MAM
The power of experiential marketing: How festivals are reshaping brand engagement
Mumbai: When it comes to festivals, India has its own distinctive ways of celebrating each one with immense energy and enthusiasm. With Ganpati, Durga Puja/Dussehra and Karwa Chauth just gone by, now we have Diwali on the horizon. These festivities are embedded so well in the culture and ethos of most Indians that they are marked clearly in the calendars. However, what does it mean for brands and marketers?
Well, they both know the huge potential of these festivities, as they are always finding ways to weave the brand narrative and gear themselves up with new marketing tactics. Aligning oneself with the festivity has turned out to be a vital method for brands that seek to make this season lucrative for themselves. In this context, experiential marketing has emerged as a powerful tool to break through the clutter and leave an everlasting impact on the target audience.
Exploring experiential marketing
Experiential marketing is a significant strategy that focuses on providing customers with immersive and memorable experiences. Unlike traditional methods, which are essentially one-way communication, experiential marketing incorporates active audience participation and engagement. In order to build a robust connection between the brand and its clients, it seeks to appeal to their senses and emotions.
Experiential marketing is a strategy that is the result of years of evolution in marketing blended with the innovations of brands. Hence, leveraging it at the time of festivities tends to offer better results as consumers are most active online at this point in time. Blending an experiential marketing strategy at festivals can forge authentic connections, create lasting impressions, provide a competitive edge, and drive customer loyalty.
Forging authentic connections
In a digital world where the target audience is skeptical about regular advertisements, experiential marketing offers an opportunity to forge authentic connections. It gives potential customers a direct and real-time experience of the brand’s products and services. The brands can allow their audience to have a first-hand experience of the brand. This can be achieved by crafting campaigns that focus on eliciting all the senses of the prospects, which in turn generates personal and relatable messaging, resulting in authenticity.
The Storytelling Revolution
Tanishq’s “Heera Ho Tum ” campaign was a treat to marketers. They made it a point to reshape the way women perceive their relationship with diamonds. Storytelling is at the core of experiential marketing, especially during festivals. Brands in India are crafting compelling narratives that resonate with the festival’s essence and cultural significance. Data from a Nielsen survey reveals that 72% of Indian consumers feel a stronger emotional connection to brands that tell authentic stories during festivals..
Creates lasting impressions
The attention span of netizens has significantly reduced; therefore, creating a long-lasting impression has become paramount. Experiential marketing allows for the delivery of positive brand experiences, which in turn encourages people to share the experiences via word of mouth, social media, or other forms of storytelling. For instance, an augmented reality (AR) ad on a social media platform that compels the audience to perform a certain task provides an immersive experience that engages the audience and ensures meaningful interactions. For instance, Nike has leveraged Facebook AR ads to promote their latest shoe releases. By using AR technology, users could superimpose virtual versions of the shoes onto their feet to see how they looked in real-life environments hence making it compelling for them to convert easily.
Provides a competitive edge
In order to take advantage of festival opportunities, standing out from the competition is extremely crucial. Think about how typical marketing approaches competition: in order to outperform the competition, a product may have a new feature that just slightly improves a benefit. However, an experiential approach reveals this: in order to set a brand apart from its rivals, the whole consumer experience needs to be taken into account. A brand can stand out from the clutter of traditional advertising by providing consumers with a delightful, instructive, or entertaining experience.
Creating Emotional Bonds:
Brands are using festivals to evoke emotions and create lasting bonds with their audiences. For instance, Cadbury’s heartwarming Diwali campaign, “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye,” tells the story of family and togetherness.
Data-Driven Personalization:
Brands are using data analytics to personalize their festival marketing efforts. For instance, e-commerce giant Amazon tailors its Diwali deals based on individual shopping preferences. A Salesforce survey shows that 59% of consumers appreciate personalized offers during festive shopping, enhancing the overall brand experience.
Drives customer loyalty
Positive consumer experiences increase the likelihood that consumers will stick by a brand and recommend it to others. In this regard, customers can become brand evangelists through experiential marketing, resulting in repeat business and referrals. With this tactic at their disposal, brands can build a community of devoted followers that actively promote and stand up for the brand in trying times by investing in the customer experience. By producing thrilling and emotionally impactful live brand encounters, the experiential strategy aims to pique and maintain customer interest while cultivating devoted brand advocates and encouraging word-of-mouth promotion.
All things considered
Festivals provide marketers with a fantastic opportunity to craft memorable experiences for their customers by implanting effective marketing strategies and compelling brand campaigns. However, over time, celebratory marketing techniques have changed, with businesses now prioritizing the sentiments of their customers. This is where experiential marketing can come into its own as a potent instrument that aids in the creation of genuine connections, long-lasting impressions, a competitive advantage, and consumer loyalty for businesses. As we move forward, innovation will define experiential marketing’s future and change how brands interact, connect, and thrive in a constantly shifting consumer environment. Soon, the viewpoint of brands regarding experiential marketing will shift from a “good to have” to a “must-have” strategy.
The author of the article is APAC, ETML director Vibha Singh.
MAM
Brands push beyond compliance as trust takes centre stage
ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026 spotlights shift from legal checks to credibility.
MUMBAI: In a world where a disclaimer can be legally sound yet socially suspect, brands are learning that compliance may tick boxes but trust wins markets. At the inaugural ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026, a panel on “Beyond Compliance: The New Currency of Trust” unpacked a growing industry reality: the gap between what the law permits and what consumers accept is widening and fast.
Moderated by Meenakshi Ramkumar of National Law School of India University, the discussion brought together leaders across law, marketing and academia to examine how brands must evolve in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by scrutiny, scepticism and speed.
Ramkumar set the tone by highlighting a critical shift, advertising today operates in the same digital space that fuels misinformation, scams and fake news, making credibility harder to establish. “The challenge is not just about what brands do, but the broader context of low institutional trust,” she noted, adding that when violations go unchecked, trust erodes not just in brands but in the regulatory system itself.
This vacuum, she said, has given rise to consumer activism from boycotts to social media backlash as a parallel accountability mechanism.
For Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer at Marico, the distinction was clear, legal compliance is non negotiable, but insufficient. “Compliance is the minimum threshold. The real challenge is staying aligned with changing consumer expectations,” he said.
He pointed to how advertising narratives have evolved from traditional depictions of gender roles to more shared responsibilities reflecting a broader societal shift. “Earlier, it was fine to show one person doing the household work. Today, that may not land well. Consumers expect brands to reflect reality,” Bhasin observed.
He also highlighted internal debates where campaigns that may be legally permissible are still rejected for being culturally insensitive, noting that responsible advertising often requires asking uncomfortable questions before the public does.
If compliance is the baseline, reputation is the battlefield.
Bhasin noted that reputational risk has become a far greater concern than legal exposure, particularly in an era where campaigns can be dissected within hours online. “Earlier, a controversial ad might invite a newspaper editorial. Today, within hours, you’re at the centre of a storm,” he said.
Brands, he added, now evaluate campaigns through a dual lens legal viability and reputational vulnerability with the latter often proving more decisive.
From a healthcare perspective, Satish Sahoo of Cipla Health underscored the complexity of operating within fragmented yet stringent regulatory frameworks, spanning drugs, food, cosmetics and Ayush. “Anything under a drug licence is the most tightly regulated,” he said, adding that this necessitates proactive, not reactive, compliance.
He shared an example from the oral rehydration salts (ORS) category, where Cipla resisted the temptation to position products aggressively despite competitive pressure. “Our product is WHO compliant, and our communication reflects that. We chose not to blur the lines, even if others did,” he noted.
The long term payoff, he suggested, lies in credibility built over consistency, not quick wins.
Yet, as Harsha N of National Law School of India University pointed out, even perfect compliance does not guarantee trust. Drawing from historical and modern examples from exaggerated product claims in the 1800s to contemporary environmental and health advertising, he argued that legal frameworks often lag behind consumer expectations. “A brand can be fully compliant and still be perceived as misleading,” he said, citing instances where fine print disclosures fail to reach or convince the average consumer. He added that larger companies carry a disproportionate responsibility to set ethical benchmarks, even in areas where the law remains silent.
The conversation also turned to digital advertising, where the challenge extends beyond content to how ads are experienced. From algorithmic targeting to personalised messaging, brands now operate in an environment where regulation struggles to keep pace with technology.
Sahoo noted that social media has amplified awareness, with influencers and consumers increasingly scrutinising product claims and calling out inconsistencies. “Awareness has gone up dramatically. People are questioning what goes into products and what brands are saying,” he said.
The role of self regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Council of India also came under the spotlight.
Harsha acknowledged that while SROs play a crucial role, they are not immune to criticism, particularly around perceived conflicts of interest and enforcement gaps. “SROs have a higher threshold of responsibility not just to interpret the law, but to anticipate societal expectations,” he said.
He added that failures in self regulation often push the burden back onto government intervention, underscoring the need for stronger, more proactive oversight.
One of the more nuanced debates centred on whether building trust comes at a cost. While Sahoo acknowledged that quality and compliance can increase costs, he argued that companies must absorb them as part of their long term strategy.
Bhasin, however, framed the challenge differently not as cost, but as competitiveness in a market where not all players play by the same rules. “The real tension is when others cut corners and you choose not to,” he said.
The panel concluded with a call to embed trust into business metrics.
Sahoo suggested that organisations must go beyond revenue targets to include consumer equity and trust based KPIs, ensuring that ethical considerations are not sidelined in the pursuit of growth. “Trust sounds abstract, but it can translate into measurable consumer equity,” he said.
As the discussion wrapped up, one message stood out: the rules of advertising are being rewritten not just by regulators, but by consumers themselves. In an ecosystem where attention is fleeting and scepticism is high, brands that merely comply may survive, but those that build trust are the ones that endure.
