Marketers’ clock: How brands are syncing ads with consumer moods & moments

As digital becomes the default, marketers can no longer afford to just be online — they must think digitally. Enter ‘daypart marketing’ —  a strategy that aligns content delivery with consumers’ moods, routines, and behavior throughout the day. This ensures that they achieve higher ROI because they are reaching out to their target audience when they are most active. 

Think, skincare ads post 9pm, motivational ads in the morning and B2B ads during the office hours. Brands are learning that when they speak to consumers can be just as important as what they say. 

What exactly is daypart marketing?

Borrowed from the media and broadcast world, where programming is segmented into ‘dayparts’ (morning, afternoon, primetime, late night), daypart marketing adapts this model to digital behavior. It uses data insights to understand how and when consumers engage with content — and then matches the message to that rhythm.

The approach has been backed by AI, behavioral analytics, and social listening tools, allowing brands to go beyond basic demographics and tap into psychographic and temporal segmentation.

“At WebEngage, we enable brands to create smart customer journeys that react to time-of-day activity and emotional triggers. With our journey builder and real-time analytics, brands detect when users are most engaged, whether it's early morning, afternoon breaks, or late-night browsing, and send contextual messages accordingly,” said Abhijat Shukla, Vice President - Data Science, WebEngage. 

He further added that for instance, a fitness brand might gently nudge users to use motivational content during the morning, while an OTT platform would suggest content appropriate for relaxation at night. By leveraging behavioural data alongside engagement signals, they enable brands to serve timely, mood-conscious experiences that feel personal and pertinent—driving increased engagement, retention, and conversion rates.

Big consumer brands such as Dabur also leverage this tool to achieve maximum engagement. Rajiv Dubey, VP & Head Media, Dabur India Ltd., said that with mobile becoming the first screen and content consumption peaking in bursts — during commute hours, work breaks, or late-night scrolling — daypart marketing has become a strategic lever for us at Dabur. It’s no longer just about reach, but about relevance in the moment. “We now map our media activations to mirror the consumer’s daily rhythm,” he added. 

This was further reiterated by Preetam Jena, CMO & eCommerce Head at FCL Skincare, who said that the scroll clock has completely reprogrammed them. According to him, their ad planning today is a mix of behavioural data and timing science. He said, “Commute hours are our brand-building window. Work breaks are for nudging curiosity and driving product discovery. But the real action? It happens post 10pm. That’s when distraction is low, wallets open up, and decisions get made. We treat each hour as a unique buying mood now.”

While Renee Cosmetics has not yet incorporated real-time targeting, they are leveraging the insights gleaned from organic posting patterns, said Ashutosh Valani, Co- founder, Renee Cosmetics. 

He added that through careful observation, they've identified different posting time periods that consistently yield higher engagement. Notably, the late morning window, between 11am and 1pm, and the evening hours, from 8pm to 11pm, consistently demonstrate significant upticks in key metrics. Additionally, Valani further said that they’ve observed noticeable upticks during the early morning around 9am and late afternoon around 6pm as well. 

Product Push

According to experts, brands often use daypart-specific automation to match consumer habits. Morning reminders such as wellness advice or news notifications drive engagement at the beginning of the day. Lunchtime food delivery apps initiate personalized deals, whereas retail companies send flash sales to target mid-day shoppers. Evenings are the best time for OTT suggestions or fitness reminders, and midnight alerts target night owls with app-only offers or entertainment material. 

Shukla said, “Through our journey builder, brands automate these contextual moments, making each one timely, relevant, and natural to optimize user responsiveness at various times of the day.”

Keeping true to this - for brands like Dabur, aligning messages with micro-moments has become both an art and a science.

Dubey shared that for instance, Dabur Gulabari is promoted around 10pm, when women are winding down and more open to skincare rituals. Meanwhile, Dabur Red and Meswak are pushed during late-night and early-morning slots to align with brushing habits.Shilajit is activated post 10pm, targeting male audiences exploring fitness and vitality content at night.

He added, “We’ve identified powerful micro-moments that lend themselves beautifully to this approach. Real Juices work well post-lunch or after-school hours—when kids and moms are looking for a healthy break. Hair oil messaging is strongest over the weekend or early mornings, when people prep for hair wash routines. Dabur Honey sees high traction when messaged around breakfast time—it fits into the ‘start your day right’ mindset.”

Dubey further shared that they have also timed messaging for products like Pudin Hara—perfect post partying or heavy dinners, often late at night. Hajmola works well after fun snack breaks or meals—afternoons and early evenings are great for that quirky, digestif communication. And for Dabur Chyawanprash, we focus on early mornings and seasonal change periods, said Dubey, pushing the ‘2 spoons for immunity’ message when health consciousness is at its peak.

AI-backed approach

Most of the campaigns for brands following daypart marketing is backed by AI and real time learnings. Jena added that their campaigns are powered by AI with real-time learning baked in. “We’re constantly adjusting creatives, bids, and call-to-actions depending on signals—time of day, device used, scroll speed, and even weather in some cases. Meta and Google are our frontlines, but YouTube and OTT platforms help us add emotional depth depending on daypart context. Programmatic isn’t the future—it’s the default now,” he said. 

This was further explained by Shukla who said that AI and ML are vital to communication timing optimization for brands in that they facilitate real-time data processing and dynamic decision-making. By analyzing enormous amounts of customer information like behaviour, purchase history, and social media engagement, AI is capable of determining the most appropriate times and channels to reach specific customer segments with the right messages. This allows brands to provide relevant content at times when it is most likely to be effective among their target audience.

He further said that AI's ability to analyze data in real-time allows brands to adjust campaigns swiftly, keeping them responsive to customer needs and ensuring their messaging remains timely and relevant in an ever-changing market. Moreover, it can automate routine tasks like customer service, content creation, and campaign management, which frees up time for teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.  Using customized communication and optimal timing enables brands to drive higher engagement, enhance conversion rates, and enhance overall customer experience.

Improved CTR?

Brands adopting daypart marketing have also noticed an improvement in CTR, engagement and conversions due to its nature of time-specific targeting. 

For FCL, with real-time AI optimization, they’ve seen CTRs improve, cost-per-clicks drop, and conversions spike in high-intent zones like late evenings and weekends. Jena believes that it’s no longer about just showing up—it’s about showing up when it counts. 

This is also true in the case of Renee Cosmetics. “We see a tangible difference in engagement levels, click-through rates, and even conversions during these peak periods. This reinforces the idea that timing plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of our communication,” Valani said. 

How can brands measure ROI?

According to Shukla, brands can easily measure the ROI of time-triggered communications using measures that directly correlate with user interaction and business results. The most important one is the Click-Through Rate (CTR), which indicates how interesting and appealing the communications are and encourages the users to perform an action. 

“Conversions are also an important measure, showing to what extent the users perform desired actions, such as sign-ups or purchases, upon receiving time-sensitive communications. Churn reduction is also at the top of people's minds since timely communication can remind them of offers or encourage them to finish their left-behind actions, eventually reducing churn,” he said. 

Shukla added that lastly, retention and reactivation rates are good success indicators, indicating how well time-triggered communications maintain users engaged or reactivate inactive ones. 

He further shared examples - for instance, CASHe and Acko brands have witnessed significant increases, including a 47% increase in monthly active users and 75% in repeat users. Acko's machine learning-driven win-back campaigns resulted in a 17.32% increase in policy renewals, highlighting the power of correct timing in achieving better retention and business growth overall.

However, Vicky Kukreja, CEO & Founder at Anphonic, believes that daypart marketing isn’t the key driver for most brands in today’s time. He shared that psychologically, all humans tend to have a lower resistance to temptation during the latter half of the day, which is also why traditional shopping channels often air live during late evenings. Similarly, with linear television, prime time slots were almost always in the evening for the very same reason. But, in the digital era, things work differently. Most online brands aren't simply solving an existing need, rather they are actively creating one. That’s why the time of day, or “daypart,” has far less impact on performance in the e-commerce space.

He added, “With the size, rapid and consistent growth and adoption of e-commerce, most brands don't see a significant effect on performance based on time of day. The rules of engagement have changed and timing, while still relevant in some cases, isn’t the key driver it once was.”

The Future

Even if timing isn’t the key driver -  it definitely helps brands in reaching the right consumers. Daypart marketing is no more a niche, and is actively moving towards becoming a norm in today’s day and age. 

“The consumer today isn’t just different in the morning vs. night—they’re different every 90 minutes. What device they’re on, what platform they’re using, what mood they’re in—it’s all changing in real time. Brands that adapt to this hourly human truth will win. The rest will just keep spending without landing,” said Jena. 

This was further reiterated by Valani who said that as the digital ecosystem continues to improve, the ability to precisely target audiences with tailored messaging at optimal times will become increasingly accessible and essential. 

“While the current infrastructure may present certain limitations in fully realizing the potential of dynamic time-based campaigns, the underlying principle of reaching the right audience at the right moment is undeniably powerful,” he concluded.