It’s that time of the year when whatever be the sentiment in the stockmarkets, marketers pump in monies to generate sales for their products and services. There is an upward swing in mood and demand because of the current festive season. "I expect spends to increase significantly during the festive season, which is the shopping season for the country," says Kartik Iyer, Managing Director,Carat India.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Although India celebrates festivals through the year, the the last two quarters of the calendar year are the most crucial -- and relatively busy time -- for marketers. The festive season starts  with Dassera, and continues with Diwali, followed by Christmas and the New Year. "We spend appropriately to ensure that we connect with Indian consumers during festivals, and this [reaches a peak] during Q3 and Q4," says Debabrata Mukherjee, Vice President - Marketing of Coca-Cola India and Southeast Asia.  

Traditionally, consumer spending during these months increases significantly across various products and services with an umpteen number of discounts and offers. This year is no different. But it is not just consumers who have reason to celebrate; advertisers, too, are hoping to boost their revenues on the back of consumer buying, and are spending astronomically to make the most of the festive fervour. "September and October accounts for almost 20 per cent of total ad spends. This makes it a very important time," says V Narayanan, Chief Growth Officer, GroupM’s Motivator. 

Kurkure, the snack-brand of PepsiCo India, recently launched its largest ad campaign, in terms of advertising spends. Not just the FMCG sector, but from auto to e-commerce, companies are spending big on their ads and promotional activities. "From the marketing point of view, the festive season is big for us. Like any other year, we will be spending 40 per cent of our marketing budget during this year. If we look at sales volume, we are hoping for around a 20 to 25 per cent growth during this period," says Niladri Datta, Corporate Marketing Head at LG. 

Meanwhile, various marketers are also looking to boost their brand's positioning in the market at this time of the year, particularly the automobile sector, where growth has been slow. "This is a key time for the people to consider changing their car and, traditionally, it's been a buoyant period [for sales]," says Kevin Flynn, President and Managing Director of Fiat Chrysler India. Fiat has come up with a new ad campaign 'Crafted for Car Lovers', which was released last week.

Companies are also going all out in the digital space. "We are using the digital space very actively at this time of the year. In the conventional media space, television spends and outdoor spends [may roughly be the same as before], we are looking at upping the ante in digital because that is where most of the social conversations take place," adds Mukherjee.

Like last year this year, too, the e-commerce sector is leaving no stone unturned to get new sellers onboard, since visibility is the key. "One of the biggest sectors which will contribute to growth, is the e-commerce sector. That has become one of the big drivers of advertising spends this year, just as it was last year, when it started,” says Iyer. "E-commerce is likely to be the main spender of this season, and we have already seen some momentum in the month of August as well," adds Narayanan. 

Although advertisers are reluctant to share exact figures of their adspends during this period, they pledge to bring in more disruptive and innovative strategies in the coming days. 

Industry experts feel that companies will continue to spend more. "Unless something drastic happens in terms of the overall market scenario, at the current movement, I would not see a dramatic drop in spends but a more positive trend of growth during the festival season," says Iyer.