Data, Tech, AI are set to play an important role in shaping festive marketing strategies

India is a land of many festivals throughout the year. For long, festivals have brought about a spurt in spending on myriad things – household goods, food and beverage, apparel, FMCG products, electronic products, jewellery, and much more, along with gifting frenzy.

Marketers have turned every festive occasion into a shopping opportunity, offering attractive discounts and freebies.

Traditionally, the Dussehra-Durga Puja-Diwali period was the prime festive season. However, today there is an extended period that starts around Independence Day, then moves on with Raksha Bandhan, the mega Onam festivities, leading up to Dussehra/ Durga Puja and Diwali, and beyond to Christmas and New Year.

To understand the market and consumer sentiment during festive season in 2023, the latest episode of Adgully’s premier property on X (formerly Twitter), GullyChat. focused on ‘Unleashing the Big Indian Festive Blitz in 2023’. The esteemed panelists included:

Dheeraj Bansal, Co-Founder, Recode

Rachna Baruah, Founder, Madchatter Brand Solutions

Pranav Midha, Co-Founder Miduty

Himanshu Adlakha, Co-Founder, Winston

Nitin Jai Shukla, Founder, OMTV

Saurabh Gupta, Founder, Garage Group

Saurabh Garg, Co-Founder & CBO, NoBroker

Jay Thakkar, Actor

Speaking about how data, tech, and AI are impacting and shaping the festival market in 2023, Rachana Baruah said, “Personally, I'm thrilled about how AI, data and tech are turning up the festive excitement. Brands are leveraging AI to create hyper-personalizations + stellar data analytics. One such campaign that caught EVERYBODY’S attention was Cadbury’s “Not Just A Cadbury Ad” campaign. It is the brainchild of Ogilvy India and Rephrase.ai.”

According to Nitin Jai Shukla, “Going "hyper-local" is the current trend for analysing all consumer behaviour, data, and Ai will play a big role, every brand wants to target the right consumer, someone has said that "India is a market where demand will never dry" you just need to figure out the supply.”

For Jay Thakkar, one of the main roles of AI in holiday festive marketing is personalization. He added, “AI algorithms can analyze customer data and create personalized recommendations and advertisements based on their past purchases and browsing behaviour.”

“Data, Tech, and AI are set to play important role in shaping festive marketing strategies. Taking advantage of data analytics, brands can gain deeper insights into consumer preferences and behaviour, allowing for more targeted and personalized marketing efforts. AI-driven chatbots and customer service platforms will also ensure swift and efficient support during the heightened festive demand,” said Dheeraj Bansal.

Saurabh Garg commented, “We are leveraging our data to anticipate demand over the coming months. As this trend continues, we believe that a substantial number of these new property owners will require additional services to facilitate their transition. From packers & movers to home cleaning and painting services, the journey of settling into a new home often involves various supplementary tasks. Our endeavour is to partner with them every step of the way.”

Himanshu Adlakha remarked, “Data, tech, and AI together will make this festive season more personalized and deliver a better experience. Data-driven insights will enable brands to understand individual preferences, leading campaigns that resonate with consumers.”

Saurabh Gupta added here, “Data, Technology and AI are already having a profound effect on advertising, particularly during festive seasons which are high points in advertising calendar worldwide.”

These are edited excerpts. To read the complete GullyChat conversation, visit https://twitter.com/adgully