Raksha Bandhan laddus have barely been digested, Ganesh Chaturthi pandals are already rising, and markets are abuzz with kite buyers gearing up for Independence Day. In the backrooms of the country’s biggest marketing departments, however, the mood is tactical. This is the runway to India’s most lucrative quarter, a compressed window when consumer sentiment peaks, wallets loosen, and brands hurry to turn cultural moments into market share.
Occasion marketing campaigns
Occasion marketing campaigns, once a seasonal flourish, are now a boardroom line item. “Top consumer brands in India often allocate 20–40% of their annual marketing budget to occasion-specific campaigns,” says Yasin Hamidani, director at Media Care Brand Solutions. Digital-first players, he adds, may push over half their festive spending into online channels, while smaller brands choose a handful of high-impact moments and spend 10–15% of their budgets there. The money isn’t just for Diwali. India’s marketers are learning to work every occasion, from Valentine’s Day to World Environment Day, and sometimes invent new ones altogether.
But in a calendar crammed with “days,” not every brand invitation is welcome. “Be real,” says N. Chandramouli, CEO of TRA Research. “Occasion advertising is most effective when it captures the spirit of the moment while staying true to a brand’s core identity. Token gestures, clichéd visuals, or tenuous connections risk appearing opportunistic.” In an age where consumers are quick to screenshot and share missteps, credibility is currency.
That credibility often comes from consistency. Amul, for instance, has been sketching topical quips on billboards since before Twitter existed, a practice that has now become quintessential to the brand’s identity. “Don’t chase relevance at the cost of recognisability,” warns Yash Chandiramani, founder and chief strategist of Admatazz. “If your occasion ad looks like it could belong to any other brand, you’ve wasted the spend.”
It’s a caution not everyone heeds. A fashion retailer announcing a “Diwali clearance” in generic stock imagery might fill ad space but empties cultural connection, or a global QSR chain with a clip-art diya fares no better. The best campaigns, by contrast, understand both the cultural moment and the brand’s place in it.
Experts point to Cadbury’s Diwali work, which has paired emotional storytelling with tangible impact with QR-enabled gifting that sent customers to local kirana stores. Surf Excel’s “Daag Acche Hain” Holi edition is another example, having woven its stain-friendly proposition into the festival’s colour-play with finesse. Even outside the festival crush, there’s room for occasion-based magic: Chandramouli points to Godrej’s World Environment Day films, which used familiar faces to talk sustainability – a brand value rather than a seasonal offer – and sidestepped the festive ad clutter entirely.
Mass occasions and emotional gravitas
The format choice is part of the calculus. TV still commands emotional gravitas for mass occasions, especially in joint-family living rooms, experts say. Print, often written off in metro media circles, retains clout for regional and family-centric festivals, where a local-language front page or jacket ad still earns pride of place. “Digital, meanwhile, works for interactive and youth-centric campaigns, and OOH for high-visibility, last-mile recall,” says Hamidani. The smartest campaigns, adds SW Network’s co-founder Pranav Agarwal, start with “one core idea, then adapt it across formats so you’re hitting your target group where they are, when they’re most receptive.”
This multichannel playbook is easier written than executed. The problem isn’t just that every brand is chasing the same moments; it’s that they’re doing it faster, with less room for cultural vetting. “Even well-intentioned campaigns can be criticised within minutes of going live,” says Ekta Dewan, head of marketing at Incuspaze. “The festival calendar is crowded, timelines are tight, and speed often trumps sensitivity.” A creative that sails in Mumbai might run aground in Chennai, where the symbolism reads differently.
And then there’s fatigue on both sides of the screen. “With more brands piling into major holidays and awareness days, cutting through without overspending is harder than ever,” says Vaishal Dalal, co-founder & director of Excellent Publicity. A hundred Independence Day posts in the same tricolour gradient blur into one in the feed. The same goes for half-hearted hashtag campaigns that exist only because “everyone else is doing it.”
Some marketers are responding by finding less-contested occasions and owning them. Prime Video’s “International Lazy Day” film with Milind Soman flipped the fitness enthusiast’s image on its head, tapping into the guilt Indians often feel about doing nothing. The connection was light, humorous, and in step with both brand and celebrity.
Others are doubling down on data to pinpoint which occasions matter most to their audience, and how. Dalal recommends building from real consumer behaviour. “Align your message with the occasion’s emotional core, whether that’s joy, gratitude, or remembrance.” Limited-edition packaging, festival-specific product bundles, and integrated campaigns that go beyond discounts, he argues, give brands more to work with than a templated “Happy __ Day” post.
For all the craft and cash that go into these campaigns, the metric of success isn’t just likes or even immediate sales. Done right, occasion advertising builds the brand’s place in the cultural fabric, as the ad you recall not because it ran on Diwali 2024, but because it became part of your Diwali that year. Done wrong, it becomes another meme in the echo chamber of the marketing industry, celebrated by peers but forgotten by consumers.
The season ahead will test which way brands lean. “Audiences can sense when a brand is just jumping on the bandwagon without adding value. The winning formula is relevance + resonance, not just relevance plus reach,” concludes Anuj Gosalia, founder & CEO of Terribly Tiny Tales.