What is brand equity? Meaning, Indian examples and how to build it
Brand equity in plain words, plus a four number check you can run this week from data you already have, and the habit that quietly spends it.
What is moment marketing? Indian examples and a safe way to start
Quick answer
Moment marketing is a brand posting something tied to a live event, trend or festival while people are still talking about it. It works when the moment fits your buyer and your product, and when a sign-off was arranged before the moment arrived. Small brands should start with predictable dates and skip tragedies, politics and strangers' photos.
One of the most famous tweets in marketing took about 15 people in a room and two words from the person with final say: "Yes, send." Most guides tell you to be fast. The part they skip is that the speed was built in advance.
Moment marketing is content tied to something happening right now: a festival, a match, a power cut, a meme. Newsjacking, trendjacking and real-time marketing are close cousins. In India you know it as the Amul hoarding, the Zomato meme post or the Diwali greeting that says something real.
This post gives you the meaning, four Indian examples, three kinds of moments, the legal traps and a five step start.
What is moment marketing in simple words?
Moment marketing means connecting your brand to a moment your buyers are already paying attention to, so your post borrows their attention instead of buying it.
A normal post has to earn a stop from scratch. A moment post arrives when the scroll is already full of the topic. That is the whole advantage, and it fades fast: Kimp's newsjacking guide lists "missing the window" as a mistake, because content posted after the news fades is wasted effort.
The catch is that the borrowed attention only converts if the link to your product is honest. A random meme with your logo on it gets a laugh and no buyer.
How is moment marketing different from newsjacking and ambush marketing?
Moment marketing covers any live moment, newsjacking is the news-story version, real-time marketing is any fast reply, and ambush marketing uses someone else's event without permission.
| Term | What it ties to | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Moment marketing | A festival, match, trend or meme | Looking forced |
| Newsjacking | A news story | The story turns sad or political |
| Real-time marketing | Anything happening now, including replies | Speed without a check |
| Ambush marketing | An event or athlete you have no deal with | Legal notices |
Some guides, including Kimp's, use moment marketing and newsjacking as one term. The split matters for risk. A festival has a calendar date and a safe tone. A news story can change its mood in an afternoon.
What are the best moment marketing examples in India?
The best Indian examples are Amul's topical ads, Faasos in a Mumbai power cut, Zomato's food-bill joke and Oreo's blackout tweet, and all four sat right next to what the brand sells.
- Amul. Amul's own history page dates its first topical ad to 1969, "Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry", made by the team around Sylvester daCunha. The topicals kept running for decades. The ads sat on hoardings, where people were already looking.
- Faasos. During a Mumbai power outage in 2020 it posted "Andheri or Andhera, we're still delivering". The moment was a problem the product solves.
- Zomato. It joined the Rahul Bose banana bill story, as Buildd lists. A hotel bill is a food-pricing story, and Zomato is a food brand.
- Oreo. During the 2013 Super Bowl blackout it tweeted "You can still dunk in the dark". Digiday's oral history says the tweet went out at 8:48 p.m. and got over 15,000 retweets.
Notice what the four share. Each moment had a product-sized link: a butter brand and the day's news, delivery in a power cut, a food bill, a biscuit in the dark. None of them is a brand shouting "Happy Monday".
What are the three kinds of moments a brand can use?
There are diary moments (a known date), product moments (your product is useful in the situation) and wildcard moments (breaking news or a meme), and small brands should live in the first two.
| Moment type | Examples for an Indian brand | Can you prepare? | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diary | Diwali, Raksha Bandhan, board results, Republic Day sales, an IPL final | Yes, weeks ahead | Low |
| Product | A power cut, monsoon, wedding season, a heatwave | Partly, with a kit | Low to medium |
| Wildcard | Breaking news, a viral meme, a celebrity moment | No | High |
Diary and product moments let you do the thinking in advance, which is the whole trick. A wildcard needs a decision in two hours with nobody to ask. Keep wildcards to roughly one post in ten, and only when the product link is obvious.
This is also where brand strategy decides the outcome. A moment post is only memorable if it sounds like you, which comes from your positioning. Brands without one end up with feeds that look the same as everyone else's, and a moment post will not fix that. As a brand strategist, I check the idea against what a buyer should remember about the brand before I check anything else.
Why is fast moment marketing really an approval problem?
Fast posts come from decisions made before the moment, because the slow part of a good post is the sign-off.
Digiday's account of the Oreo tweet says the team had the post together in under a minute, and most of the delay was client sign-off. The person with final approval was in the room and said yes. Speed was a staffing choice.
India's advertising regulator says the same from the other side. ASCI chief executive Manisha Kapoor told Storyboard18 that "the priority of being first rather than being right is a misplaced one", and that normal approvals get overlooked in a race against time.
For a small brand this turns into three rules:
- One named person can say yes, and everyone knows who it is.
- A written no-go list exists before any moment arrives.
- Diary moments are approved a week ahead, so only the posting is left on the day.
What goes wrong with moment marketing in India?
The common failures are using a private person's name or looks, borrowing a sportsperson's image without permission, and joining a sad story.
In April 2024 Bombae, a sister brand of Bombay Shaving Company, ran a full-page ad about UP Board Class 10 topper Prachi Nigam. Business Today reported that it was criticised for mocking her appearance, and ASCI said it had taken note. The student was a private person, and the joke was about her face.
Athletes carry a legal edge. A Tokyo Olympics era article by SS Rana reports that P.V. Sindhu sent legal notices through her agency to several brands over unauthorised use of her image. It also notes that ASCI's code bars ads that reference a person without permission in a way that gives an unjustified advantage.
On the law, a Gala Law note says the Consumer Protection Act covers misleading ads and endorsements, with penalties of up to ₹10 lakh for a first offence and ₹50 lakh after that. Treat this as general information only. When a post uses a real person, ask a lawyer.
How can a small brand start moment marketing this week?
A small brand can start in five steps: build a 90 day calendar, write a no-go list, apply a three question filter, pre-shoot a moment kit and measure against your normal posts.
- Build a 90 day moment calendar. List 10 to 12 dates: festivals, sale days, board results, a match final, a season change. Next to each, write one honest link to your product.
- Write the no-go list. Deaths, accidents, disasters, politics, religion, named private individuals, exam scores of named students and any photo of a person who has not agreed. If a moment touches the list, skip it.
- Run the three question filter. Does my product have a real link to this? Would my buyer share this with a friend? Could it hurt or mock anyone? Two yes answers and one no is a green light.
- Pre-shoot a moment kit. When I film a product I shoot a few extra clean loops of 5 to 8 seconds: the product turning, a close-up of the best feature, a hand using it. Add a blank caption frame and a logo sting. Now a moment reel takes about two hours.
- Measure against your own average. Compare shares and saves on the moment post with your last 10 normal posts. Keep going only if shares beat the average.
If you read step four and thought "we have no product clips at all", send me your product list. Planning a shoot so one day of filming feeds a whole year of moments is the part of my work I enjoy most. Find me on LinkedIn or at divyanshrawat.info@gmail.com.
For the kind of reel that actually gets passed around once the moment is over, read how to make a product reel people share. Repeated well, moment posts also add to your brand equity, because buyers learn what you sound like.
Questions people ask
What is moment marketing?
Moment marketing is content a brand posts around a live event, trend or festival while the audience is still talking about it. The aim is to borrow existing attention with a link to your product. It works best when the link is honest and the tone matches your brand.
What is an example of moment marketing in India?
Amul's topical ads are the best known. Amul's own history page dates the first one to 1969. Faasos's "Andheri or Andhera, we're still delivering" line during a Mumbai power outage is a newer example, because the moment matched what the product does.
How fast should a brand post in moment marketing?
Post while the topic is still being discussed, usually the same day. Oreo's blackout tweet went out within minutes, but it had a team and a decision maker in place. A small brand should prepare diary moments in advance and give wildcards a two hour limit.
Is moment marketing legal in India?
It is legal, but ads must follow the ASCI code and the Consumer Protection Act. Using a person's name, face or achievement without permission is the usual trouble spot, as brands using P.V. Sindhu's image found. Get legal advice when a real person is involved.
Can small brands with no budget do moment marketing?
Yes, because the main cost is a quick idea and a ready product clip. You need no media spend. Start with diary moments you can plan and product moments such as monsoon or a power cut. Skip wildcard news unless your product has an obvious link.
What is the difference between moment marketing and newsjacking?
Moment marketing ties to any live moment, including festivals and memes. Newsjacking ties to a news story. Many guides treat them as one idea, but news stories carry more risk because their mood can change quickly.
Which moments should brands avoid?
Avoid deaths, accidents, disasters, politics, religion and anything that mocks a private person. Do not post a promotion during a crisis. Kimp's guide also warns against sad stories and wrong cultural references. If you are unsure whether it passes, leave it out.
Divyansh Rawat is a brand and content strategist in Ghaziabad, Delhi NCR. He sets brand positioning and content strategy, then makes the product films and posts, and has worked with 25+ brands since 2021, from Panasonic Lumix to Pro Wolf. More about him, how he builds brands, follow him on LinkedIn or send a brief.
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