Old souls, smart tech—the consumer paradox brands can no longer ignore

What does it mean to be modern in 2025? The answer is far from straightforward. On the one hand, we’re accelerating into a world defined by AI, automation and algorithms. On the other, we’re witnessing a widespread return to analogue comforts, ancestral rituals and tactile experiences. This cultural contradiction is no longer niche. It’s becoming the norm. And for brands and businesses, it’s fertile ground.

We live in the age of rapid tech innovation. We can generate content at the speed of thought, bio-hack our nutrition, optimise our sleep and track stress with a flick of the wrist. Our feeds morph into surreal animations. Our timelines get stylised in Ghibli tones. Driverless cars are on the streets, AI influencers are fronting campaigns, and the Web3 world continues to redraw our sense of value, ownership and experience.

But the more we push forward, the more we reach back.

Instagram reels are awash with creators advocating oil pulling, grounding rituals, ayurvedic concoctions and gut-healing teas. Natural remedies for sleep, skin and anxiety are trending. The F&B category is full of snacks and beverages built on superfoods with roots in ancient knowledge. Offline communities—coffee raves, journalling circles, sound baths—are springing up across major cities. Millennials and Gen Z are looking to astrology, tarot, crystals and energy healing not just for answers, but for anchoring.

Products are responding in kind.

Fujifilm’s Instax brings back the tactile joy of polaroids—instant, imperfect, unfiltered. Marshall speakers echo the aesthetic of vinyl-era rock-and-roll. Caravan’s audio players offer a constant stream of retro Bollywood and devotional music. The Mahindra Thar invites consumers off-road, out of signal range, and into the wilderness. Even Heineken has jumped in, marketing ‘boring phones’ as an intentional break from our always-on lives, encouraging face-to-face connection over screen time.

Rather than resisting this duality, the smartest brands are embracing it.

Hero MotoCorp, for instance, used AI in a campaign last year to generate personalised shubh muhurats—auspicious timings for purchasing a two-wheeler during the festival season. It was a perfect blend: New-world tech amplifying a deeply rooted cultural custom, not replacing it.

That’s the sweet spot—where technology and tradition don’t cancel each other out, but enhance each other.

We’re in a moment where consumers don’t want to choose. They want the power of personalisation and the comfort of ritual. They want their protein tracked, but their stress soothed by breathwork. They want filters and they want film. They want to meditate with a smartwatch on.

For brands, this isn’t a trend. It’s a blueprint.

Those who succeed won’t be the ones chasing either the past or the future. They’ll be the ones fluent in both—and bold enough to blend them.

​Noor Samra is the national planning director at FCB Interface.