Zepto is betting on instinct, cultural moments over big ad spends: Chandan Mendiratta, CBO

For a brand that promises delivery in minutes, Zepto’s marketing moves at a similarly fast pace, but rarely along familiar routes. From a fake wedding that spilled onto social feeds to a New Year’s party staged days before December 31, the quick commerce company is experimenting with how relevance can be built in an increasingly cluttered attention economy.

At the centre of these decisions is Chandan Mendiratta, Chief Brand Officer at Zepto, who is upfront about the absence of a fixed branding blueprint. Instead of long-term calendars or defined IP frameworks, the company’s marketing is evolving in real time, shaped by cultural moments and internal instinct.

“The team is extremely talented, but the second big thing about the team is that we think there are no bad ideas,” Mendiratta says. “There are only two kinds of ideas, good ideas and ideas that take you to good ideas.”

That belief has led Zepto to greenlight ideas that would typically struggle to pass conventional brand filters. The fake wedding campaign is one such example. What started as an outrageous internal suggestion went on to deliver widespread visibility, including attention from international media.

Internally, Mendiratta says the creative environment is deliberately designed to encourage openness. “The team can say anything they want. Some of these ideas are extremely outrageous,” he says, but then they happen.

Relevance over scale

Unlike large FMCG advertisers, Zepto has not built its marketing strategy around sustained high-spend brand campaigns. A significant portion of its budget continues to flow into performance marketing, something Mendiratta says is inevitable for online-first platforms.

“We do a lot of brand building campaigns, but we do not spend a lot of money on it,” he says, adding that many of Zepto’s events are co-sponsored by brand partners. “We try to do brand campaigns at minimal cost. A big part still goes to performance. We want to be relevant for our customers.”

That relevance is also closely tied to timing. The New Year party, for instance, is being held well ahead of December 31. “Everybody will have a New Year party,” Mendiratta explains. “We want to be relevant when that party happens because there are a lot of things you will be ordering during this party.”

According to him, staging the event earlier allows Zepto to push content during the key ordering window. “If we did it on the 31st, when will the content go,” he asks. “The idea is to stay relevant.”

Still experimenting, not declaring IPs

Despite the attention generated by recent campaigns, Mendiratta resists framing them as established intellectual properties. “I do not have a blueprint. I do not have an IP for now. We just did two events,” he says.

In his view, IPs emerge after repeated success, not before. “IP is formed after you have done something. We are still figuring out. We are learning by doing.”

He also acknowledges the limitations of brand marketing measurement. “Impressions-wise it is awesome, but brand campaigns are very hard to measure,” he says, adding that for now, internal sentiment and consumer response are the primary indicators. “If a brand has fun, customers have fun too.”

Clear red lines on topicality

While Zepto frequently taps into cultural moments, it does so selectively. Mendiratta says the team consciously avoids certain areas. “We stay away from anything religious or political,” he says. “There are some topics we just do not talk about.”

This filtering is particularly important in a category where scale and mass reach can amplify backlash as quickly as buzz.

Brand as the long-term differentiator

In a market where quick commerce platforms are often interchangeable on price and speed, Zepto is attempting to build brand affinity alongside product strength. “Product truth has to be strong,” Mendiratta says, pointing to no extra charges, availability and assortment.

However, he is clear-eyed about where the category is heading. “In the long run, all of us will have the same assortment and availability,” he says. “Then brand will be that delta.”

That belief has translated into steady investment. Zepto spent Rs 303.5 crore on advertising and promotions in FY24, a 41 per cent increase from Rs 215.8 crore in FY23. The higher spend came alongside strong revenue growth, which helped improve margins. The company’s net loss narrowed marginally by 2 per cent, from Rs 1,271.84 crore in FY23 to Rs 1,248.64 crore in FY24.

Quick commerce becomes default search in 2025

Mendiratta notes that consumer behaviour has also shifted in the past year, with quick commerce apps increasingly becoming the first place people search for everyday needs. “Whatever we want, the first app could be any of the three apps,” he says. “Whichever we are loyal to, that is what we open first.”

If a product is unavailable, users simply move on to another app, making assortment and availability critical. “As long as we are the most favourite app and have everything sorted, that is our way to grow,” he adds.

One recent example of Zepto responding to these shifts is its Secret Santa feature. The product allows users to create groups, shuffle participants, build wish lists and send gifts directly to recipients within minutes. “It is the first of its kind product in the world,” Mendiratta says, positioning it as quick commerce aligning with social rituals rather than a standalone tech feature.

Offline built for online

Even when Zepto invests in traditional media such as outdoor advertising, the end goal remains digital amplification. “Everything traditional has to still come online,” Mendiratta says. “That is where you get the most impressions.”

According to him, outdoor campaigns, experiential events and packaging are all designed with shareability in mind. “Our outdoor gets talked about online. Our fake wedding got talked about online. Our New Year party also gets talked about online.”

At just over four years old, Zepto is still shaping its brand identity. There is no fixed six-month roadmap and no claim of having cracked brand building. What the company is betting on instead is that in a category moving rapidly towards parity, relevance, delivered quickly and repeatedly, may prove to be a defensible advantage.