The festive season is around the corner and this year the fireworks are going to be brighter since the ICC World Cup is scheduled around the same time. All eyes are now on the ad world. What will the creative heads churn out in these next four months? What’s inspiring the ad gurus while tackling tight deadlines and the pressure of delivering something fresh?

We reached out to the ad world to understand disruption in the patterns of audiences, trends doing rounds this festive season and what happens when there are two major events running along?

Be my friend, Mr Trend

Every festive season comes with a trend. The last two years were about being purpose-driven and that worked out for brands in sensitive times. As per Nitin Saini, Vice President of Marketing, at Mondelez India, “Brands are increasingly leveraging digital platforms and social media to engage with their audiences, capitalizing on the growing trend of online shopping and virtual experiences. Personalized and targeted marketing strategies are gaining traction, allowing brands to connect with consumers on an individual level. The integration of immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is also on the rise, enhancing the overall consumer experience. As the festive season unfolds, these trends are likely to shape the marketing strategies of forward-thinking brands, aiming to create meaningful and memorable connections with their consumers.”

As for Ujjwal Anand, Managing Partner, Dentsu Creative India, performance marketing, social media traction and influencer marketing are driving conversations these days, making brands enter into the daily lives of consumers while creating larger-than-life ad campaigns. He also notes that consumers have changed and they love experimenting with their preferences.

“While for established brands, this is the time to bump up their sales, there is a lot of advertisement focussed on new brands, both online and offline. This is a response to our consumer behaviour that demonstrates a sharp inclination to experiment with a new product/brand during the festive season,” Anand noted.

Asked about briefs, Vikram Pandey, National Creative Director at Leo Burnett India, said, “The festive season definition is changing drastically, the biggest festive season that is coming our way is the World Cup. Every brand that we are talking to is super excited about it. The brands are 4x excited compared to IPL. Brands keep monies for the second half of the year. However, this year they might have even saved more by not investing it during IPL. The tournament will be the media vehicle.”

Talking about the recent trends, Pandey said: “A lot of brands are moving away from traditional advertising. Brands are promoting responsible buying. Many brands are trying to push boundaries of messaging by showcasing unconventional stories.”

What’s working with audiences?

Abhik Santara Director & CEO, ^ a t o m network, says that for audience, and especially in GenZs and in metros, most purchases have become impulse buying. “The effect of seasonality has reduced in most categories, except maybe in very high-value purchases like cars or durables.”

On the other hand, Leena Gupta, Creative and Founding Member at Talented, said, “Relatability. Now more than ever people want to see a reflection of themselves in the media that they consume and more importantly, share ahead. And ads aren’t an exception. All with the fundamentals of entertainment in place, of course. The peddler has always had to sing to sell his goods. But now he must sing a unique, relatable and easily hummable song for every house he goes to.”

“A large part of bringing alive this relatability is also taking UGC more seriously. UGC is no longer restricted to the number of comments you get under an Instagram post with engagement bait; it is now the number of organic conversations, spin-offs, and organic recreations that your consumer does for you. Why is This a Swiggy Ad’s 70k+ pool of user-generated theories proves that users still want to very much engage with brands - they just need a good reason to,” she added.

On a similar note, Manoti Jain, Chief Operating Officer and Founding Member of Supari Studios, said, “Audiences these days? They're vibing with content that feels real – stuff that elicits a chuckle, sparks a memory, or just hits home. Humour, straight-up talk, genuine feels, and stories rooted in our cultural fabric are what's grabbing attention. Zomato's Mother's Day and Father's Day ads are spot-on in this regard. Pure gold! They've not just captured the classic, funny, and oh-so-relatable moments we've all had with our folks, but also intertwined them with deep cultural insights that resonate across the board. It's ads like these that blend humour with our shared cultural experiences, making everyone nod and say, "Yep, that's so us!"

Favourite festive campaigns

We also asked creatives to share their favourite festive campaigns.

Titus Upputuru, Founder and CCO, The Titus Upputuru Company, said: “I have always loved the John Lewis Christmas Commercials. They are so warm, endearing and relatable. They are so festive but yet are not over the top. I especially liked the Elton John film where we see the aspect of gifting which is such an integral part of a festival. Wish we could do something like that in India. I would love to direct a film like that with the right emotional depth.”

“One of the films that I fondly remember was writing and directing was Tumhaari Amma. The brief Omron gave us was to do something festive as Diwali was around the corner. So we created this unique mother-daughter relationship where their roles are reversed. So the Amma in the film is actually the daughter. And she gets a husband for her widow mother as a Diwali present. The brand was subtly placed and despite the fact that we had a whole demo going on in the heart of the film, the brand never looked forced. The brand message ‘Somethings you must know, somethings you don’t need to know’ was subtly woven into the film. It created a lot of engagement and conversation, and an Omron blood pressure monitor was positioned successfully as a gift! Now that’s clever marketing I would say.”

Ujjwal Anand picked festive campaigns by: Coca-Cola - #MilkeHiManegiDiwali, Cadbury #ShopsForShopless/#Notjustacadburyad, Sabhyata #RedefiningCelebration, Netflix #HousefulWaaliDiwali.

Several creative heads mentioned Jane Lewis & Partner’s Christmas ad campaigns every year.