By Sreeram Reddy Vanga
With lavish pandal decorations, serene ambience, and charming festive tunes, Durga Puja celebrations delineate joy for everyone. As consumers wholeheartedly embrace the festive spirit, their inclination to make purchases grows, offering companies the potential for brand visibility and profitability. This upswing in consumer spending, a clear reflection of the widespread jubilation, sets the stage for businesses to strategically position themselves and reap the benefits of the economic upsurge.
The Durga Puja Creative economy is a well-oiled machine.
In 2021, Durga Puja achieved global recognition by being designated as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is an exceptional instance of a vast creative economy centred around a festival, given its significant economic value and capacity to create job opportunities. During this period, advertising spending, on average, rose 45-50 per cent (Source). There are numerous opportunities for corporate sponsorships, branded events, and merchandising, among others. In this context, brands and influencers can associate with the puja celebrations to amplify their reach across all platforms by capitalising on the social media bandwagon. To that effect, Influencer marketing campaigns can include festive imagery and values to evoke emotions and connect with prospective customers.
Storytelling at the heart of festive influencer campaigns
Great stories create great connections. Hence, the narrative that resonates with the audience holds significant importance in any brand campaign, given the prevalent emphasis on relatability in today’s marketing landscape. The festival season is an excellent time for them to communicate with their audience by sharing tales they can relate to. To take the campaign to the next level, brands and content creators must capture the cultural essence of colloquialisms and leverage non-intrusive and engaging media formats. Content creators can effectively incorporate long-held myths and traditions into their campaigns, underscoring the significance of cultural celebrations nurtured through generations for that unique creative angle.
Harnessing the power of data
In a saturated marketplace, tailoring a campaign plan to cater to customers’ needs and interests is the key to differentiating brands and nurturing enduring relationships with the target demographic. This is where data-driven strategies that focus on personalisation come into play, as they enhance the customer experience, leading to increased engagement, spiked conversion rates, and improved customer retention. The insights gathered from influencer campaigns can be analysed to create different user personas. Based on this insight, the content can be continuously optimised and personalised by the content creators who speak directly to each segment. Moreover, marketing automation tools can be leveraged to implement personalisation at scale.
Rising above the market saturation
While every brand is trying to capture the attention of prospective customers, it becomes critical to formulate creative ideas in the campaigns to navigate through the noise. It could be a unique selling point, a compelling story, or an innovative approach to celebrating the season. The key here is to approach the psyche of the audience while devising campaigns that resonate with them and have a unique recall. Content creators here can bring a human element, which can be leveraged to appeal to the audience’s emotions. Furthermore, it’s important to note that influencer calendars tend to fill up quickly during the festive season. As the demand for influencer collaborations surges, content creators may already have commitments in place. Therefore, brands should plan their campaigns well in advance and ensure they align with the festive season.
All things considered
Like every festival, Durga Puja also experiences a spike in customer spending, which can be effectively capitalised via influencer marketing. Utilising content creators for product marketing is like tapping into a creative wellspring. Therefore during the festive seasons, brands can leverage these opportunities to interact meaningfully and enduringly with their audience. Given the market potential, it comes as no surprise why the influencer marketing industry is worth more than Rs 550 crore during the festive season. Owing to the benefits influencer marketing provides, brands have been proactively increasing their budget for social media content creators. As a result, the content creator market is anticipated to reach 290.3 million by 2025 at a CAGR of 25%, according to Kroll.
To put it simply, festivities such as Durga Puja are a special time for consumers, content creators and brands alike. Although it is an apt time for brands to capitalise on the spending culture seen during this time, they will succeed if they treat their campaigns as another celebration that goes hand in hand with their customers. I believe It’s not just about selling; it’s about becoming a cherished and integral part of the celebration, a presence that lingers long after the festivities have concluded.
The author is CEO and co-founder of Kofluence.
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