The secrets of the challenger brand that went viral. Cultural Strategy Made in India.

It’s gone viral and it’s gone global. Echoes of the 2024-2026 campaign for challenger Northwestern Indian soda brand, Lahori Zeera, have reached London and global adland. A campaign based on surreal humour, visual exaggeration and a dialogue-free format, it has already achieved a market share increase of 15% in under two years.

The first iteration of the campaign, launched in Oct 2024, achieved over 10m views on YouTube and led the path to what promises to be another coup from the brand, with its latest January 2026 release. In the first advert, individual or groups of characters are seen wandering around, playing sports or escaping from the police with their bottle of Lahori Zeera stuck to their mouth. Much like a second lung, the bottle is portrayed as a must-have to live, breathe and identify (an interesting turn in the advert is when one of the younger characters is at the reception desk of a college, forgets to hold his bottle near his mouth and suddenly remembers this is how his student card photo was taken, and thus how the staff will identify him). In the latest Jan 26 iteration, the advert doesn’t immediately display characters with their bottles but it cleverly prepares the ground by demonstrating how most local trades had to adjust their product designs to allow for this new consumption and living trend.

So what is it about this campaign that has taken the country by storm? How does this creative coup deliver on a brand promise and take a local underdog to compete on the same stage as top international brands? 

Unsurprisingly, the answer lies in culture…

The product: a modern spin on cultural heritage

Jeera (cumin) based drinks have always been popular in North and Western India. Jeera is a base for the refreshing shikanji,  the digestive jal-jeera made at home often with black salt (Lahori). As a condiment, cumin has a strong perception locally of being refreshing and healthy. Lahori Zeera has given a refresh to the traditional jeera drinks and positioned them around a 'cool' ritual consumption. Visually speaking, the link to tradition has been encoded by showing the floating particles, which are intrinsic to traditional cumin drinks. 

Strategically, this has allowed Lahori Zeera to position itself as a slightly healthier and heritage-rooted alternative to the otherwise 'unhealthy' or 'bad for you' colas. 

Cultural confidence and domestic appeal

Sunil R. Shetty, Senior Strategist, sheds a light on Lahori Zeera’s strategy for us: “The campaign is unapologetically Indian in every sense, which creates an instant connection with the audience. Each scene addresses the 'real middle class', which other cola or soft drink brands have mostly dismissed over the years, trying to appeal to the 'urban cool and hip' audience at the top of the pyramid. As a challenger brand, Lahori Zeera has traded standard tropes of coolness for a real connection to its audience.” 

Over time, exaggeration as a creative device has been extremely successful for many mass-market brands in India. Fevicol built its success on this recipe in the late 90’s with a series of ads that would become classics (videos here and here). Lahori Zeera takes forward this tradition of whimsy exaggeration rooting it into daily-life references, to create a memorable narrative, which works on many levels. 

Through this quirky, creative, humorous campaign, the brand brings to the fore a strong sense of local pride, which none of the global counterparts can compete with. This great sense of authenticity resonates with audiences across ages, thought most particularly with younger folks, and is a great setting to bring local sense of humour and innovation to the fore.

Honest, unapologetic, heritage-linked, the campaign fuels its challenger status, using familiar humour and behaviours. Some examples of this can be seen in the first execution where scenes depict a roadside stall where jaljeeras are still often sipped, the tradition of mud wrestling (kushti) and the busy commutes which are an everyday reality. 

Sunil adds: “In the latest release, the brand very continues to showcase ‘the real India’ - a delivery person in a lift, the security guard stuck in a cabin in the heat, shops layered on top of one another - all situations where a jeera drink fits seamlessly and intuitively in the Indian context. This combined with the middle-class’ tradition of endlessly upcycling everything, creates a memorable twist of a tale inspired by reality and lived experience.”

Adding to its momentum, the brand staked its claim in culture with a simple, sticky tagline “Har Koi Peera Lahori Zeera” (“Everyone’s Drinking Lahori Zeera”), sharply boosting recall and turning the line into everyday language across India.

Along with its social and PR success, the brand has managed to convert this into a concrete commercial success with a 67% net revenue growth turning it into the 4th largest carbonated drink and top ethnic soda in India.

Another live example that culturally-intelligent strategies pay off - in many ways.

Picture and video credits: Lahori Zeera