When festive ads become habit, not heritage

Every year, as the festive season approaches, Indian advertising takes on a familiar shimmer. Lights flicker across screens, families reunite around the dining table, a product slides neatly into the celebration, and the ad signs off with the promise of joy and prosperity.

It’s heart-warming, yes, but it’s also routine. Festive advertising has become ritualistic—for brands and consumers alike. And like most rituals, we repeat them because we’re supposed to, not necessarily because they move us.

There was a time when a Diwali or Durga Puja campaign would genuinely stir emotion; evoking nostalgia, belonging, and joy. But many recent campaigns have fallen into a creative formula: light diyas, cue a sentimental track, show a family hug, and fade to logo. The emotional impact has dulled with predictability.

Today’s audiences, particularly Gen Z and young millennials, have a sharp radar for anything inauthentic. They seek humour, honesty, and cultural truth, not another glossy montage of happiness. The bigger challenge for marketers is to turn these seasonal checkboxes into stories that create lasting emotional equity.

Legacy isn’t built in a month

No brand has ever built enduring legacy from a single festive campaign. Legacy is a product of consistency, evolution, and cultural ownership. Consider Cadbury Celebrations, whose Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye message has evolved from family-centric stories in the early 2000s to inclusive, socially conscious narratives in recent years. The context changed; the emotional core didn’t.

Even outside FMCG, brands such as Tata and Air India have demonstrated how to stay emotionally rooted while evolving with time. Their communication doesn’t merely sell—it stirs national pride, belonging, and memory. That’s what legacy looks like when storytelling matures with the audience.

Festive campaigns should be seen not as one-off events but as chapters in a brand’s larger story. Legacy is a result of consistency, evolution, and cultural ownership over time. If every festive season, your brand tells a slightly deeper story from the same emotional core—joy, family, nostalgia, or belonging—consumers start anticipating it.

From obligation to opportunity

For many marketers, festive campaigns have become obligatory—a line item in the calendar rather than a storytelling opportunity. The real potential lies in asking: what story can we tell this year that strengthens our long-term narrative?

A dairy brand, for instance, doesn’t need to merely show laddoos and milk glasses. It can tell stories about nourishment and shared traditions—the emotional glue that ties generations together. When storytelling is guided by purpose instead of product placement, audiences remember it long after the festival.

The most resonant festive campaigns tap into cultural truths rather than surface rituals. They explore why people celebrate, not just how. With growing awareness around sustainability and mindful celebrations, campaigns that integrate such ideas subtly—not sermonically—strike a stronger chord.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Gowardhan (@gowardhanindia)

Regional nuance also matters. A film that resonates in Mumbai might miss the mark in Kolkata. Recognising local dialects, customs, and rituals turns a brand from observer to participant. When brands respect the cultural intelligence of their audience, their campaigns start feeling less like marketing and more like a shared experience.

Nostalgia with a modern lens

Nostalgia remains a powerful emotional anchor, particularly during festivals. But it needs to be reframed for contemporary realities. The most effective festive ads today don’t simply reminisce about the past—they reinterpret traditions through today’s lens.

A campaign showing a young professional celebrating Diwali away from home but connecting virtually with family, for example, blends nostalgia with relevance. It acknowledges change rather than denying it. When nostalgia evolves with context, it becomes timeless, not tired.

Legacy is built when consumers start associating certain emotions or traditions with your brand. That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of staying consistent in your brand voice while allowing creativity to evolve with time.

Over time, the audience begins to expect and even anticipate these campaigns as part of their festive experience. That’s when brand stories transform from marketing exercises into cultural markers.

Beyond impressions: Measuring emotional ROI

In a performance-obsessed marketing ecosystem, success often gets reduced to impressions, reach, and conversions. But festive storytelling demands a different yardstick. Emotional equity can’t be captured in quarterly reports. Campaigns driven purely by tactical bursts—discounts, influencers, or limited-edition packaging—may deliver a temporary spike, but they rarely build enduring affinity.

The real ROI of a legacy campaign is in what people feel and recall years later. So maybe the question to ask isn’t ‘how many people watched our ad,’ but ‘how many will remember it next year?’

This perspective calls for a mindset shift—from festive presence to festive purpose. Instead of chasing visibility, brands should focus on emotional continuity. A strong festive campaign should reinforce what the brand stands for, not just what it sells.

Making festive marketing matter again

Consumers aren’t waiting for another glossy, overproduced festive film. They’re waiting for a story that feels genuine, relatable, and worth sharing. That means rethinking the festive brief altogether.

Marketers can start by anchoring campaigns in timeless emotions—joy, connection, gratitude—and expressing them through contemporary contexts. Collaborating with creators who understand audience nuances, rather than just trending formats, can help inject freshness and authenticity.

Equally important is thinking beyond the festival itself. What does this story add to your brand’s ongoing cultural narrative? Does it reinforce your identity or merely chase relevance?

When festive ads stop being rituals and start building a legacy, they transcend campaigns. They become part of how people experience the festival itself—a moment they expect, a story they pass on, a memory they revisit. For Indian brands, that’s the ultimate festive triumph: not just being seen every season, but being remembered every year after

 - Akshali Shah, executive director, Parag Milk Foods