This Diwali, Dhara blends in subtle badlav

Festivals are incomplete without food and people! The magic or nostalgia of home-cooked food is irreplaceable. And who can forget family gatherings! Any festive celebration is incomplete without family members coming together and having discussions over a meal or relishing their favourite sweet dish. The festival of Diwali is also an occasion for gifting our close ones with the most memorable and lovable offering to suit their preference. Keeping this insight at the core, Dhara, India’s leading edible oil brand from Mother Dairy, has rolled out a new campaign for Diwali 2022, but with a badlaav.

The Diwali campaign DVC under thecommunication proposition #KhaanePeKehnaentails a heart-warming narrative of the unspoken responsibilities that come during the festive season and how having difficult conversations simply while gulping your adored gulab jamuns can often become a sweet moment to cherish. This time, Dhara has put the spotlight on a topic which remains unspoken for in households though felt by many in families.

The last campaign under the#KhaanePeKehna was all about initiating difficult conversations over dinner in a family with the subject revolving around the daughter and her co-student in school. While the new Diwali campaign takes the daughter’s in-laws into the centre stage and how the family is all conscious for her first Diwali post marriage, wherein the riwaaj of suitable gifting is being planned and finalised.

The multi-lingual campaign, live across 14 markets of Dhara’s operations, is led by a DVC and is further spread across the mediums of print and radio in 5 different languages, i.e., Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi and English. The DVC has gone live across the brand’s social media pages along-with select OTT platforms. The newly introduced Diwali campaign has been conceptualized by Dhara along-with DDB Mudra North and Wavemaker. 

Talking about the new campaign, Mr. Manish Bandlish, Managing Director, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd., said, “The festive season, for everyone, is a time to relish and enjoy. However, this time of the year also brings in responsibilities of various sorts upon families that are often missed or not expressed. With this new Diwali campaign, we intend to call for more than one badlaav. On one hand, we are stiving to make difficult conversations easy. On the other hand, we are urging our consumers to bring in a badlaav in the way they celebrate festivals by cooking something at home and sharing it with their near-and-dear ones rather than just passing on gift boxes. We hope that our consumers see a relatable blend of relationships, conversations and food within this new campaign.”  

DVC Execution

The film opens with a fully decorated house on the occasion of Chhoti Diwali. It’s evening snacks time – there’s homemade kachodi andgulab jamun on the centre table. The family is planning the gifts for their daughter’s in-laws. The mother is showing the father and the daughter the clothes she has bought, the father is more inclined towards whether the gift boxes have been prepared or a bigger vehicle has been booked, etc. While the daughter is trying to avoid the small things her family members are focusing on, she finally decides to interrupt at a moment and asks her father that why they are not packing special sweets for her in-laws. The father appears to be confused. The daughter, looking at the gulab jamun bowl in her hand, asks for home-made gulab jamuns. She slides down the plate of kachori and gulab jamuntowards her father and says, “Tohfe ka mehenga nahi, achha hona zaroori hai na…”. Dhara’s signature tune plays as the father agrees with her daughter as mother gives a calm look of approval. The voice over says Tyohaar ke riwaaj mein zara sa badlaav lana ho, apnon ko apne haath ka khilana ho,toh bas Khaane pe Kehna and the DVC concludes with the logo of#KhaanePeKehna.

Commenting on the campaign’s execution,Iraj Fraz Batla, Executive Creative Director – DDB Mudra (North), said, “This is the Diwali edition of Dhara’s #KhaanePeKehna campaign. Diwali comes with its own pressure to follow rituals in the most perfect manners possible. Often, it means excessive expenditure in gifting. But when you know it’s getting extravagant and wasteful, and you know that the finest mithai and namkeen can be made at home, toh iss Diwali, bas#KhaanePeKehna.”

Dhara Edible Oils had rolled out its communication narrative of #KhaanePeKehnaearlier in August 2022, kickstarting the festive fervour across the nation. The latest messaging is in line with the brand’s overall positioning of Zara Sa Badlaav which was introduced in FY2018-19. Subsequent campaigns under the ambit carried the essence of encouraging people to bring in small changes for larger benefits. The brand, in 2021, had extended it to Rishton ki Sehat,that manifested the importance of looking after the general well-being of one’s family by adopting good health practices. Over the years, the brand has talked about daily edible oil consumption habits, reshuffling of household responsibilities, embracing relationships and health, making new beginnings, etc.