Watch the MEDIACAST episode with Dr Ashish Kaul of Folklore Entertainment India
This episode of the MEDIACAST Podcast from Mediabrief.com features Dr Ashish Kaul, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Folklore Entertainment India, and a strategic thinker, brand engineer and advisor, and respected author and comms professional. Ashish explains how brands can rise above sameness, embrace originality, and anchor their growth in India’s cultural strengths.
Click play to listen to Dr Ashish Kaul of Folklore Entertainment India on MEDIACAST podcast:
He says brands must rediscover originality in India’s vast and diverse market, and he shares lessons for brand custodians navigating speed-to-market, mimicry, and performance marketing pressures. He believes Indian businesses can reclaim originality by rooting themselves in India’s rich storytelling traditions.
In this episode, Ashish takes on the “plague of sameness” in branding. Similarities are inevitable in a market as large and diverse as India, but brands lose their soul when originality becomes a tick-box exercise.
As he puts it, “Brands are not noodles. Brands need time.” Yet, in today’s hyper-competitive markets, that time is vanishing as leaders demand instant fixes.
Asked whether tools like Canva and AI generators are democratizing creativity or accelerating monotony, Ashish gives a clear view. Tools bring convenience, but when used only as templates, they drain originality from brand storytelling.
“Mediocrity is being normalized,” Ashish warns, and adds, “People are hoping to get lucky. Nobody’s hoping to get smart. Nobody’s hoping to get creative. Nobody’s hoping that my brand will be different. People are just hoping my brand should pedal through, it should be fast.”
Ashish also shares his thoughts on when CEOs lean heavily on performance marketing. He answers the question whether some are mistaking quick, tactical wins for the deeper outcomes that real strategic brand leadership can deliver.
The conversation also looks at mimicry in QSR branding, where new fast food chains often use the same colors, logos, and palettes as established players. Ashish says mimicry may help a brand get quick attention, but it shows a lack of originality and weakens credibility over time. The smarter path is to build distinctiveness without shortcuts.
Ashish speaks strongly about the need to embrace India’s cultural identity in branding. “We suffer from acute inferiority complex and therefore we are ashamed of wearing Indian-ness even in our brands. Tell me how many great brands have Indian attributes?”
For him, true originality lies in reconnecting with India’s design traditions, storytelling culture, and authentic product experiences rather than copying imported styles.
This MEDIACAST Podcast episode is more than a critique of sameness. It highlights how Folklore Entertainment India, led by Dr Ashish Kaul, is working to reimagine business through Indian stories — and why cultural confidence and originality matter for every brand today.
