Microbrands

In late 2024, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) acquired Minimalist, a four-year-old skincare startup, at a valuation nearly ten times its revenue.

On paper, this seems almost illogical. Why would a giant like HUL, with decades of resources and R&D capability, and the credibility of legendary brands like Dove, Vaseline and Ponds, choose to buy rather than build? The answer reveals something profound about the changing nature of modern branding.

We’re living through a marketing revolution, one where the biggest brands aren’t always the strongest, and where intimacy now scales better than ubiquity.

For decades, the foundational principles of brand building were defined by mass reach, economies of scale, and broadcasted messaging. The goal was to speak to everyone - loudly, consistently, and at scale. But today, those rules are crumbling. The most resilient brands are not necessarily the largest, but the most human.

A new age of microbrand has emerged, powered by digital technology and direct-to-consumer (D2C) models. These are agile, niche-focused entities that serve specific “tribes” of consumers through a potent mix of authenticity, community, and emotional connection.

In a way, microbrands are the digital e-kiranas of our time. Intimate, trusted, and community-centric. They succeed not by shouting the loudest, but by listening the closest.

This article traces how we arrived here, from the personalized loyalty of the corner kirana store, through the impersonal supermarket era, to the hyper-connected digital age. It examines why emotional connection has become the ultimate currency in modern marketing.

Microbrands: These are small-scale, often digital-native D2C brands that cater to a highly specific niche audience or "tribe". They are defined by a strong point of view, an authentic founder story, and a deep, community-focused relationship with their customers. Think of brands like Mokobara (travel lifestyle), The Whole Truth (clean-label foods), or Minimalist (transparent skincare).

Emotional Branding: This is the practice of building a brand by creating an emotional connection with consumers, rather than a purely transactional one. It moves beyond product features and benefits to appeal to a customer's feelings, values, and aspirations. The goal is to foster loyalty so deep that the brand becomes a part of the consumer's identity.

The Evolution of Commerce: A Search for Connection

From Kirana to Supermarket: The Relationship Vacuum

The traditional Indian retail model was epitomised by the local kirana store. Here, the relationship was inherently personal. Store owners knew their customers by name and understood the needs of their families. Loyalty was forged through a human bond, and the product selection was a curated reflection of the local community. The store owners were the primary means of conveying product value to their customers.

The rise of television advertising in the late 20th century provided brands with a new, efficient medium to convey product value, offering more control over the message than they had through the human medium of kirana stores. The increased preference for TV promotion gave way to supermarkets as the preferred channel for both customers and brands. As they both gained value from their efficiency and scale. While this benefited consumers with lower prices and a wider selection, it came at the cost of the personal touch. 

The consumer became an anonymous shopper, and loyalty was engineered through data-driven programs, creating a "relationship vacuum." The experience became transactional and impersonal. This 'relationship vacuum' prompted the first attempt to rebuild connection at scale: mass-market emotional branding. Unable to forge personal bonds, brands used one-to-many media like television to appeal to broad, universal emotions, such as Nike's "Just Do It" campaign, which sells a mindset and a lifestyle rather than just products or the loyalty depicted in Budweiser's 'Best Buds' campaign. Such campaigns gained popularity as a "Pull Marketing" strategy and have defined the marketing literature of the past few years. While this created an emotional pull for a wide audience, it was a broadcast, not a conversation. An imperfect patch that highlighted the growing need for a more genuine connection.

The Digital Aisle: Convenience Over Connection

The internet moved the supermarket to our mobile phones, offering unparalleled convenience but also deepening the sense of depersonalization. E-commerce platforms presented an infinite shelf of products, but the brand-consumer relationship became even more abstract, mediated by search algorithms and star ratings. This model perfected transactional efficiency but often failed to build the lasting emotional bonds that create true loyalty, setting the stage for the next evolution.

Microbrands: The Digital e-Kirana Store

The rise of the D2C microbrand marks a return to the ethos of the kirana store, reimagined for the digital age. This is an evolution from pull-based marketing to "connect-based" marketing.

Entrepreneurs identify a specific user segment, gain a deep understanding of its needs, and build a brand dedicated to serving that tribe. For example, Mokobara doesn't just sell luggage; it targets urban millennials and Gen Z who see travel as a core part of their lifestyle and identity. A traditional company would find this niche focus unsustainable. But for a microbrand, this focus is its greatest strength, made possible by digital marketing.

Digital platforms allow for a level of precision that was previously unimaginable. Brands can target consumers based on psychographics, purchasing behaviour, and online interests. This allows a microbrand to be supremely relevant to a narrow audience, rather than struggling to be vaguely relevant to a broad one. This technological capability is the engine of modern emotional branding, allowing brands to forge genuine connections with customers who feel their needs are finally being heard.