“Don’t Just Go Digital, Go Local”: Brand Raga Founder on What It Really Takes to Win India’s Tier 2 & 3 Markets

Everyone’s talking about Bharat. Few actually know how to talk to it.

In the race to "go regional," brands are spending crores on campaigns that sound right in a conference room—but fall flat on the ground. Why? Because trust doesn’t come from logo visibility. It comes from language, culture, and context. It comes from understanding why a farmer in Bagalkot wants to buy land, not another apartment. And it comes from listening more than selling.

Shivkumar Mamadapur, founder of Brand Raga, is doing just that. His agency has been building bridges—not just brands—across tier 2 and 3 India by betting on ground-up storytelling. Think manifesto campaigns that start with town hall conversations. Or vernacular real estate ads designed for farmers with surplus income.

In this conversation with BrandWagon Online, Shivkumar explains why grassroots beats glossy, how their team ditched traditional org charts, and why AI can’t decode emotion (yet). He also drops a few case studies that make a strong case for rural intelligence over urban assumptions. Edited excerpts.

You’ve made tier 2 and 3 markets your home turf. What’s the fundamental mindset shift required to serve these audiences authentically—beyond just translating ad copy?

Our campaigns are built for tier 2 and tier 3 audiences, though many clients are metro-based. A lot of agencies create campaigns from an urban lens without understanding the cultural context of smaller towns. We reverse that and go to the ground, understand the people, their aspirations and what resonates with them before designing campaigns. For example, we worked with real estate brands whose audiences were from small towns. We created narratives around land ownership as aspirational, using vernacular content and grassroots insights. This approach helps us target campaigns better and ensures they deliver returns. In smaller markets, understanding emotion and trust is key, not just visibility or brand aesthetics.

Take us behind the scenes of one such campaign—where ground-level insight became the backbone of the strategy. What did you uncover, and how did that shape the outcome?

For a real estate client selling plots in Karnataka, our first step was identifying why their audience preferred apartments. Apartments are turnkey and seen as hassle-free. So we built the narrative around land ownership being equal to gold—more aspirational, a better investment. We targeted tier 2 and tier 3 markets, including farmers with high purchasing power who are often overlooked. We ran vernacular digital ads across North Karnataka. Our campaign also addressed trust issues around land documentation and safety. We built themes around gated communities and ease of ownership. Over time, this led to a 50% increase in inventory sales from digital leads. Some of the buyers who purchased land at Rs. 10 lakh were later able to sell at Rs. 40-45 lakh. The ROI validated our campaign direction. The campaign's success came from ground-level insights and human emotion, not assumptions made from metro boardrooms. Our campaigns evolve from understanding what people value.

You're not just building campaigns, you’re advising brands at a strategic level. Why has consulting become such a core part of your agency’s value proposition?

Yes, consulting is integral to how we work. Many agencies pitch digital marketing as a one-size-fits-all solution. But we see better results when we consult clients on achieving their specific goals, even if that means recommending something as simple as putting a banner outside a shop instead of running a digital ad. We focus on value addition—understanding what works best in that client's environment. This approach has helped us retain long-term clients. We're not just another vendor selling services—we work like partners. We’ve realised that many small and mid-sized businesses aren’t looking for fancy digital decks. They want practical, goal-oriented solutions. This has helped us carve out a strong niche in tier 2 and tier 3 markets, where traditional methods still hold weight. We partner with various experts based on project needs rather than having everyone in-house. Flexibility is our strength.

When you're choosing between formats—radio, reels, regional influencers—what guides that decision-making? Is it purely ROI, or something deeper?

We use a mix of formats: influencer marketing, video content, Google and social ads, traditional formats like radio, and even TV snippets repurposed for digital. One key differentiator is our focus on vernacular content. Since 2016, we’ve been running regional campaigns in Kannada, Marathi, etc. A lot of brands used to overlook regional nuances by pushing only English content. We tapped into that gap. For rural audiences, language and relatability matter far more than production value. Even in influencer campaigns, we prioritise local micro-influencers who have stronger connections with their communities. That local voice makes a difference in trust-building. Our content strategy always leans toward storytelling that aligns with audience emotion, not just product USPs. This is especially effective in non-metro regions where marketing noise is lower but trust is harder to gain.

 What’s your perspective on the use of AI and generative tools in marketing? How are you using them at your agency?

AI has a place—but we use it as an enabler, not a replacement. It helps our teams draft content, ideate faster, and even automate routine creative work. However, we remain cautious with data analysis and behavioural insights. AI doesn’t yet capture emotion the way humans do. For us, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 markets, empathy and cultural understanding are non-negotiable. We prefer getting on-ground, talking to people, understanding their aspirations, and emotions—something AI can't replicate fully. While AI tools can suggest captions, content formats, or SEO direction, the human element is still vital. We let our teams use AI as a value-add, not a shortcut. Emotional nuance is at the heart of what we do, and that currently can’t be outsourced to a tool.

Could you highlight some of your most successful or meaningful campaigns so far?

One of our standout campaigns was with a government-backed self-help group initiative. We helped them grow their fair’s sales from Rs. 78 lakh to Rs. 2.5 crore over four years through integrated digital and traditional marketing. We leveraged influencer partnerships, regional content, local storytelling, and hyper-targeted ads to scale up visibility and footfall. Another impactful campaign was the 2018 BJP manifesto initiative in Karnataka. We held 224 on-ground events to gather citizen feedback and created a people-first manifesto based on their needs. This helped redefine how political messaging could be designed. Lastly, our campaigns in backward regions like Gulbarga have shown the power of hybrid strategies—merging grassroots storytelling with digital amplification. In those cases, human stories, artisan profiles, and regional authenticity drove measurable outcomes.

Finally, what’s on the horizon for your agency in terms of growth and expansion?

We’re currently based in Bengaluru and have a strong presence across Karnataka. Our focus now is on expanding to UAE markets where we see untapped opportunities, especially for brands looking to tap into the Indian diaspora or regional markets. As for North India, we’re less keen due to saturation in the agency space there. Our long-term goal is to offer hyper-localised, scalable marketing for corporates looking to enter tier 2 and 3 cities, or global brands targeting regional India. We want to continue offering creative strategies backed by regional insight and real-world validation.