Indian brands use unexpected mashups to drive trial and reach

Limited-edition collaborations spanning food, beauty and lifestyle are becoming a low-risk way for Indian brands to access new audiences, test product ideas and create social buzz. Recent examples include Mad Over Donuts x Laneige, Naturals x Bombay Sweet Shop and Vadilal’s Melody Ice Cream tie-up with Parle.

— Filed Tue, 21 Jul, 2026, 09:58 IST · Source ET Brand Equity · Updated

Indian food, beauty and lifestyle brands are using limited-edition cross-category collaborations to drive trial, reach new audiences and test innovation. Examples include Mad Over Donuts-Laneige, Naturals-Bombay Sweet Shop, Indu-Tinder and Vadilal-Parle’s Melody Ice Cream licensing partnership.

Why this matters

Mad Over Donuts’ Laneige tie-up follows its part stake sale to fuel growth amid a dessert M&A wave, pairing expansion financing with an audience-building product experiment.

Retail-brand signals are accelerating, up +335300% QoQ.

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