Bullish brands leave no stone unturned to make festive season a grand success

Festive season this year is expected to bring about a stronger revival than last year as brands look to leverage the positive consumer sentiments. Brands are pinning a lot of hopes on the festive season this year to help them bounce back. They have started working on their advertising campaigns in full swing to win back consumer trust and help shape the market sentiment. While there is optimism in the air, experts feel that brands will be cautious as the COVID-19 cases are surging in many states and a major part of the population across the country are yet to be fully vaccinated. With the Sensex climbing every week and almost touching 60,000 (as of September 22, 2021), market sentiments are bullish.

The festive season has already commenced and will continue till January 2022. While last year was marked by a sluggish economy and layoffs, the year 2021 is seeing the dolling out of bonuses and increments and also fresh hirings taking place across companies.

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Festive season is an important period for the retail industry. It is a time when consumer spending is at an all-time high. The maximum sales for most leading retail products brands come during the festive season. While people have come in terms with pandemic but the fear is always there to go out and mingle in social gathering and shop the usual way for the festival. For paint brands festival is the ideal time for them to push their brands and the upcoming months are busy months as they expect people to add festive colours to their home and walls in while celebrating.

Speaking to Adgully, Mahesh Anand, President, Nippon Paint (India) Private Limited (Decorative Division), said that they are following a strategy similar to that of last year. “Despite the pandemic, the festive season looks very positive and buoyant. This year also we are expecting the same or even more positive sentiments. However, there are some challenges with respect to the rising raw material prices. Apart from that, paint brands are looking at launching a few new products, conduct stakeholder engagements with consumers, dealers and painters. For Nippon Paint, we have recently started the 360-degree brand campaign of our product Weatherbond PRO, the high durable exterior emulsion. We also continue to engage with consumers who are looking to paint their homes in preparation for the festive season.”

“Over the years, Mondelez India has been an intrinsic part of festivals in the country, with Cadbury Celebrations redefining the joy of festive gifting,” said Anil Viswanathan, Senior Director – Marketing, Mondelez India. He added, “In the current context, consumers are nesting at home and snacking more of the brands that they trust and love. We believe that our trusted brands that include Cadbury Dairy Milk and Oreo are finding more favor with consumers, given the promise of superior quality and safety assurance. We plan to leverage this festive period to stay invested on our brands and continue to build on strong campaigns that we have on them. While consumers gear up to rejoice the festivities, we remain well placed to cater to the demand through our strong focus across General & Modern Trade and e-commerce offerings.”

Mondelez India recently created quite a stir when it released a reimagined version of an iconic old ad for Cadbury Dairy Milk. This generated a lot of conversation for the brand, right in time for the festive season.

Commenting on how Duroflex is planning for this festive season, Smita Murarka, Chief Marketing Officer, Duroflex, noted, “This year, people are looking forward to upgrading their consumer durables and are interested in making high-value purchases. With most places out of the lockdown, offline retail will also make a comeback.”

Murarka further said, “The festive season brings opportunities for brands. There is immense competition not only for the share of mind, but also for the share of wallet. We have started building the message of ‘Nothing Like Duroflex’ very loud and clear, and have been building a lot of content and promotion around the same. On the campaign front, we have kickstarted our National campaign with Alia Bhatt to build the message of ‘Nothing Like Duroflex’, and it will be continuing into the festive season as well.”

Consumer durables is another category that sees a demand spike during the festive season. Sharing his views on the same, Saurabh Baishakhia, President, Appliances, Usha International, said, “After a slightly bumpy start to 2021, we saw things looking up starting June onwards, and the upward trend has continued. However, the real test for our industry is the festive season, for that’s when we see a major surge. We have been prepping for it to ensure that we meet all demands, and all things going well, this festive looks promising for the consumer durables industry. As people continue to spend more time at home and festive spirits rise, the demand for home appliances has been consistently increasing. In terms of product categories, we have been witnessing growth in demand for kitchen and home appliances that ease WFH situations, like Food Processors, OTGs, Wet Grinders, Rice Cookers, Cooktops and Home Comfort (Air-Coolers, Garment Steamers, etc.).

“To further strengthen and push the brands and stay connected closely with our consumer, we recently launched a nation-wide TVC campaign featuring our brand ambassador and National Film Award (2018) winner, actress Keerthy Suresh, highlighting our appliances range. Four TV commercials in nine languages and is spread across platforms – printmedia, digital – aimed at amplifying the engagement with consumers across India,” Baishakhia added.