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How Diwali UGC campaigns brought brands closer to consumers

Brands like Havmor, Xiaomi India and BigBasket roped in nano influencers this Diwali to leverage real-life scenarios

How Diwali UGC campaigns brought brands closer to consumers

User-generated content (UGC) has long served as relatable advertising. Yet, as brands doubled down on it this Diwali season, they showcased the potential for authentic engagement.

Brands like Havmor, Xiaomi India and BigBasket led the charge by leveraging nano influencers and real-life scenarios.

In what has become a crowded digital space, these festive UGC campaigns for Diwali not only cut through the clutter but redefined how brands can speak to consumers on a highly personal level.

Moving away from polished, big-budget campaigns, brands found success with UGC-driven storytelling, embracing organic, sometimes humorous moments that touch upon universal themes. This approach has helped brands balance relatability with visibility, creating a compelling narrative that resonates with the festive spirit.

Take Havmor's campaign, for example. The brand quickly spotted a viral WhatsApp exchange in which an influencer's mom humorously reminded him to bring ice cream for the Diwali celebrations. This simple, authentic moment turned into a larger campaign. Havmor went as far as filling a fridge with their ice creams and delivering it to the influencer through Swiggy Instamart.

These campaigns went beyond just one video. Havmor’s collaboration with Dewang Bhagwat, a digital creator with only 10K followers, brought an extra layer of intimacy and relatability through humorous “mom roast” skits that strongly resonated with consumers.

After the first video garnered 15.7K views, Havmor followed up with a second video, which attracted 11.6K views, further boosting the brand’s visibility.

This shift toward nano influencers is no accident. Nano influencers, with their close-knit communities, bring a level of authenticity that’s often hard to achieve with larger influencers. According to Shudeep Majumdar, CEO of Zefmo, the demand for nano influencers surged by 40-50% this Diwali season. Many brands opted for barter deals with these creators, providing products instead of financial compensation, a strategy that kept costs down and maintained an organic, unpolished feel.

Xiaomi India’s Festive Spin on UGC

Xiaomi India also jumped into the UGC space with an innovative twist. When a user, Ishita, posted a rangoli featuring the initials of her and her husband, the design unintentionally resembled Xiaomi’s logo. Seizing the opportunity, Xiaomi invited the couple to take over its social media accounts, creating an interactive experience that felt refreshingly different from traditional festive ads. The couple shared their Diwali moments through vlogs, vox pop sessions, and product showcases, making Xiaomi’s campaign feel both playful and personal.

This user-driven narrative, in contrast to scripted ad campaigns, placed consumers at the center of Xiaomi’s branding, appealing to the digital-first, community-driven audience. In doing so, Xiaomi proved that genuine engagement can be just as powerful—if not more—than high-budget advertising, especially during a season where audiences are inundated with festive content.

BigBasket Taps into Nostalgia with a Touch of Pop Culture

BigBasket’s Diwali campaign brought a dose of humor and nostalgia, drawing on cultural references that Indian audiences hold dear. The brand recreated iconic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) moments through the lens of NRIs reconnecting with their cousins back home for Diwali. Collaborating with influencers to create lighthearted, everyday moments, BigBasket successfully captured the joy and nostalgia of the festival, striking a balance between relatability and brand messaging.

As Indian brands looked beyond traditional celebrity endorsements, they discovered the strength of local voices and nano influencers, blending brand messages with the warmth and everyday charm of real-life celebrations. This shift reveals an emerging trend: brands are now leveraging the Brand Bharat ethos, connecting deeply with regional communities through campaigns that feel both intimate and relatable.

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