Personalization, regionalization & contextualization of campaigns is essential this festive Season: Henna Pande

Hyper personalization, regionalization, and contextualization - this festive season as brands look out for a creative ways to reach their target group, it is essential for them to carefully curate their marketing strategy. Henna Pande, Kinnect shares her two cents.

The pandemic has undoubtedly affected us inside-out. From a brand’s perspective, the demand-supply chain, market trends, advertising tactics — everything has undergone a tumultuous change. When the pandemic hit us in the initial months of 2020, markets wore an almost deserted look, and customers held their wallets close to their hearts. 

Many people are vaccinated now, markets are coming back to life, and the industry data is projecting an optimistic ecosystem for this festive season. Data also shows that a lot of newer audiences have joined the digital space since the pandemic started. 30%- 40% are making their first online festive purchase. 

Although the festive season comes with a lot of hopes for the brands, it is essential for brands to acknowledge that we are still on the path of recovery. Careful curation of campaign strategy and marketing, and a clear picture of the target group are essential. Here's what Henna Pande, Vice President-North at Kinnect had to say about the upcoming festive season.

Data driven strategies

This festive season as markets show an uptick, everybody is going to refer to the same data. Be it about the percentage of customers shifting to online shopping, or a survey on how much an average consumer is willing to spend this festive season. Hence marketing strategies or omnichannel strategies should be clear within the marketers’ minds for their respective brands with an attention on how to create a differentiation as everyone refers to common data insights. 

This is not just another festive season, this time the consumer has evolved and is fulfilled with a number of alternatives to choose from.

Data should not only be referred to but also mined in a suitable direction. Every customer is seeking different purposes, one cannot simply run over blanket data. 

Contexualized Communication Strategy

Consumers in general have undergone micro-cosmic changes. Today it is essential for brands to sensitize and appropriately communicate with their consumers. As we move towards normalization, brands should focus on meta-narratives. This year brands have to keep refining who they are communicating with and accordingly curate their campaigns. 

Personalized and audio messages are much likely to provide individualistic attention to the brands’ target group. These tactics will help increase the affinity between brands and consumers for the festive season. This season, brands need to take a step back, re-evaluate their existing strategy and curate them into a more contextualized version. 

Also read: Influencer marketing has become top-of-the-funnel game for many brands: Megha Tata

Aligning Marketing Strategy With Tier II & III Cities

This festive season brands need to go beyond the metro cities and target the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where disposable income and intent is not an issue, instead the availability and creating a brand image needs to be fixed. 

The key denomination for brands should be to note the content consumption habits of customers based in these cities and take lessons from brands that have reached these cities and have successfully created a loyal customer base.

Customers in Tier II and Tier III cities are not aspirational beyond logic anymore, they are street-smart and are well-aware of their needs and wants. Hence it is important for marketers and advertisers to curate relevant campaigns for them.

Most of the population joining the digital space from these cities would prefer to communicate in their regional language. Hence personalization, regionalization, and contextualization of campaigns is quite essential. 

Lastly, as the festive season commences and brands gear up for a flourishing quarter, inclusive campaigns should be kept in mind.

Hena Pande shared her opinions at Social Samosa Festive Marketing Week: Day 1. You can watch the complete session, here

Stay tuned for an exciting line up of sessions on Day 2 & Day 3. You can view the agenda here.