MUMBAI: When it comes to decoding Gen Z, even advertising veterans know they can’t just swipe left on change. The Advertising Club Bangalore’s 15th Inspiration Room lit up last Wednesday with over 100 participants, all keen to grasp how the next generation is reshaping consumption and culture.
The evening kicked off with Gauri Kumar, who dived straight into the world of Augmented Reality (AR). From Bitmojis to AR lenses, she showed how brands like Myntra and Swiggy are already harnessing Snapchat’s creative toolkit to create scroll-stopping campaigns. “The challenge for brands is no longer access to AR, it’s how creatively you use it,” she quipped, adding that Snapchat has democratised AR production. A live demo on building AR experiences gave attendees a tangible taste of the future of branded engagement.
Next up Snap Inc. India head of growth Chirag Kohli unpacked how Gen Z, who already command 43 per cent of consumer spend (a figure tipped to hit 50 per cent in the next decade), are redefining commerce. For them, shopping is not just transactional, it’s “shopcialising”, where trends, visuals, and community matter more than price tags. Kohli revealed that 63 per cent of Snapchat users have made purchases on the platform, proving its dual role as both a connection hub and a commerce driver.
With creators becoming the new search engines and Snapchat pushing India-first features with a camera-first design, the session painted a vivid picture of how phygital is no longer a buzzword but a behaviour. “Attention is scarce, impressions are abundant,” Kohli warned, urging brands to deliver joy and community to cut through the noise.
Closing the evening Ad Club Bangalore president Laeeq Ali announced that the Club itself is making its Snapchat debut. “This edition has set the bar high for what’s to come,” he said, noting how AR’s blend of code, 3D graphics, and storytelling is redefining advertising playbooks.
For a series built on sparking inspiration, this edition proved why the Inspiration Room remains the place where marketers, creators, and technologists come together to catch the next big wave before it even trends.
