Why brand feeds all look the same

In a world where brand feeds often look eerily similar, a crucial question surfaces: Is creativity being sacrificed at the altar of algorithms? At a thought-provoking session moderated by Karuna Sharma, Associate Editor at Social Samosa, industry insiders unpacked the current state of branded content, where templatisation is rampant, AI is everywhere, and originality feels rare. 

The panellists:

Nitish Saxena, Head of Brand Marketing, FNP

Surbhi Allagh, Co-Founder, itch

Shivani Tiwari, Head of Growth and Digital Marketing, Ajio

Hemal Majithia, Founder & Chief OktoMind at OktoBuzz

Why Brands Are Stuck in Sameness?

Shivani Tiwar opened with a reality check on templatised content, revealing how brand behaviour plays a role in perpetuating sameness.

“Brands themselves are often the culprits, when a particular reel or campaign goes viral, we push our agencies and creators to replicate that formula quickly.” She added, “This obsession with metrics, likes, shares, followers, drives creators to stick to what worked before, limiting creativity and leading to stale content. Risk-taking is rare because very few brands or practitioners are willing to embrace it.”

She called for a shift from chasing what worked to experimenting with what could, encouraging marketers to test new formats, not just recycle old ones.

Nitish Saxena zoomed out to the role of AI in this ecosystem, comparing it to a thousand interns, efficient, but derivative.

“For us, AI is like an intern, or maybe a thousand interns, scarily efficient and lightning fast. But the thing is, AI works off patterns. It’s crowdsourced intelligence, synthesised from what already exists.”

He stressed that while AI is a powerful tool for speed, it shouldn’t replace critical thinking. “The problem isn’t AI, it’s how we use it. If we use it to assist creativity, great. But if we use it to replace thought, we end up in a sameness loop.”

He noted how brand feeds today look identical, with overused meme formats, trending audios, and copycat tones. “Templatisation is rampant. One brand tries something different, 50 others follow. AI is only accelerating this cycle. The real challenge is in how we prompt, how we input, and how we break the loop.”

For Nitish, the antidote is sharp brand thinking and consistent storytelling that resists the algorithm’s pressure to conform.

Built for the brand, not the feed

Surbhi Allagh made a case against building content strategies around algorithms.

She said, “The algorithm can’t define my content strategy. I have to understand my audience, build for them, and wait for that moment where it clicks. That’s how a real format is born.” She critiqued the checklist approach dominating brand feeds: “Most reels today are just copies of something we’ve already seen. Where’s the risk-taking? Where are the new ideas?” Her call to action: “We can’t templatise creativity. Every brand needs a strategy that’s true to its audience. That’s something we keep reminding ourselves of every day.”

She encouraged marketers and agencies to trade in virality for relevance, backed by long-term thinking and creative risk-taking.

Hemal Majithia, brought the focus back to clarity. He said, “It’s not just about risk appetite, for the client or the creator. What they really need is clarity.” He explained that a brand is essentially the perception you want to plant in the audience’s mind. Drawing a contrast, he said trend-chasing often becomes hunting, but brand-building should feel like farming. Hemal shared a framework his team follows: “70% content as per brand guidelines, 20% that’s interesting or surprising, and 10% that’s pure experimentation.”

While trends and templates may offer short-term spikes, all speakers agreed that long-term brand equity comes from knowing who you are, and having the courage to stay the course. Creativity might be evolving, but the core remains unchanged: clarity, consistency, and connection will always win.