Mumbai | September 18, 2026: Omnicom Advertising and Snapchat have teamed up to launch ‘How to Laugh (and Win) with the Next Generation’. This global study explores how Gen Z and Gen Alpha use humour to build relationships, signal belonging, navigate culture and decide which brands earn their attention.
India findings:
According to the India findings of the report, 87% of Next Gen says humour is how their generation talks about serious things, with 90% of them stating it helps them express what they otherwise wouldn’t say directly.
The commercial case for getting humour right is stark. Among India’s Next Gen, 91% pay closer attention to funny brands, 88% are more likely to consider buying from one and 93% go on to tell others about it. Next Gen actively likes it when brands are willing to make fun of themselves. But their tolerance for humour that feels forced or culturally out of touch is low. Four in five say brands online feel like older people trying to joke with them, a warning that misjudged humour can do more harm than staying quiet.
What it means for brands:
The study presents a ‘Zoomer Humour Playbook’ for marketers, which carves out 4 tenets of using humour with the Next Gen: Learning to read the room, building your joke, finding your moment, win on snapchat.
The findings point to a clear opportunity for brands willing to earn cultural fluency rather than assume it. Understanding what India’s Next Gen finds funny, and why, may matter more for brand consideration than any single campaign push.
Speaking on the report and its India findings, S. Subramanyeswar (Subbu), Chief Strategy Officer – India & Chief Knowledge Officer – Asia, Omnicom Advertising said, “Humour has always been one of culture’s most powerful forms of social currency. What is changing is its speed, its codes and who gets to define what is funny. For India’s Next Gen, humour is far more than entertainment. It is a language of belonging, intimacy and even truth. That creates an enormous opportunity for brands, but also a new standard. You cannot manufacture your way into the joke. You have to understand the culture that created it. The brands that do will not merely make people laugh. They will earn the right to be part of the conversation.”
Methodology:
Omnicom Advertising and Snapchat studied over 6,000 social media users aged 13–28 across the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, and India, exploring how Gen Z and Gen Alpha define modern humour, including how it spreads, when it becomes ‘cringe,’ how brands can participate, and Snapchat’s unique role in the ecosystem. The study was conducted via a detailed online quantitative survey, covering 6,028 daily social platform users, with approximately 1,000 respondents per country, including 3,593 daily Snapchatters, with a minimum of 500 per country. The sample reflected a mix of ages and genders, representative of social app users within each country.
