MAM
Brands pick digital over TV and print for Diwali marketing
MUMBAI: The festival of lights and colours is finally here! Diwali has always been an occasion to reconnect with family and our loved ones but the event is also that time of the year when brands go all out to create presence and market themselves across all channels.
The festive season starts in September all the way till December, but Diwali continues to remain a favourite among brands and advertisers every year.
Dentsu Aegis network chairman and CEO South Asia Ashish Bhasin projects a 15-20 per cent growth this festive season particularly because last festive season got badly affected due to demonetisation and this year with GST (Goods and Services Tax).
The chocolate category continues to grow at 12.4 per cent this year as per a Nielsen report suggesting that there won’t be a slowdown this festive season in the chocolate category. The gifting space has considerably expanded over the past years and people are opting to gift chocolates over sweets on occasions. Mondelez India, a brand that is synonymous to celebration and festivity in India has introduced a miniature version of Cadbury chocolates this season to boost sales.
Biscuits and confectioneries sector is also doing better this year as opposed to last year due to better monsoon and demand coming in from rural India. Rural has accounted for 10-15 per cent of Parle Products growth this year as compared to same period last year.
But, what has changed over the years is how brands have changed their communication with the audience. Customer communication is no longer about being accessible when the brand wants to talk to the customers or vice versa but making sure the conversation is present on all media platforms. Digital is growing 3X faster than traditional advertising and is becoming more important as the younger consumer has come into purchasing power and the trend will only increase. “A few years ago, the overall digital accounted for only five per cent of the market but it accounts for 15 per cent today and is expected to grow to 85 per cent over the next couple of years,” Bhasin adds.
Brands have decided not to invest a lot in TVC but to divert it to digital and connect with millennials.While Parle Products and Acer India will be launching a digital-only campaign for Diwali, Vodafone India and Mondelez India will not be rolling out any fresh campaign this time but will re-run its prominent ads from the past and showcase new offerings from the brand.
Mondelez India has tied up with Amazon India to launch India’s first virtual chocolate and sweet store. Seeing a massive opportunity in the corporate gifting space, Mondelez has also launched a new website for corporate gifting options called, ‘Cadbury Joy Deliveries.’ A Mondelez India spokesperson informed us that the company will be banking on social media capabilities, over the coming months and promote the direct-to-consumer website to reach out to key corporate decision makers enabling gifting choices at the click of a button.
Vodafone India will be using augmented reality to provide its consumers an opportunity to create their own unique Diwali greeting and eco-friendly‘phuljharis’ greetings. This personalised GIF can then be sent to friends and family through social media.
Parle Products, the category leader, has shelled out 40-50 per cent more this year as compared to the previous year. Parle’s focus on print is down from the usual 8 per cent to just five per cent. Digital focus is up from 12 per cent to 35 per cent which has eaten into TV’s share of 80 per cent. Parle Products category head Mayank Shah says, “Digital helps us in getting our message across to consumers with our long format commercials which otherwise would cost a ton if done on television during festivals.”
Similar is the case with Acer. The brand hasn’t invested heavily into marketing this season and allocated a mere three per cent of its advertising budget this year but is also focussing on digital. CMO and consumer business head Chandrahas Panigrahi points out, “All brands today have to do that in order to survive because just television or print won’t yield results as consumers have now moved to digital screens.” Acer India spends close to 20 per cent of its budget on digital and 10 per cent on print.
While brands are cheering for Diwali, the industry does not seem to have overcome the impact caused by GST. While sales remained low until September, marketers have kept their fingers crossed and are hoping to make up for the loss by the end of festive season.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
