Festivertising: How to be the 'Anar' bomb in the box of '1000 ki Ladis'

Iraj Fraz Batla, DDB Mudra explains how brands and agencies can create interesting festivertising campaigns, even when the broad brief remains the same every single year.

In conversation with Iraj Fraz Batla, Creative Head, North, DDB Mudra at Festive Marketing Camp, Social Samosa unravels the fundamentals of festivertising. He explains how brands and agencies have been tapping similar emotions in the last few years, with a skewed brief.

"Brands want 'the' Diwali campaign of the year, the finest in the country and the best any brand has ever done, even if the brief is the same every year. Every year, brands want to be featured on artistic blogs that highlight the top 10 most touching, moving, and upbeat advertisements," Batla expresses.

Think Emotional...

The challenge is always the same because Diwali is the Super Bowl of India, and you need to stand out. Every brand, therefore, strives to establish a presence and produce content that is talked about. A sale is functional, which is the first type. The second type is emotional which says let's make them laugh, weep, speak about something, get goosebumps; feel something.

Sales won't work if consumers don't love the brand, the emotional component is what actually works. If two brands provide a person with the same thing, they end up choosing the brand that they like.

Also Read: Leveraging social conversations with Kanika Mittal of Twitter: Insights, trends & ideas this festive season

... but don't 'maid-a-verse' & 'guard-vertise'

There are a couple of things that demonstrate what not to do, but what not to do is what everyone else is doing and likely overdoing, Batla exclaims. He points out how in advertisements, brands have helped a plethora of needy and overlooked people in the world and supported maids and guards.

"According to internal research conducted by the DDB Mudra team, there are over 300 festive advertisements that have worked around the same idea. It needs to stop, according to everyone who cares about creativity," he says.

Batla quotes William Bernbach, one of the founders of DDB, when he said, "In communications, familiarity breeds apathy."

This means that advertising goes through many stages and right now advertisers are in one where they have done a lot around the less fortunate people. But festivals are also about connecting with loved ones and there are many happy moments that need to be explored. "Every year, advertisers need to go out and look for new tales and emotions that are specifically suited to the brand," he says.

He goes on to list a few campaigns that have stood out in his opinion.

Vivo

The campaign adhered to Vivo's essence, which is taking pictures. The phone basically had a part to perform, which is what made it more memorable and associated with the brand.

Big Bazaar

Through the campaign, a connection between the brand and the festive season was clearly established, while celebrating the joy of connecting with strangers.

Dhara

Dhara's Diwali campaign portrayed that homemade mithai had the personal touch that even 'mithaiwalas' couldn’t match - taking a sweet gesture and connecting it to the brand.

Iraj Fraz Batla shared his inputs at Social Samosa’s Festive Marketing Camp. You can view more interesting insights from the virtual conclave here.