes, we track qualitative sentiment to understand whether the absurdity ties back to the brand.” This is where quirk can either solidify memory or dissolve into noise.
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From a strategy lens, Navyata Bansal of Talented.Agency adds nuance: “Quirky isn’t the norm, pretending to be quirky is. Being weird isn’t a strategy. Knowing why you’re weird is.” Bansal points out how absurd campaigns need cultural embedding rather than forced reach: “If your weird ad becomes part of the conversation, ‘Did you see that too?’ You’ve moved beyond advertising into culture.”
Bold Care’s early campaigns, including the ‘People Who Finish Early’ digital films, drove massive conversation but also exposed a recall mismatch, audiences remembered the punchline far more than the product benefit. Similarly, the JioCinema-Taj Mahal Tea meme-war during the IPL created huge meme currency but limited brand linkage, proving that quirk without brand context can leak focus.
Clever Creativity vs Confusing Communication
Humour and quirk demand clarity to land effectively. Over-designed irony or abstract meta humour can confuse audiences and drown the intent of the message. Research supports this: when humour is too layered or too niche, brand meaning and product recall drop sharply.
According to a review of May 2025 Out-of-Home (OOH) campaigns in India, brands such as Shaadi.com and Croma used humour and innovation in outdoor displays that transformed everyday spaces with funny language, local culture, and big visual punch. Useful as a “quirk works across media, not just digital” example.
Asher warns against prioritising cleverness over communication clarity: “Confusion happens when brands prioritize seeming smart over being clear.” The goal, he argues, is not to be a puzzle but to be memorable. Bansal frames it differently, curiosity is good, indifference is fatal. A quirky idea that makes the viewer think about it later is a win, but a quirky idea that leaves the viewer uninterested is wasted airtime. Ravindran adds that the audience must understand the brand’s role: “The best work surprises people and still ties back directly to what the brand stands for.” The principle is simple: quirk must elevate the message, not obscure it.
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Does quirk actually work for mass India or is it a digital echo chamber?
This is where the divide becomes more obvious. Quirk is born in digital culture, shaped by meme language and fast-scroll consumption. But India’s mass audiences, especially beyond metros, respond differently. What works for a Tier-1, English-speaking, meme-literate crowd does not necessarily translate in a grocery aisle or on prime-time TV. Studies show humour can improve brand likability across segments, but the kind of humour matters.
Asher emphasises that what resonates online may not scale offline: “Assuming what worked on digital will work for mass markets would be a mistake.” He calls for “inclusive quirk”, creative that isn’t built on references only a few will understand. Ravindran puts it even more bluntly: “Not always, some big brands need straightforward messaging. A subtle tonal shift can be radical for them.” Brands like Amul and Fevicol have historically built mass-appeal humour because their humour came from product truth and Indian context, not digital subculture. That distinction is critical for mass recall.
Balancing entertainment with purpose
In a space where every thumb is impatient, entertainment is the hook, but it cannot be the strategy. Without brand intention at its core, quirky campaigns are forgettable after the laugh. Bansal rejects the false choice between entertainment and meaningful messaging: “Entertainment is purpose when it’s intentional. Being weird on purpose, not random, not for shock value, is where the impact lies.” Ravindran echoes this balance: clear CTAs, strong brand voice, and emotional alignment make quirky campaigns meaningful rather than gimmicky. Asher’s lens is philosophical, he sees entertainment as a vehicle to express brand truth in the “most un-advertising way possible.” The data backs them all: humour and quirk help drive preference, 72% of consumers globally say humour makes them trust brands more, but the humour must be intentional and integrated. That’s where purpose and entertainment meet, not compete.
For example, Red Bull India has consistently used quirky humour, parkour, oddball characters, and defiance, but all anchored in the brand ethos of energy, adrenaline, and lifestyle.
Quirk is no longer rare; it is the creative vernacular of the moment. But in its ubiquity lies its biggest threat. When everyone is trying to be “weird”, the real differentiation lies in being meaningfully weird. As India’s agencies point out, quirk without conviction is just noise. But quirk rooted in brand truth, adapted for audience literacy, and executed with clarity can still cut through. The future of quirk will belong not to the loudest joke, but the sharpest one, the one that makes you laugh and remember who made you laugh.