Brands and their festive rush: Are 7-Day turnarounds the new normal?

Gone are the days when festive campaigns were birthed through months of contemplative brainstorming and leisurely planning sessions. In today's whirlwind marketing scene, campaigns sprint from conception to execution a lot faster. This breakneck pace isn't the only dramatic shift—those tear-jerking, heartstring-pulling festive narratives that once dominated the Indian advertising scene are increasingly making way for wit and humour.

These insights come from SW Network (SocioWash), a digital marketing agency that has recently dabbled with several festive campaigns from some known brands. For instance, the agency orchestrated an extension campaign for Myntra's Big Fashion Festival, in collaboration with Leo Burnett, featuring Karan Johar in a clever clone concept, alongside Ranveer Kapoor, and some other celebrities such as Neel Nitin Mukesh and the Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives cast. 

The agency worked on Flipkart's Big Billion Days campaign and is currently finalising a large appliances campaign that blends horror with comedy and features Sumeet Vyas. Meanwhile, the agency's work for Cleartrip featured an advertisement in the Times of India newspaper, teaching readers how to make paper planes—a creative way to encourage leaving worries behind during the festive season. 

"What we did with these platforms was more specifically for festive sales rather than traditional festive campaigns," notes Jaunty, producer and director at SW Studios, SocioWash Network's integrated production agency, discussing its recent work.

The shift from conventional festive campaigns to sale-driven marketing reflects a broader transformation in the industry, among other trends that the agency has observed. "Earlier, many brands used to focus on festive campaigns, but that trend has now shifted to festive sale-driven campaigns," says Pranav Agarwal, co-founder of SW Network. 

Pranav Agarwal (L); Jaunty (R)

The creative approach to festive marketing has also undergone a seemingly growing change in recent years. While emotional storytelling has traditionally been the cornerstone of Indian festive campaigns, there's a noticeable shift toward humour and lighter content, as per Jaunty.

"Previously, many festive campaigns resonated on the emotional front, as Indians across the country are emotionally driven. Now the focus is shifting towrads humour, a trend that even traditional brands are adopting," he explains.

We sat down with the agency to get a broader sense of some key trends on the backend of festive marketing fervour. 

Production timelines and brand involvement

The relationship between brands and creative partners has evolved with changing timelines. Shorter deadlines have necessitated greater trust in creative partners, while campaigns planned well in advance allow for more extensive brand involvement.

"In the past year, even for festive campaigns with known dates like Diwali and Christmas, we've typically had lead times of just seven to ten days—from idea creation to final execution. This is partly due to working with digital-first and younger brands, where relevance can change rapidly. Our fastest turnaround was the Flipkart 'Skip the Ad' campaign in March, completed in seven days from ideation to launch," reveals Jaunty.

Agarwal adds perspective on varying brand approaches: "Production timeline and lead time can vary from brand to brand. For instance, Flipkart, despite their massive revenue, still operates with startup-like agility. They're aggressive and can launch campaigns within days. In contrast, more traditional MNC cultures follow longer, more process-orientated timelines."

The number of approval layers in place for executive campaign decisions primarily determines this.

Embracing technology in campaign creation

The industry is witnessing an unprecedented integration of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, in campaign creation and execution. As timelines become more compressed and budgets more constrained, creative agencies are turning to innovative solutions to maintain quality while meeting deadlines.

"We've been exploring AI extensively due to our aggressive timelines and budgets," explains Jaunty. "We're using AI for storyboarding, and in one instance, I even used ChatGPT-4 as a styling consultant when unhappy with the original stylist's input." This adoption of AI tools spans various aspects of production, from initial conceptualisation to final execution.

The visual effects department, in particular, stands at the cusp of a significant transformation. As Jaunty notes, it's "an area where significant time and money are spent in production," making it ripe for AI-driven innovation.

The evolving marketing calendar

As per Agarwal, the marketing calendar is expanding beyond traditional Indian festivals, with brands increasingly participating in Western celebrations and sporting events. "Some brands are now spending more on Halloween than Holi," he notes, though Diwali remains the peak spending period.

The industry is also seeing a shift toward moment marketing, which requires greater agility in decision-making. Sporting events, particularly cricket, have evolved into festival-like occasions for brands that could prompt a change in ad spends, as per Agarwal. 

"Cricket and Bollywood have become festivals in their own right," Agarwal elaborates. "With events like IPL being treated as genuine festivals from a branding and advertising perspective. This might lead to more balanced quarterly spending rather than concentrating half the annual budget in one festive quarter," he says. 

The future of content and storytelling

The advertising industry has witnessed numerous format revolutions over the decades, from the golden age of print and radio jingles to the rise of television commercials, the digital banner revolution, viral marketing campaigns, and the subsequent social media explosion. Every era introduced its unique 'next big thing' to transform the way brands engage with consumers.

Now, as short-form content dominates the landscape, it's worth noting that while formats may fluactuate in popularity, they rarely completely vanish— rather, they simply find their specific niche in the broader marketing ecosystem. As per Jaunty, effective storytelling remains crucial for connecting with audiences- regardless of the format a brand may use.

"The art of storytelling and connecting on emotions is the only thing that will eventually sustain across every format."