Good Things
are worth waiting for
In a 2023 study, McKinsey & Company traces the extraordinary volatility that brands of the 2010s had begun to face. Battling the mounting competition, digital-native brand surge and rapid innovations became both the norm, and a serious cause of disruption to growth. In the face of uncertainty, the most instinctive response that brands resorted to, was that of aggressive acquisition. But - as the report goes on to state - it’s been observed that 80% of value creation has stemmed from deepening existing customer relationships and therefore, unlocking new revenue from this very customer base.
The ones that have internalised and adapted this practice have one common denominator.
Customer Experience (CX) - not as a support function, but as the very core of their respective brand playbook.
CX that involves hyper-focused listening, acting on feedback, and designing experiences around genuine customer needs.
CX that prioritises loyalty over short-term reach.
CX that reimagines entire customer journeys-products, services, even internal culture - to be more intuitive, personal and emotionally resonant.
So for those of us who operate in the business of experience, these insights validated what we’ve been certain of, all along.
“If CX lies at the heart of the brand ecosystem, then we’d best believe that thoughtful experiential marketing is the pulse that keeps it truly alive."
Experiential is no longer a lone tactic or an “event”. It’s what brings content, community, and commerce together in a meaningful way. And in the experience space, we’ve unearthed some truly compelling stuff.
As creators of culture-first experiences, we don’t just observe culture, we move with it. Listening for the subtle changes, the emotive undercurrents and the consequent responses.
Lately, we’ve discovered that there is a certain, almost imperceptible shift in how brands are seeking to engage their audiences. Instead of the fervent need to go bigger, bolder, louder; they have their radars on, tuning in to gauge the way that people want to feel; and then trying to feed that particular feeling. This ever-so-slight pivot has shown us that intimacy, resonance and meaning are becoming the new markers for brands to win over their audiences over noise for noise’s sake.
Feeding a feeling or satiating a subliminal desire is no mean feat. It involves building not just campaigns; but entire worlds. Fashion is no longer just worn, it’s experienced. Communities aren’t broadcast to-they’re carefully cultivated. Stories aren’t told from a power distance - they’re woven into the audience’s consciousness.
In White’s second edition of Impact Check, we are tracing some interesting ideas that have found success in “cultivating a feeling” this past year. Success that, we can assume will lay the groundwork and pave the way for these ideas to become - first, the trend and then, the norm.
In a 2023 study, McKinsey & Company traces the extraordinary volatility that brands of the 2010s had begun to face. Battling the mounting competition, digital-native brand surge and rapid innovations became both the norm, and a serious cause of disruption to growth. In the face of uncertainty, the most instinctive response that brands resorted to, was that of aggressive acquisition. But - as the report goes on to state - it’s been observed that 80% of value creation has stemmed from deepening existing customer relationships and therefore, unlocking new revenue from this very customer base.
The ones that have internalised and adapted this practice have one common denominator.
Customer Experience (CX) - not as a support function, but as the very core of their respective brand playbook.
CX that involves hyper-focused listening, acting on feedback, and designing experiences around genuine
customer needs.
CX that prioritises loyalty over
short-term reach.
CX that reimagines entire customer journeys-products, services, even internal culture - to be more intuitive, personal and emotionally resonant.
So for those of us who operate in the business of experience, these insights validated what we’ve been certain of,
all along.
“If CX lies at the heart of the brand ecosystem, then we’d best believe that thoughtful experiential marketing is the pulse that keeps it truly alive."
Experiential is no longer a lone tactic or an “event”. It’s what brings content, community, and commerce together in a meaningful way. And in the experience space, we’ve unearthed some truly compelling stuff.
As creators of culture-first experiences, we don’t just observe culture, we move with it. Listening for the subtle changes, the emotive undercurrents and the consequent responses.
Lately, we’ve discovered that there is a certain, almost imperceptible shift in how brands are seeking to engage their audiences. Instead of the fervent need to go bigger, bolder, louder; they have their radars on, tuning in to gauge the way that people want to feel; and then trying to feed that particular feeling. This ever-so-slight pivot has shown us that intimacy, resonance and meaning are becoming the new markers for brands to win over their audiences over noise for noise’s sake.
Feeding a feeling or satiating a subliminal desire is no mean feat. It involves building not just campaigns; but entire worlds. Fashion is no longer just worn, it’s experienced. Communities aren’t broadcast to-they’re carefully cultivated. Stories aren’t told from a power distance - they’re woven into the audience’s consciousness.
In White’s second edition of Impact Check, we are tracing some interesting ideas that have found success in “cultivating a feeling” this past year. Success that, we can assume will lay the groundwork and pave the way for these ideas to become - first, the trend and then, the norm.
From Fashion Shows to
Fashion Moments
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It’s 2025 - didactical, trend-driven style is out; holistic, all-encapsulating “fashioned” worlds are in! What this really means is that fashion is at a juncture where it manifests as more than the clothes you wear - it’s also the style-driven choices you make. From the way you socialise to the hobbies you indulge in - being fashionable is a statement that goes beyond your wardrobe.
From a brand experience POV - this is manifesting as a transition from building fashion showcases to fashion moments - exhilarating experiences that stay with you not because of the front row, but because of how they made you feel. It’s why fashion is now finding expression in immersive dinners where the food tells the same story as the garments; or why music performances are no longer just pre or post - show entertainment - they’re becoming part of the narrative.
Blenders Pride Fashion Tour 2025 captured exactly this. Keeping its experimental, ahead-of-the-trend format intact; this year’s edition was about more than the runway. It was about celebrating an entire, glamorous, en-vogue world that elicits awe and desirability and feels somehow, “larger” than just the latest collection preview. It’s why Jacqueline Fernandes vibed and jived to the live beats of Hari & Sukhmani at designer Kanika Goyal’s show to an enraptured audience. Or why an entire world celebrating the life and legacy of the late great Rohit Bal - from his Kashmiri heritage to his penchant for hedonism - came alive with 100 icons from his universe walking in his honour.
What’s clear is that fashion is becoming the entry point into something bigger: a lifestyle, a way of being, a cultural point of view. Brands are no longer just dressing people-they’re inviting them into a world. One that spans food, music, entertainment, lifestyle and emotion.
It’s 2025 - didactical, trend-driven style is out; holistic, all-encapsulating “fashioned” worlds are in! What this really means is that fashion is at a juncture where it manifests as more than the clothes you wear - it’s also the style-driven choices you make. From the way you socialise to the hobbies you indulge in - being fashionable is a statement that goes beyond your wardrobe.
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From a brand experience POV - this is manifesting as a transition from building fashion showcases to fashion moments - exhilarating experiences that stay with you not because of the front row, but because of how they made you feel. It’s why fashion is now finding expression in immersive dinners where the food tells the same story as the garments; or why music performances are no longer just pre or post - show entertainment - they’re becoming part of the narrative.
Blenders Pride Fashion Tour 2025 captured exactly this. Keeping its experimental, ahead-of-the-trend format intact; this year’s edition was about more than the runway. It was about celebrating an entire, glamorous, en-vogue world that elicits awe and desirability and feels somehow, “larger” than just the latest collection preview. It’s why Jacqueline Fernandes vibed and jived to the live beats of Hari & Sukhmani at designer Kanika Goyal’s show to an enraptured audience. Or why an entire world celebrating the life and legacy of the late great Rohit Bal - from his Kashmiri heritage to his penchant for hedonism - came alive with 100 icons from his universe walking in his honour.
What’s clear is that fashion is becoming the entry point into something bigger: a lifestyle, a way of being, a cultural point of view. Brands are no longer just dressing people-they’re inviting them into a world. One that spans food, music, entertainment, lifestyle and emotion.
Brick-and-mortar;
But Make It Transient!
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Pop-ups. The experiential buzzword. The marketing super- tool that does it all. It’s a glorified billboard-meets-brand playground-meets point-of-sale-meets-cultural moment! Calling them “pop-ups” almost feels reductive, because they have rapidly emerged as the most potent experiential format - mobile expressions of a brand’s soul. So profound is their impact; that they have shaped experiences beyond those of their own brand - for instance music festivals have become almost unthinkable without a cool lineup of brand activations and pop-ups.
H&M at Lollapalooza is a prime example advocating the might of the pop-up. A campaign and experience so utterly fun and delightful that it arguably became the most talked-about aspect of the entire festival! So what made the campaign such an experiential powerhouse? One single brand - yet the experience it offered was very layered and very thoughtful.
Visually cool, super instagrammable spaces? Check. Spotlight moments for festival-goers to feel special and validated? Check. Thoughtful benefits for loyalty members? Check. Immersions that went beyond the brand and enhanced the overall festival experience? Check. And needless to say - showcasing the collection in the most seamless way that created desirability? A loud, resounding - check!
It is evident - today’s most compelling pop-ups are the ones that offer a refreshing point of view. And therein lies the golden opportunity that brands can leverage - offering a POV that creates an enhanced sense of desirability.
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Pop-ups. The experiential buzzword. The marketing super- tool that does it all. It’s a glorified billboard-meets-brand playground-meets point-of-sale-meets-cultural moment! Calling them “pop-ups” almost feels reductive, because they have rapidly emerged as the most potent experiential format - mobile expressions of a brand’s soul. So profound is their impact; that they have shaped experiences beyond those of their own brand - for instance music festivals have become almost unthinkable without a cool lineup of brand activations and pop-ups.
H&M at Lollapalooza is a prime example advocating the might of the pop-up. A campaign and experience so utterly fun and delightful that it arguably became the most talked-about aspect of the entire festival! So what made the campaign such an experiential powerhouse? One single brand - yet the experience it offered was very layered and very thoughtful.
Visually cool, super instagrammable spaces? Check. Spotlight moments for festival-goers to feel special and validated? Check. Thoughtful benefits for loyalty members? Check. Immersions that went beyond the brand and enhanced the overall festival experience? Check. And needless to say - showcasing the collection in the most seamless way that created desirability? A loud, resounding - check!
It is evident - today’s most compelling pop-ups are the ones that offer a refreshing point of view. And therein lies the golden opportunity that brands can leverage - offering a POV that creates an enhanced sense of desirability.
Go Big Close-knit
For Bigger Impact
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While grand, high-production value experiences still have their place, there’s a growing recognition that intimacy holds a different kind of power-one rooted in trust, emotional connection, and long-term loyalty. This holds especially true for premium and upward brands.
Mass spectacles are making way for carefully built and thoughtfully curated “micro communities” - intimate, focused groups of individuals who are invited to belong - to the brand, to the ideology and amongst one another.
So while the flashiest launches or the biggest parties may seem few and far between - they are making way for something meaningful - access to an experience created for just a select few. Maybe you’ll find yourself in the most enriching conversation with the brand’s founder. Or be bestowed with a thoughtful keepsake, crafted - yes, crafted not just personalised - exclusively for you.
To commemorate completing 10 years as a most beloved label - Lovebirds curated an experience with a singular statement - the Circle Of Love - symbolically represented by a 50-foot table to host the inner circle of the brand. The table - and the experience at large, became a canvas, that was painted with truly poignant moments - a multi-course culinary masterpiece, anonymous notes floating between guests; a live-crafted mural and a symbolic communal partaking in a sweet and indulgent moment.
Does it make sense, though? To invest in the small painstaking details for a close-knit audience instead of making a splashy statement. From what we’ve witnessed (and built!) - definitely!
By nurturing these relatively smaller communities, brands are creating a sense of closeness that’s hard to replicate at scale. When someone feels seen, heard, and personally engaged, the relationship with the brand moves beyond the transactional into something lasting; almost as though the brand is saying,
“You matter enough for us to make it personal.”
While grand, high-production value experiences still have their place, there’s a growing recognition that intimacy holds a different kind of power-one rooted in trust, emotional connection, and long-term loyalty. This holds especially true for premium and upward brands.
Mass spectacles are making way for carefully built and thoughtfully curated “micro communities” - intimate, focused groups of individuals who are invited to belong - to the brand, to the ideology and amongst one another.
So while the flashiest launches or the biggest parties may seem few and far between - they are making way for something meaningful - access to an experience created for just a select few. Maybe you’ll find yourself in the most enriching conversation with the brand’s founder. Or be bestowed with a thoughtful keepsake, crafted - yes, crafted not just personalised - exclusively for you.
To commemorate completing 10 years as a most beloved label - Lovebirds curated an experience with a singular statement - the Circle Of Love - symbolically represented by a 50-foot table to host the inner circle of the brand. The table - and the experience at large, became a canvas, that was painted with truly poignant moments - a multi-course culinary masterpiece, anonymous notes floating between guests; a live-crafted mural and a symbolic communal partaking in a sweet and indulgent moment.
Does it make sense, though? To invest in the small painstaking details for a close-knit audience instead of making a splashy statement. From what we’ve witnessed (and built!) - definitely!
By nurturing these relatively smaller communities, brands are creating a sense of closeness that’s hard to replicate at scale. When someone feels seen, heard, and personally engaged, the relationship with the brand moves beyond the transactional into something lasting; almost as though the brand is saying,
“You matter enough for us to make it personal.”
India Turns Muse
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There’s a renewed reverence to roots - specifically in the Indian context. And it’s not just the local brands that are placing their India-pride in spotlight. Even global brands consciously realise that to truly connect, you don’t speak to India-you speak from within it.
This reverence is manifesting as a celebration of identity, craftsmanship, and cultural richness - that goes far beyond the tokenism that might once have been. From the revival of lost and forgotten crafts, to a platform for regional artisans; from storytelling that finds inspiration in geographies to scenography that draw from mythology - the vibrancy of Indianness is one that is becoming a key hook for brands to strike a resonant chord.
It is no surprise then, that the true-to-spirit legacy French Maison - Cartier - seeks to engage India - both within the country and its diaspora on the festival of Diwali.
Come festive season, the most decadent of experiences, capturing the iconicity of Cartier and their interpretation of Indian culture manifests in India and beyond; and has rapidly become the most awaited celebration in their audience’s social and festive calendar. Indian rituals, motifs, flavours, beats and design all become the inspiration for an experience that is quintessential Indian through-and-through; yet stunningly true to the brand.
There’s something incredibly powerful in seeing luxury reframed through the lens of our own stories. Beyond its own legacy, it is this cultural consciousness that wins patronage and makes a luxury brand feel - well, luxury - in a way that is
not easily replicable.
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There’s a renewed reverence to roots - specifically in the Indian context. And it’s not just the local brands that are placing their India-pride in spotlight. Even global brands consciously realise that to truly connect, you don’t speak to India-you speak from within it.
This reverence is manifesting as a celebration of identity, craftsmanship, and cultural richness - that goes far beyond the tokenism that might once have been. From the revival of lost and forgotten crafts, to a platform for regional artisans; from storytelling that finds inspiration in geographies to scenography that draw from mythology - the vibrancy of Indianness is one that is becoming a key hook for brands to strike a resonant chord.
It is no surprise then, that the true-to-spirit legacy French Maison - Cartier - seeks to engage India - both within the country and its diaspora on the festival of Diwali.
Come festive season, the most decadent of experiences, capturing the iconicity of Cartier and their interpretation of Indian culture manifests in India and beyond; and has rapidly become the most awaited celebration in their audience’s social and festive calendar. Indian rituals, motifs, flavours, beats and design all become the inspiration for an experience that is quintessential Indian through-and-through; yet stunningly true to the brand.
There’s something incredibly powerful in seeing luxury reframed through the lens of our own stories. Beyond its own legacy, it is this cultural consciousness that wins patronage and makes a luxury brand feel - well, luxury - in a way that is
not easily replicable.
By nurturing these relatively smaller communities, brands are creating a sense of closeness that’s hard to replicate at scale. When someone feels seen, heard, and personally engaged, the relationship with the brand moves beyond the transactional into something lasting; almost as though the brand is saying,
“You matter enough for us to make it personal.”
Storyliving > Storytelling
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For the longest while now, storytelling has stopped been a brand USP; and almost become a pre-requisite.
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Today, the bar’s gone a notch higher and shifted from storytelling to storyliving. It’s no longer enough to “hear of” the brand’s ethos, legacy or origin. Audiences want to feel, touch, taste it - to really consume and ultimately, buy into its narrative.
So how do brands go from narrating stories to making audiences the protagonist of these stories? By crafting worlds where the narrative completely envelops you, drawing in your memories, your mood and your senses.
It’s also why brands now handpick the narratives that are most vivid to express via various stimuli. Narratives such as the emotion of nostalgia - which is truly having its moment right now! Fred Perry recently leveraged the emotion of nostalgia to craft an experience that allowed its audience to emotionally bond and connect with it. From a vinyl listening station to 90s-reminiscent arcade games - the experience wove the audience into a story where they felt something familiar, something warm and reassuring. It wasn’t just the message of the collection, but the emotion of it that made it really striking.
The most intriguing aspect of brand engagement of this nature, is how subtle yet how powerful it can be. It doesn’t shout and peddle and jargonise. It just invites you into its realm and delivers a powerful emotion driven story that one gets to actually live and be a part of. And just how organically acquaintances turn to meaningful relationships when an incident, a story, a memory comes into the equation - it appears that the same principle holds true for brands creating these moments for their audiences.
For the longest while now, storytelling has stopped been a brand USP; and almost become a pre-requisite.
Today, the bar’s gone a notch higher and shifted from storytelling to storyliving. It’s no longer enough to “hear of” the brand’s ethos, legacy or origin. Audiences want to feel, touch, taste it - to really consume and ultimately, buy into its narrative.
So how do brands go from narrating stories to making audiences the protagonist of these stories? By crafting worlds where the narrative completely envelops you, drawing in your memories, your mood and your senses.
It’s also why brands now handpick the narratives that are most vivid to express via various stimuli. Narratives such as the emotion of nostalgia - which is truly having its moment right now! Fred Perry recently leveraged the emotion of nostalgia to craft an experience that allowed its audience to emotionally bond and connect with it. From a vinyl listening station to 90s-reminiscent arcade games - the experience wove the audience into a story where they felt something familiar, something warm and reassuring. It wasn’t just the message of the collection, but the emotion of it that made it really striking.
The most intriguing aspect of brand engagement of this nature, is how subtle yet how powerful it can be. It doesn’t shout and peddle and jargonise. It just invites you into its realm and delivers a powerful emotion driven story that one gets to actually live and be a part of. And just how organically acquaintances turn to meaningful relationships when an incident, a story, a memory comes into the equation - it appears that the same principle holds true for brands creating these moments for their audiences.
By nurturing these relatively smaller communities, brands are creating a sense of closeness that’s hard to replicate at scale. When someone feels seen, heard, and personally engaged, the relationship with the brand moves beyond the transactional into something lasting; almost as though the brand is saying,
“You matter enough for us to make it personal.”
Democratising Emotion, Elevating Desire
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Luxury’s evolution from inaccessibility to emotional accessibility is not lost on the travel retail segment. Once seen as purely transactional, travel retail is fast becoming a powerful canvas for cultural storytelling and immersive brand-building. It's no longer just about buying in transit - it’s about experiencing something rare, personal, and moving.
When the limited edition Glenmorangie Azuma Makoto 23 Years Old was introduced to India, it wasn’t displayed as a distant object to admire from afar. Instead, it became the heart of an immersive showcase: an intricately designed art installation that interpreted nature’s elements through a living terrarium, and a sensorial booth that allowed travellers to experience the whisky’s floral-earthy layers through touch and scent. In this moment, luxury moved beyond ownership and into emotional participation.
By making art, craftsmanship, and narrative physically and emotionally accessible, brands are dismantling old ideas of exclusivity. They are not diluting rarity - they are expanding its relevance. Today, luxury is about cultivating awe, offering cultural access, and creating moments that invite you to step inside the story. And in doing so, brands are building a deeper, more democratic kind of desire - one where beauty isn’t just seen, but felt, lived, and carried forward as memory.
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Luxury’s evolution from inaccessibility to emotional accessibility is not lost on the travel retail segment. Once seen as purely transactional, travel retail is fast becoming a powerful canvas for cultural storytelling and immersive brand-building. It's no longer just about buying in transit - it’s about experiencing something rare, personal, and moving.
When the limited edition Glenmorangie Azuma Makoto 23 Years Old was introduced to India, it wasn’t displayed as a distant object to admire from afar. Instead, it became the heart of an immersive showcase: an intricately designed art installation that interpreted nature’s elements through a living terrarium, and a sensorial booth that allowed travellers to experience the whisky’s floral-earthy layers through touch and scent. In this moment, luxury moved beyond ownership and into emotional participation.
.png)
By making art, craftsmanship, and narrative physically and emotionally accessible, brands are dismantling old ideas of exclusivity. They are not diluting rarity - they are expanding its relevance. Today, luxury is about cultivating awe, offering cultural access, and creating moments that invite you to step inside the story. And in doing so, brands are building a deeper, more democratic kind of desire - one where beauty isn’t just seen, but felt, lived, and carried forward as memory.
Raw is Resonant
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The world - and our feeds at large are flooded with the perfect, the pristine the polished - all meticulously curated. Consequently, there has emerged a certain trust factor about what’s real and what isn’t; closely followed by a yearning for more emotionally resonant, unfiltered stories. So from a content perspective, it is no longer just a glamourous face, production value or trend alignment - but real and raw human moments that genuinely move audiences.
Royal Enfield as a legacy automotive brand introspected on this very insight for their long-standing racing IP - the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup. They arrived at the conclusion that the existing content was consistent but perhaps almost a bit clinical. Leaderboards, lap times, race footage that absolutely captured the mechanics of the sport but missed out on the emotion that would allow the audience to feel connected.
So for Season 24, a pivoted lens led to a change in focus - from the ride to the riders. Through in-depth conversations, a world of emotion was unearthed; the grit behind the gear, the family dynamics that made the dream possible, the sacrifices, the fire to compete. These deeply human stories became the heart of a new video series-shifting the content from documentation to emotive storytelling. The results spoke for themselves: engagement soared, audiences lingered longer, and the brand became a storyteller of ambition and identity.
This shift indicates quite abundantly - an emotive connect; which is rooted in the very human experiences of nostalgia, humour, struggle, belonging is an extremely powerful metric.
Pop-ups. The experiential buzzword. The marketing super- tool that does it all. It’s a glorified billboard-meets-brand playground-meets point-of-sale-meets-cultural moment! Calling them “pop-ups” almost feels reductive, because they have rapidly emerged as the most potent experiential format - mobile expressions of a brand’s soul. So profound is their impact; that they have shaped experiences beyond those of their own brand - for instance music festivals have become almost unthinkable without a cool lineup of brand activations and pop-ups.
H&M at Lollapalooza is a prime example advocating the might of the pop-up. A campaign and experience so utterly fun and delightful that it arguably became the most talked-about aspect of the entire festival! So what made the campaign such an experiential powerhouse? One single brand - yet the experience it offered was very layered and very thoughtful.
Visually cool, super instagrammable spaces? Check. Spotlight moments for festival-goers to feel special and validated? Check. Thoughtful benefits for loyalty members? Check. Immersions that went beyond the brand and enhanced the overall festival experience? Check. And needless to say - showcasing the collection in the most seamless way that created desirability? A loud, resounding - check!
It is evident - today’s most compelling pop-ups are the ones that offer a refreshing point of view. And therein lies the golden opportunity that brands can leverage - offering a POV that creates an enhanced sense of desirability.
A Parting
Thought
The emerging patterns tell us something important: emotional intelligence is becoming a strategic advantage. Micro-communities, immersive formats, sensorial cues, and cultural nuance are not just trends-they're tools for deeper engagement. As they invariably will (and must!) audience expectations tend to evolve - and these tools make for very rousing means to effectively meet those expectations.
A Parting
Thought
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