Lahori Zeera returns with a sequel, not a reboot

After nearly two years away from screens, Lahori Zeera is back. But instead of announcing its return with louder claims or a shinier promise, the jeera soda brand has doubled down on something more deliberate: how the drink fits into people’s lives, quite literally, in four gulps.

The new campaign, created by Enormous, shows everyday Indians adjusting their work and movements to accommodate the small 160 ml bottle.

Vendors, workers and street-side characters adapt and make holes so they can drink it straight from the bottle. The visual hook warrants curiosity and made yours truly ask whether the brand is now trying to codify a “right way” to drink Lahori Zeera, especially after having turned an often-unbranded jeera soda into a national, branded force.

According to the agency’s co-founder and managing partner Ashish Khazanchi, that reading misses the point. “It’s four large gulps and it’s over,” he says. “Nobody’s going to pour it into a glass or use a straw. The bottle is the glass. We’re not trying to influence behaviour; we’re simply reflecting what already happens.”

The timing of the campaign is as strategic as its restraint. When Lahori Zeera first appeared on screens, its physical availability was limited to Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Since then, distribution has expanded significantly, making a national media push viable. “It’s a layer cake,” Khazanchi explains. “One layer enables the next. Distribution grows, buying grows, then communication follows.”

That continuity is intentional. Rather than reinvent the brand narrative, Enormous chose to refresh what was already working. Khazanchi points to long-built brands in India such as Fevicol, Dove and Asian Paints as examples of consistency trumping novelty. “Great brands aren’t built by changing the conversation every time,” he says. “They’re built by staying interesting while staying recognisable.”

That clarity also explains why comparisons with Pepsi India and its old can-holding campaign starring former cricketer Harbhajan Singh does not hold. Pepsi was actively creating a ritual, Khazanchi argues. Lahori Zeera isn’t. There’s no correct way here. The drink is the interruption, not the ritual.

Ironically, ritual is something brands often chase. Corona has its lime wedge. Toblerone and Kit Kat famously taught consumers how to break their bars. Lahori Zeera’s campaign borrows the visual grammar of ritual without prescribing one, allowing the audience to project their own habits onto the brand.

The ad’s near-silence is another calculated choice. With mobile screens now dominating viewership and many users watching with sound off, the campaign relies heavily on visuals. “A lot of people are watching on trains or in public without headphones,” Khazanchi notes. “If your idea can travel without dialogue, it often performs better.”

That approach aligns with Lahori Zeera’s ambition to scale beyond its regional roots without sanding them down. The brand’s recent role as title sponsor on Shark Tank India underlines that national intent, but the advertising resists the temptation to over-explain itself.

For now, the campaign runs as a single core film, with surrounding assets drawn from the same idea rather than spun into separate narratives.