Onam celebrations, which is set to end today, have surpassed just local brands this year, as many national brands have also joined in the festivities to maximize their sales during these 10 days.

Starting from Haier Appliances India celebrating the harvest festival with their customer-centric new-age marketing campaign ‘Welcome Mahabali to a Smart Home’ and lucrative festive offers to Tata’s Taneira grabbing customer attention with its latest ‘The Onam Edit: Weaves of Togetherness’ campaign, larger brands have come up with creative ways to associate themselves with those celebrating.

Talking about the brands spends this year, Vinod Kunj, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Thought Blurb Communications says, “It's pretty obviously much higher than any of the previous years so far. We are seeing this trend. Last year, a large national telecom brand went all out for the occasion. This year, many have hopped on the bandwagon, with some big delivery apps part of the trend. It would be right to say this is becoming a growing trend, this year being at its peak.”

According to Laj Salam, Founder/Managing Director at PlainSpeak, Onam promotions have seen a significant rise this year. “Onam signifies a time of cultural celebrations, feasts, and extensive shopping. It stands as a pivotal period for brands to significantly enhance their visibility and secure a portion of consumer expenditure in Kerala. Notably, the NRI homecoming season aligns with Onam, amplifying the potential for spending, and brands are poised to capitalize on this. This year, brand investments in Onam promotions have shown a significant increase compared to the previous years, a trend that is already evident in the market.”

The campaigns around Onam have also seen quite a revolution since earlier days. Brands have moved from just doing isolated and traditional campaigns about the festival to now encompassing all modern and technical innovations to create more holistic campaigns. Salam says, “Onam campaigns had come a long way from the traditional path to the latest trends in the digital world including AI. We have already seen a brand campaign which exclusively uses AI for their images instead of the conventional photoshoot. Digital campaigns have led the way this Onam even though significant increases are seen in the other mediums including TV, print, radio & outdoor. Of course, the usage of influencers has been something new this season with most of the national & regional brands engaging big or micro influencers to promote their brand or offers.”

Variety in campaigns

US Kutty, CEO & Director, KOME VERTIKA, says, “This Onam I have seen a new trend with AI model films, reels and QR code advertisements, especially in smartphones and e-commerce clients. Also, the new trend in digital media is that most people are making reels, like Swiggy’s Malayalam movie Yodha. They have used one song and made it with all the dishes of Onam. Likewise, this new trend has been adopted by other local brands as well. Ten to Twelve national brands have shot their ad in Kerala this year.”

Speaking about the different ways in which brands celebrated Onam this year, Kunj says, “Several brands are now getting into the spirit of Onam, just as they have for Diwali, or any other festival celebrated nation-wide. Just recently, I saw a food delivery app’s commercial. Probably a minute-long, the entire ad is made up of the food items generally served during sadya. This goes a long way in showing your Malayali audience that this brand is not just delivering food from door-to-door, they also know what they're delivering. It’s that little nuance that makes all the difference.

In our instance, we recently worked on a Kerela-based brand which is widely known as a South Indian spice brand, with its reach all the way into the Middle East. We built on the spirit of Onam, saying that togetherness is born in the kitchen. That is the core message, and a nice common ground to connect with the Malayali audience, irrespective of where they are, and what they do.”

Brands have also tapped into emotions and the family sentiment of Onam to come up with campaigns which will grab the consumer’s attention. “Brands are embracing the spirit of Onam in various creative ways, aligning their campaigns with the festival's cultural significance and the festive sentiments of consumers. Onam is all about offers and most of the campaigns are taking the conventional approach and there is a huge noise out there. There are few exceptions with some of the brands tapping into the emotional aspect of Onam by crafting campaigns that evoke nostalgia and celebrate family bonds. These campaigns revolve around the theme of homecoming, highlighting the joy of reuniting with family members during the festival,” says Salam.

From regional to national

The growing trend of this festival has also seen a massive boost in national campaigns across the country, moving out of just local brands embracing this festival. Salam explains, “Onam's significance in Kerala extends beyond local brands, as it has traditionally captured the attention of national brands. The span of Onam's celebrations is marked by substantial spending, compelling every brand—whether national, regional, or local—to vie for a share. Onam unquestionably emerges as a bustling season across multiple sectors including retail, consumer durables, automotive, textiles, jewelry, and even real estate and brands of all size doesn’t want to miss it.”

Onam spends this year

“This is going to be the first Onam without any restrictions and fear factor of Covid.  The first quarter spending and planning for the Onam quarter indicates that ad spending will be definitely 25 to 30 per cent more than the previous Onam. Consumer durables, jewellery, textile, automobiles, personal finance and organised retail, entertainment and movies are the main categories that go live during Onam,” said Sudeep Kumar T, General Manager, Media Solutions – Print, Mathrubhumi.

US Kutty, giving numbers for the ad spend this year, said, “By the end of July, the Onam spend for print media alone was Rs 100 crore, electronic media was Rs 600 crore and digital media was Rs 200 crore. The most spends in 2023 came from the retail sector. Apart from that, all hyper markets like Lulu and Reliance, government retail arm Supplyco have given advertisements in print media. So overall, the retail sector has issued a lot of advertisements in print and electronic brands and will get maximum sales this year. Since Onam is on Tuesday, the weekend and Monday will have a lot of rush, especially in the textile sector like Pothys, Jayalakshmi etc. Therefore, everyone is expecting good sales this year in Onam.”