Instagram, Amazon Basics, Zomato win audiences with emotion not hardsell: RuderFinn's Aashima Malik explain how

There was a time when landing your brand on the front page of a pink paper or getting that prime-time mention felt like striking gold. For any PR professional, that was the ultimate validation: visibility, credibility, and the reassuring hum of media buzz. But that time feels long gone now.

Today, we operate in a landscape where algorithms shape what we see, reels and memes influence conversations, and micro-communities often carry more weight than mass media ever could. Storytelling is no longer linear. It is layered, dynamic, and deeply personal. The front page is no longer a place; it is a moment, and it exists everywhere.

This shift has fundamentally changed what success looks like in communication. It is no longer defined by how loudly a brand can speak, but by how well it can listen, adapt, and behave. Increasingly, audiences do not want to be influenced; they want to be understood. They are not just buying products; they are buying into ethos, values, language, and identity. They want to feel seen, not sold to. And that changes everything about how integrated campaigns need to be designed.

Instgram's Close Friends Only Campaign 

Take Instagram’s “Close Friends Only” campaign, for instance. It was not about pushing out a feature. It was built on a sharp behavioural truth that Gen Z does not want to broadcast everything to everyone. They crave intimacy, authenticity, and the freedom to share on their own terms. The campaign leaned into this insight, was co-created with creators who understood those nuances, and was delivered in formats that felt natural to how this audience already communicates. It worked not because it spoke the loudest, but because it respected the behaviour behind the screen.

We see this approach reflected across some of the most culturally resonant brands today. Zomato, for example, has mastered the art of behaving like a brand that understands its audience’s moments. It knows when you are hungry, what tone you will respond to, and how to sound like a friend rather than an advertiser. Apple, in a very different way, has built an enduring belief system around lifestyle and identity rather than technology alone. Every interaction is shaped by how people live, create, and move through the world. These are brands that not only communicate, but also connect.

Amazon Basics World Sleep Day Campaign with RuderFinn India 

For Amazon Basics, we at RuderFinn India leveraged World Sleep Day to build conversations around the role of technology in helping create and manage proper sleep routines. The campaign was conceived from real use cases, a significant lifestyle-related challenge that needed to be addressed. We conceptualised a creative campaign to highlight how technology, particularly Alexa, can be useful in helping people establish a consistent sleep routine, which in turn can contribute to overall health. Such an integrated campaign exemplifies how PR has evolved from brand communication to consumer-centric innovation in communication.

At Ruder Finn, we have been rethinking integrated campaigns through this same lens of behaviour. The question is no longer, “How do we reach everyone?” but “Where are our audiences naturally spending time, and how do we belong there?” We look at data not as numbers on a dashboard, but as signals of human intent. Late-night scrolls, shifting cultural cues, and emerging habits all of these tell us where attention truly lives.

Because communication that works today is not about controlling narratives. It is about co-creating them. It is about being present where your audience already is, not to interrupt their experience, but to be a meaningful part of it.

The future of integrated campaigns will belong to brands that can read both the room and the rhythm of their audiences. Brands that listen before they speak, and understand behaviour before they design messages. When brand and behaviour align, stories stop feeling like campaigns. They begin to feel like a culture.

Aashima Malik, VP – consumer tech, Ruder Finn India