Some ads are “seen.”
A rare few are felt.
They become conversations, memes, WhatsApp forwards, and nostalgia triggers. They linger in timelines, group chats, and office banter. In a noisy internet, these campaigns didn’t just chase attention… they owned it.
In India’s vibrant and chaotic digital landscape, where every scroll is a battle for eyeballs, a few campaigns have transcended marketing and entered culture itself. These are the ones that didn’t just go viral — they stayed, talked about, and remembered.
CRED — Indiranagar Ka Gunda
“Indiranagar ka gunda hoon main” became more than a tagline; it became a cultural whisper that roared across social media.
Rahul Dravid, the epitome of calm and composure, suddenly became the chaotic hero of Bengaluru nightlife. The genius lay in its simplicity: a celebrity out of character, zero explanations, and perfectly meme-able content. Audiences completed the joke themselves — and that completion is what turned the campaign into a viral sensation.
Impact: In under a week, the campaign recorded 114K+ engagements and millions of views (source).
Lesson: When you mix nostalgia with unexpected humor, the internet can’t help but respond. People don’t just watch — they participate, they replicate, they share.
Swiggy — #VoiceOfHunger
This wasn’t an ad you watch. It was a playable challenge. People became the content. Swiggy turned Instagram’s voice-note feature into a creative playground, letting users drive virality themselves.
Impact: Participation skyrocketed as the campaign went viral organically (case study).
Lesson: Let your audience co-create. Virality doesn’t happen when brands speak — it happens when they invite participation.
Fevicol — The Bus That Stuck Forever
Before the internet even existed, Fevicol nailed the art of virality with visuals that transcended words.
The bus ad, showing passengers stuck together due to the magic of Fevicol, didn’t need dialogue. The message was clear, visual, and universally relatable: strong bonds last forever. This simplicity is the reason people still recall the ad decades later.
Impact: The campaign became an icon, almost never making it to the screen, yet it is remembered as one of India’s most iconic advertising moments (story).
Lesson: Powerful ideas don’t need words. They need relatability, humor, and a truth people instantly understand.
Amul — The Original Meme Factory
Amul has been “meme-ing” long before memes were a thing. Every time something happens in India — cricket, politics, cinema — Amul is ready with a topical ad that hits instantly.
This is not just marketing; this is culture-making. Amul’s topical approach is witty, consistent, and contextually aware, creating content that people want to share.
Impact: Over 50 years of topical ads have made Amul the longest-running campaign in India (archive).
Lesson: Timeliness and cultural fluency matter more than glitzy production. Being part of the conversation consistently builds unmatched brand recall.
Zomato — Fuel Your Hustle
Zomato’s “Fuel Your Hustle” campaign shifted focus from food delivery to celebrating the quiet grind behind India’s loudest names. Featuring icons like Shah Rukh Khan, Mary Kom, AR Rahman, and Jasprit Bumrah, the film highlighted their journeys marked by humble beginnings, no shortcuts, and unwavering discipline.
Impact: The campaign resonated widely on social media, with massive engagement and shares (source).
Lesson: Emotional storytelling combined with cultural relevance drives engagement far more than product features ever could.
The Common Thread
Across these campaigns, a few patterns emerge:
- Cultural Relevance – Aligning with current events, popular sentiment, or nostalgia.
- Participation Over Consumption – Inviting the audience to be part of the story, not passive watchers.
- Simplicity & Relatability – Ideas people understand instantly and share eagerly.
- Humor & Wit – Everyday struggles, celebrity quirks, or cultural nuances make campaigns memorable.
When people share campaigns, they aren’t sharing a product. They’re sharing how it made them feel about themselves. That is the essence of viral marketing in India.
At RedCrabs Creative Works, we craft campaigns that don’t just get noticed — they get talked about. We engineer talk value that travels organically, creating cultural moments, not just content.
The internet doesn’t reward visibility alone. It rewards participation, emotion, and cultural resonance. That’s the kind of marketing that breaks the internet — and stays there.
