India is a land of festivals. Every festival in India is celebrated with passion, be it Diwali, Durga Puja, Eid, or Christmas. Festivals are a time of celebration, sharing happy moments, and most importantly, shopping. This is why these are the best times for the brands to leverage this to showcase their products.
Festivals or occasion-based marketing and advertising campaigns have been the tactical nature with brands. The focus is on discounts or freebies to trigger a purchase. A wide array of brands has started crafting festive and occasion marketing. Thus, it is important to create a content marketing calendar.
At present, the marketer’s job is no longer to rush a prospect through the funnel for purchasing. Instead, it is important to educate and empower the customer to make their own decisions. We need a content strategy for it.
In general, the “ideal” customer journey is the one that results in a quick purchase with the least touch-points. However, the ideal customer journey today is the one that presents the right content, at the right time, in the right place with a seamless transition between assets and channels.
How to create a content marketing calendar – A generic approach
SL. NO. | Facts to remember | Brief summary |
| 1 | Audit | Audit your social calendar! Develop a clear picture of your present social media efforts and identify the areas for improvement. |
| 2 | Social channels | Choose your social channels wisely and review the best practices for every social media channel you publish your content. |
| 3 | Tracking your data | Decide on what data your content marketing calendar needs to track, like time zone, visuals, insights, and more. |
| 4 | Content library for assets | This will be your content repository or media resource database where you can re-use existing content for the festivals. |
| 5 | Establish a workflow | Once you have collected all possible information, start sketching your daily, weekly, and monthly activities for the festivals. |
Creating an approach towards relevant festive marketing and advertising
There is no doubt that every festival witnesses a surge in marketing efforts. There are innumerable brands that try to spread awareness and bring more sales by creating campaigns leveraging the festive spirit.
Yes, discounts work but they are not a long-term plan. Also, with so many brands offering similar types of discounts, you will get lost in them. Also, most of the freebies come from the manufacturer’s perspective. This is why they will have little relevance to what the customer would actually like.
The best marketing and advertising approach for the festivals is to create an emotional and intangible connection. This is how you can make your brand more relevant in the crowd. Gen Z is a business opportunity that you cannot miss out on.
40% of the population commands over $40 billion in spending power. Thus, modern marketers need to build compelling strategies for engaging with Gen Z. Personalized, authentic and experimental conversations and content are important in a purposeful engagement. However, this is where most marketers struggle.
Everyone wants to go viral these days, but not everyone can do that. So how do you execute your content marketing and advertising plans perfectly? Any content marketing campaigns should promote your product, build brand awareness, and also engage with humility.
To do that you have to be shareable! Any campaign is all about shares, especially on social media. If you can make people share your content, you can rest assured that people will notice your brand.
Some unique festive content marketing campaign examples from the last few years
Mochi
Recently, Mochi, a very popular shoe brand did something interesting for Raksha Bandhan. They collaborated with Indian standup comedian Akash Gupta and created a video on “how can a guy avoid getting into the bro zone on Raksha Bandhan”. This is one of the best examples of festive influencer marketing. There was no Happy Raksha Bandhan message, discounts, or offers, just a simple and insightful communication that connects with the chords of the millennial culture. This drove better engagement and conversions compared to any discount.
Pantaloons
Whether it is about spending quality time with your friends and family or catching up with your old friends after a long time, or starting a cute romance with your crush-next-door, this beautiful advertisement from Pantaloons will make you want to leave everything and get into the festive mood. This was one of the best festival ads in 2019.
Bajaj Allianz
Bajaj Allianz, one of the prominent financial institutions of India came up with an advertising campaign with an ad film. It was circulated with the hashtag #ProtectSeZyadaSupport. The idea behind the campaign was to bring a change in the perspective of society. We live in a world where men who have sisters, are always taught to protect their sisters. In this content marketing campaign for Raksha Bandhan, Bajaj Allianz presents a strong message of offering something more than protection and supporting women to achieve their life goals.
Oh! Calcutta
Specialty restaurant Oh! Calcutta created a video for the occasion of Durga Puja. It perfectly captures the essence of how someone feels if they cannot return to Kolkata during the “Pujo”. Not only it created a video, but the brand further went into Instagram for driving engagement asking customers to visit their outlet, capture a moment with their family and friends and upload it with the hashtag #AddaAtOhCalcutta to win vouchers.
Tanishq
One of the most popular jewelry brands, Tanishq narrated a beautiful story about how a woman, who is organizing the Durga Puja for the first time. She is anxious to make sure that everything goes fine. Her father gifts her a pair of bangles as a blessing and comforts her by saying that she has done a brilliant job.
Century Ply
Century Ply is a furniture and wooden products manufacturing organization. It celebrated the unsung clay artisans of Kumortuli without which a Durga Puja would be almost impossible. They created an advertising campaign by urging people to send pictures of the idols being made or the finished idols of Durga Puja along with the name of the artisans making them. Three of the artisans getting the maximum entries were awarded and the top five photographers would win prizes.
GoAir
GoAir leveraged Diwali activation to create digital engagement. They planned a surprise Diwali for the passengers at 30,000 feet. To curate a campaign that will bring a feel-good moment for the GoAir passengers, the brand wanted to make sure that every passenger feels a part of the festivities. It was just another day for the passengers of GoAir because they were boarding the Mumbai flight from Delhi on the eve of Diwali. The cabin crew on completion of the mandatory task of ensuring the safety and comfort of every passenger on the aircraft lit over 180 fireless LED lamps, 30,000 feet above the ground for celebrating the festival of lights with everyone on-board.
Vodafone
Vodafone touched the right chord with their Diwali Ad. The advertising campaign showed how people have forgotten to use their own words to connect with people. Instead, we have switched to forwarding messages to our loved ones. Vodafone encouraged us to connect with our loved ones on a more personal level. They started using the hashtag #YourWordsNotForwards.
If you want more such examples, here is a compilation of the top 10 Durga Puja themed India Ads.
Few things to remember while creating content marketing calendars for festivals
In the above section, we shared some of the best content marketing for festivals in India. Here are some of the factors to remember while creating a content marketing calendar for festivals.
The idea of creating a content marketing calendar for the festivals should be based on a theme, something that connects. You can also make your festival as the theme itself. Start with the existing content assets.
While creating a content marketing calendar for the festivals, a lot of the marketers focus on creating brand new contents from the scratch. Instead, start by taking notes of the existing contents and resources to see what can be repurposed and remixed.
Since you will be creating a content calendar for the festivals in India, you will have a lot of time to plan, schedule, publish, promote, track, and tweak the contents. Start by creating a hyped content about something upcoming in the festivals and post it on different mediums.
You can plan your own unique hashtag. Keep regular editorial meeting plans for editing and bringing new content before the next publishing period. You can also use these meetings to track engagement, conversions, and revenue.
Don’t get stuck into ideas that you cannot implement immediately. Also, don’t get hung up on the “we’ll never be able to do those ideas”. Instead, create a repository of content ideas which you can tap when needed.
How COVID-19 will change the face of the festive content marketing this year?
Advertising is the mirror of society. With the onset of the festive spell, the second half of the year in India is always full of opportunities for small and large scale brands and startups as well. Meeting with friends and family during festivals has been a part of the Indian culture for centuries. This has been captured by the brands in most campaigns. However, this festive season is not the same as the previous years and we know why. This is why the brands have to focus on a new narrative keeping in mind the safety, hygiene, and the need to be careful.
According to Ashish Ohlyan, the Head of Marketing at Cholayil (make of Medimix soaps),
“Our brief to the agency always includes being careful and sensitive to the current environment“. It is important for the brands to be positive and high on hopes. People want to be free from the shackles of the current situation and live a life in the way they always have. He added,
“While we cannot change the situation, we can prepare our mind to be ready and take it head-on. A low-cost FMCG brand can create a new narrative for itself and touch upon the lives of consumers rather than just the usage of the product”.
Shirish Agarwal, the Marketing Head of Communications in Panasonic India, stated that with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the brands will be more aggressive in offering as far as festival schemes possible. At the same time, IPL is also scheduled in this period. Advertising agencies feel that this phase is an opportunity for creative storytelling along with integrating social distancing messages, work from home norms, and hygiene protocols in the marketing campaigns.
Sandeep Sreekumar, the Managing Director at Media Moments mentioned,
“As an agency, we are brainstorming on creative ideas to craft digital campaigns for our brands to promote social messages along with the brand products. Following the idea to be creative yet contextual, we are emphasizing on giving out the message in a manner that sounds interesting to the listener. We are demonstrating innovative communication to support such social messages through our campaigns“.
According to Bhatt, the ads that brag too much about luxury will not be appropriate because the economy has gone down. This is why showing too much luxury and grandeur in the marketing ads will not go well with people this year.
“This year we won’t promote how the festival should be celebrated but we will show how it was celebrated in past years and tell consumers why this year is different and how people in all kinds of situations should and can cherish it in multiple ways,” Bhatt mentioned.
How startups and SMBs can create an effective festive content marketing calendar 2020?
To create an effective content marketing calendar for the festivals, startups and SMBs need to focus on the following factors. Optimal usage of the online mediums is the best way for startups and SMBs to create a great content marketing campaigns within a limited budget.
Embrace user-generated content
There is no doubt that any user-generated content will encourage a whole community to create and share the content of your brand. The content can be anything. It can be photos, videos, infographics, blog, or even a GIF. Thus, brands can create user-generated content campaigns around festivals or create an ongoing activity to keep things rolling.
For instance, Apple started the #ShotoniPhone hashtag to help users in sharing their photos and videos with an iPhone. To date, over 10 million posts have been shared in this hashtag. Using Twitter Moments is also a great alternative for featured content, with, for example, #PujoMoments or #FestiveMoments hashtags.
Use Instagram Shopping
This is very useful for the brands during the festivals. Instagram allows brands that sell physical products to tag them in Instagram posts and stories. When anyone taps on the tag, the user is redirected to the website to complete a purchase. As brands, you have to get your store approved by Facebook and then publish the inventory on Facebook. This feature is available in more than 40 countries.
Make use of Spotify for Marketing
Display ads during the festivals are something that you cannot miss out on. It is important for any brand. When it is about social media marketing, Spotify will not come upon the marketer’s radar. If you don’t use it, you will miss out on 217 million monthly active users. Brands with brick and mortar outlets are using Spotify for creating custom playlists for their retail stores. You can experiment with sponsored playlists, audio, video, or display ads on Spotify. B2B organizations can show the humanitarian aspect of the organization by releasing curated playlists for their employees or dedicated to their customers.
Engage with Instagram influencers to host contests or giveaways
For the startups and SMBs, it is crucial to identify the micro-influencers of your niche, with good following and engagement. The next step is to run social media festive contests and giveaways. Feel free to experiment with multiple platforms.
Build a hype
This is especially useful for festive marketing advertisements and campaigns. A successful pre-launch campaign on a product or an offer will get people to talk about your brand, increase product anticipation, and ensure that your product sells well. Have a dedicated hashtag, create cryptic posts or you can simply take pre-orders.
Feature your customers and find a way to inject humor
While creating content for marketing and advertising campaigns for the festive seasons, make sure to add your customers and inject a bit of humor into the content. Adding your customers will increase credibility and inject a tinge of fun will help you engage your future audiences. It can be a playful jab at your competitors, goof-ups at the company events, and so on. A little humor never hurts anyone!
That’s it guys. These are the ways to create a content marketing calendar for the festivals in India. We are pretty sure that this blog will help you in crafting your unique content marketing calendar for this festive season.
