Festive fervour grips India in the second half of the year showcasing the country’s vibrant culture and diversity. These festivals offer brands a unique opportunity to connect with consumers. This year India had an extended festival period that started in August with Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan, followed by Ganesh Chaturthi and Onam, then Navratri, and now Diwali is here. With consumer sentiment at an all-time high, brands are investing in their marketing efforts this festive season, but they are also riding the action packed cricketing season. Storyboard18 caught up with a few industry leaders to find out how they are surfing the festive fervour.
“It’s been quite action packed,” says Rathi Gangappa, CEO, Starcom India. “We’ve been having a lot of festivities. We are seeing a lot of positive sentiments from a consumer point of view as well as clients. In fact, we’ve seen a 40 percent growth in festive spends,” she adds.
The ODI Men’s Cricket World Cup, one of the biggest cricket tournaments scheduled during the Dussehra-Diwali period, has increased advertiser interest with ad spends almost twice what was spent during the 2019 World Cup.
Shekhar Banerjee, chief client officer and office head – West, North & East, Wavemaker India, agrees that there is a lot of buoyancy in the market because of the World Cup. “If that was moved aside, Diwali might have been an okay Diwali, and not a very vibrant one. Because I think a lot of advertisers are coming from a very low first quarter of 2023,” he says.
Anita Kotwani, CEO Media, South Asia, dentsu, says that clients’ media investment spends have been relatively tight. “I will second what Banerjee is saying. It’s not really been the big festive that you would have otherwise normally seen.”
Kotwani suggests that agencies have to be prudent to see what’s going to give brands and marketers the ROI and then work around marketing investments. “So the choices that I’m seeing, if I am going to push my investment onto the World Cup, then GECs get compromised. The fiction shows, etc, which otherwise would have seen a lot of traction during the festive period, will kind of take a beating,” she says, adding that Disney Star, which is the official broadcaster as well as streaming partner of the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023, has faced cannibalisation on spends.
Cautiously optimistic
Mohit Joshi, CEO of Havas Media Group, also says clients are still ‘cautiously optimistic’. “They are not opening up their pockets the way we expected them to. And in my view, it’s more because they want to be very careful about how to manage that bottom line. And the geopolitical situation has again gone into a spin with the war in Israel. And we are not sure what is there to come in the next one or two months. Honestly, the money is there, the demand is there, but the advertising is not happening to the extent to which at least we had expected,” he says.
The World Cup is likely to generate around Rs 2,500 to 3,500 crore ad revenue around festivals, feels Kotwani. “I don’t see it happening more than that. You will hear numbers to the tune of Rs 4,500 and upwards. But I’ll be very honest, I think a realistic number will be in and around Rs 2,500 to 3,500 crore,” she says.
Who is advertising?
Over the past few months, certain consumer tech sectors such as edtech, fintech, foodtech, and e-commerce that used to be heavily invested in both festivals and cricket have reduced ad spending.
But how has it impacted festive ad spends and how are traditional sectors like FMCG, auto, and telecom contributing to the advertising market’s growth around the festival?
“A lot of categories that really catapulted the industry and gave us the ‘Delta push’ over the past few years have dried up and hence there is pressure. But it’s great that the old established guys are now making up for what the newer guys have not been able to do,” says Kotwani.
“The rural sentiment is improving, and has bought back CPG (consumer packaged goods) to spend more and we are seeing it very clearly. Auto has been having a very good quarter since before festive so obviously during festive they are able to invest more,” says Banerjee.
Overall, all the experts feel that though festive combined with cricket might have given adEX a push after a slow start to the year, the next few months will be critical and need to be monitored closely.