Diwali 2022: Experts share Firecracker campaigns of the season

Social Samosa reached out to industry veterans to find out which Diwali campaigns are the firecrackers of the season, in their opinion.

For the past couple of years, ad campaigns celebrated the longing to get together - from online shopping to virtual celebrations, each and every aspect of the genre was explored in Diwali campaigns.

Now that the world is stepping out again, the ad campaigns this year have seen a shift as well. A select few Diwali campaigns have highlighted characteristics like togetherness and ethnicity while few celebrate the spirit of festivities by emphasizing the importance of local shops.

Social Samosa reached out to industry experts to find out which Diwali campaign was the firecracker of the season and stood out, in their opinion.

Also read: Media ladis: Here’s what Indian Ad Land’s Diwali media shopping list looks like

Cadbury Celebrations

Cadbury's Diwali campaign managed to stand out, as a number of experts shared what they like about the campaign and why it stands out.

Sneha Beriwal, CMO, VAHDAM India states, "Cadbury usually has the most firecracker campaigns and this Diwali is no different. The brand's ability to tug at consumers' hearts, festival after festival, is inspiring. It's easy to campaign with a social message to get preachy but Cadbury's #ShopsForShopless campaign has the right balance."

Arvind Menon, ECD, BBH India says, "'There are quite a few great Diwali campaigns I’ve noticed. Some really great, insightful, and emotional work out there. Cadbury’s #ShopsForShopless really stands out for me. What a fantastic way to carry forward the journey of generosity that the brand has been on for the last couple of years. I love how it leverages the simplest and most accessible of technologies to drive social good. I hope it is a great success and many entrepreneurs from the unorganized sector benefit from it."

Umang Puri, Creative Director North, FoxyMoron says, "The campaign by Cadbury Celebrations this year supporting local hawkers has honestly been the highlight of the season for me. It comes with a strong truly Indian insight backed by tech creating synergy between the digital and physical world."

Jar App

Kashyap Vadapalli, Marketing Leader, Ex-CMO Pepperfry, says, "The new Jar ad featuring Piyush Mishra in a music show format with the hashtag #BuddhiJeeviBuddhiLaga is quite striking and noticeable. During the festive season, there is an overdose of feel-good family-get-together communication clutter, from a theme perspective. This ad starts off looking like a traditional one but quickly veers off on an unexpected tangent. This tangent combined with the ability of Piyush Mishra in wordplay and narration makes one stop and see the entire ad. It is enjoyable enough for a repeat viewing, on the back of both the lyrics and the performance."

Vadapalli added that what interests him is the fun and irreverent references to social media and influencers, which makes it very Gen Z, the core target audience of the Jar App. He says that the campaign takes a swipe at the confusing and convoluted world of personal finance and advice around it, which strikes a chord with people who are just beginning their savings and investment journeys

Also Read: Shoppers Stop’s Shwetal Basu shares insights behind Diwali campaign

Coca-Cola

Shivani Kamdar, Associate Creative Director, SoCheers says, "This festive season, Coca Cola’s new ‘Milke Hi Manegi Diwali’ campaign stands out for me, as it takes ahead the brand messaging with utter beauty and expertise. Coca Cola has always been about ‘opening happiness’, but they took it quite literally with this campaign. The insight was simple, after two years of the pandemic and virtual festivities, people want to celebrate in person; so, technology, creative storytelling and even the background score all came together to deliver an impactful Diwali campaign."

The campaign is letting people send each other Locked Coke Invitations, which only open when the sender and receiver meet.

Ashish Bhasin, Co-founder & Chairman, RD&X Network says, "This particular Coke Ad 'Coca-Cola, Follow the bottle', where you're chasing the bottle stands out as a firecracker Diwali Ad because along with capturing the emotions, it's also the first Diwali after 2-3 years of COVID where you are getting people together. Coke is all about having a good time together. This campaign is a step towards exactly that; bringing people physically together and close, keeping brand value intact, and playing to its core message. The fact that people are in the mood of meeting each other after so long is a good insight that is used by the brand."

Bhasin is hopeful that this year's Diwali will be a dhamaka for advertising. The industry's overall performance is linked to the festive season and so far, the reports indicate that it should go well.

Shoppers Stop

Beriwal said, "I also like the shopper stop campaign which is inspiring people to rethink gifting this season." Thus adding one more campaign to the list.