Festive Marketing: Content creator's role in India's shopping choices

Festivals are a crucial time for businesses in the country, and content creators have emerged as powerful marketing tools to help brands connect with their target audiences. They play a significant role in influencing consumer purchase decisions.

The panel discussion at Social Samosa’s Festive Marketing Camp 2023 on ‘Buzz to Business: How Content Creators Influence India's Festive Purchase Decisions’ provides insights into how the creators, agencies, and brands can be festive ready and the trends that’ll be seen in the influencer marketing during the festive season.

Panelists:

Rajni Daswani, Director, Digital Marketing at SoCheers

Ayush Guha, Head of Business Development and Strategy, HYPP

Ankit Bathija, Head of Artist Management at Clout, Pocket Aces

Harpreet Kaur Saini, Head of Brand Marketing, Freakins

Saurabh Ghadge, Content Creator

How can creators, and agencies be festive ready?

A recent festive report by Meta highlighted the role of content creators in shaping India's festive shopping choices. It said 66 % of Diwali shoppers agree that creators influence their purchase decisions. 

In this day and age when influence matters a lot for buying habits, content creators bring a much-needed impact for brands. 

-Saurabh Ghadge

The creator who has been creating content for 8 years now believes that every content creator can sell anything and everything and the products don’t have to be from their domain.

According to Ghadge, planning content for the festive season ahead of the season is crucial. This planning allows the creators to seamlessly integrate brand collaborations into their content.

He said, “Fitting a brand into your own content and adapting to the festive season is what us creators have to dwell into during the festive season.”

From an agency perspective, Ayush Guha, Head of Business Development and Strategy, HYPP,  shed light on the strategic approach to content creation for the festive season. According to him, most of the content is just thought through on what the festivities are like, getting new characters and intellectual properties (IPs) in place, and brainstorming offline activities designed to align with the spirit of the season.

He explained that to streamline the process and make the most of this crucial period; agencies should ensure that their business processes are optimized, reducing legal and documentation delays. They should prepare their teams for faster turnarounds and facilitate more efficient day-to-day communications.

You need to think from a brand lens and perspective when you're creating those IPs and characters or thoughts. And certain things that we are doing beyond this are offline activations for creators as they are adding an offline perspective over the digital world. That’s how we get festive ready.

- Ayush Guha

Brands’ festive checklist

Rajni Daswani, Director, Digital Marketing at SoCheers, highlighted the essence of seizing moments and making the most out of them, particularly during festive seasons.

The ability to be able to take a moment and make the best out of it is the key for any season, let alone festive. That's the first thing that we look for in a creator for a brand.

- Rajni Daswani

Daswani emphasized that content creators must seamlessly integrate the brand into their content without making it feel forced. Their ability to understand trending topics and what works for them as creators is crucial in this regard.

She highlighted that in the cluttered market, the second critical aspect is metrics for engagement and reach. Brands must evaluate a creator's ability to craft content that stands out and garners organic reach. Creating content that not only reaches a broad audience but also forges a relatable, honest connection with consumers is essential.

While Harpreet Kaur Saini, Head of Brand Marketing, Freakins, highlighted that during the festive season, typically spanning from October to December, people tend to increase their spending. This period is notably lucrative for businesses, including fashion brands, as sales soar, and consumers are more inclined to spend and it is common for brands, even those not traditionally associated with ethnic wear, to align their campaigns with the festive season.

She explained that Freakins strategically adapts its campaigns to cater to this festive spirit. The brand showcases how its products can be incorporated into the festive season. This inclusivity extends to customers who creatively combine their products, like denim corset tops with sarees.

In their marketing approach, they target specific markets and demonstrate how their products can be used during the festive season. They also add embellishments to align with the celebratory vibe. Depending on the specific festive occasion, they tailor their product range to suit the theme. 

We treat the products in a way that they're relevant to the consumers around the same time. If it's Christmas, we move towards more red colors, green colors or like party season products. That's how the festive season works for us.

- Harpreet Kaur Saini

Ankit Bathija, Head of Artist Management at Clout, Pocket Aces, pointed out that a couple of years ago, the brand-creator dynamic involved brands approaching agencies or creators with specific directives, such as creating content around a particular brand or soundtrack. However, the landscape has now shifted, granting creators more creative freedom in terms of how they integrate brands. This showcases a shift toward a more flexible and dynamic collaboration between brands and content creators.

"Look at the longterm focus and build a relationship with content creators to aptly include them into your brands," Bathija concluded.

This panel discussion was a part of Social Samosa's Festive Marketing Camp and featured the following gifting partners - The Body Shop, French Essence, and The Love Co and was moderated by Mrinil Mathur Rajwani, Managing Partner, Social Samosa Networks and Founder & Editor, Social Ketchup.