Open any quick-commerce app and India’s soda aisle feels like a game of spot the difference. The same slim cans, pastel-meets-bright palettes, minimalist fonts and berry-citrus-tropical flavour notes are crowding the screen. Berry, citrus and zero-sugar promises compete for the same search, but the brands behind them are getting harder to distinguish.
The thumbnail becomes the shelf
On a quick-commerce screen, a beverage is reduced to a thumbnail next to a dozen rivals. Nisha Sampath, founder of Bright Angles Consulting, said people often search by a need such as "zero sugar" or "prebiotic" rather than by a brand. The result is that familiar category cues, like a clean pastel can, help a product signal what it is without giving consumers a reason to remember who makes it.
Some launches are borrowing the visual language of Western better-for-you sodas such as Olipop. Karan Aujla’s Zyro has also been compared with Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime Hydration for its similar celebrity-backed, zero-sugar wellness positioning.
Same look, same thinking
Hemal Majithia, founder of brand solutions agency OktoBuzz, calls this the “Differentiation Paradox”: brands trying to look like what consumers want end up looking like their competitors. "Everyone wants to look modern, youthful and premium," he said, leading to near-identical colours, cans and fonts.
The commercial logic is straightforward. Syed Amjad Ali, a brand consultant who works on e-commerce and D2C platforms, said discoverability and conversion often take priority over brand equity:
- Similar products compete side by side, so price, promotions, ratings and availability drive choice.
- Platform advertising and search rankings become the main levers for visibility.
- Return on ad spend, not memorability, is often the key performance measure.
That rewards the first click, but not necessarily the next purchase.
Trial is not loyalty
A first buy may come from packaging, curiosity, a discount or a health claim. Repeat purchase depends on the product experience and whether a consumer has a reason to return. As Majithia put it: “Trial is not loyalty.” Sampath added that brands are buying trials without cashing in on the opportunity to build memorability.
If a brand’s most recognisable feature is a pastel can or a zero-sugar claim, competitors can adopt the same cue quickly. The brand itself stays forgettable.
An Indian identity waiting to be claimed
Sampath believes Indian beverage brands have an opening to draw from the country’s own flavours and visual culture, much as local spirit labels such as Jaisalmer, Godawan and Bira91 have done. The goal is not to make every product overtly Indian, but to build a recognisable identity through flavour, personality, packaging or an occasion a brand wants to own.
Majithia suggested starting with one question: what is the one thing we want consumers to remember us for? Then every choice, from packaging and communication to product experience, should reinforce that single idea.
Another colourful can may win a click. Whether shoppers remember the brand behind it after the first order is a different question.
Source: Indian Advertising Media & Marketing News – exchange4media
