6 Successful Deepavali Campaigns to Inspire Your Business

In a few days from now, Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains worldwide will be lighting lamps, decorating their houses, exchanging gifts, and eating delicious festive food to celebrate Deepavali (also called Diwali).

Every year, Deepavali brings hope and joy into people's lives. During this time, brands launch creative campaigns to foster a positive brand perception, launch new products, and increase their festive sales.

So, how do brands celebrate Deepavali? This article highlights the best Deepavali campaigns that we've witnessed in recent times. eCommerce brands can take inspiration from these Deepavali marketing ideas to create something of their own.

READ: 13 Wickedly Good Marketing Ideas for Your SME

6 Deepavali Brand Campaigns to Take Notes From

HP - #DiyeSeDiyaJalao

HP’s heart-wrenching #DiyeSeDiyaJalao deserves the top spot on this list. Launched during Deepavali of 2021, its campaign video touched the hearts of over six million viewers on YouTube alone, with thousands of comments pouring in.

It captures the truest essence of any festival, which is togetherness. The video shows how people can come together to make Deepavali special for everyone, especially those who don't have the means to celebrate the festival of lights.

People loved this tearjerker of a campaign by HP and expressed their emotions on social media. The brand carefully placed its products, primarily a laptop and a printer, in the video without making it too obvious or in-your-face. This tasteful placement of products kept the focus on the message itself.

Cadbury Celebrations - #NotJustACadburyAd

The highly successful Deepavali campaign by Cadbury Celebrations in 2021 encouraged viewers to buy their festival goodies from local stores, earning praise from everyone across different communities.

The businesses mentioned in this video were real, local retailers that Cadbury Celebrations promoted through this campaign. Naturally, people loved the initiative. The video captured a whopping 31 million+ views on YouTube.

Amazon Prime - #ApnoWaliDeepavali

One of the shortest (in terms of video length) yet impactful campaigns on this list is #ApnoWaliDiwali by Amazon Prime. It is a campaign like no other because it promotes the popular streaming service without actually promoting it!

The video tells people to spend time with family on Deepavali instead of being glued to their screens watching their favourite shows on Amazon Prime. And it does so in a fun, quirky way. A bold move!

It's certainly a campaign that people will remember for a long time. You want to stand out from the crowd? That's how you do it.

The 45-second video gained over five million views on YouTube and tons of appreciation from viewers.

Oppo India - #LightUpNewBeginnings

Since we are talking about how brands celebrate Deepavali, why would smartphone brands be left behind? In fact, the #LightUpNewBeginnings campaign by Oppo India is one that will remain etched in everyone’s minds forever.

It reminds us how we should stand tall in the face of adversity. This campaign is dedicated to every human being who is facing some sort of challenge in their lives and is fighting to emerge victorious on the other side.

This is how Oppo's 2021 Deepavali campaign’s messaging struck the right chord with millions of people. The popular smartphone brand made this campaign for the warrior inside each one of us. The video gained a massive 35 million+ views on YouTube for this reason.

Axis Bank - #PauseTheBargain

Though it didn't garner millions of views on YouTube, unlike others on this list, this campaign caught our attention because of its ingenuity.

It takes you through different eras to show how the world changed around us, except for one thing that remains untouched — our insistence on bargaining for every penny we could.

Thus, this campaign urges viewers to #PauseTheBargain so that small business owners can celebrate Deepavali too!

It specifically highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged small businesses and why it's so important to support them. Axis Bank does so without being too preachy and through a catchy jingle!

Pickrr - #KhushionKiTarakki

Supporting small, local businesses was a consistent theme in 2021. Pickrr is an end-to-end eCommerce shipping solution that harnessed the power of storytelling for their Deepavali campaign.

There is no dialogue in the film; it uses only visuals and background music to showcase the highlighted father-daughter bond.

The video does a perfect job of portraying how difficult it is for small business owners to spend time with their families during Deepavali because of orders they have to fulfil. By doing so, they also present a solution - their eCommerce logistics services.

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Get Cracking on Your 2022 Deepavali Campaign!

If you haven't started working on your Deepavali marketing idea for this year yet, it's not too late.

Notice that all of these brands do two things right, i.e., a) selecting a relevant theme for the campaign and b) making sure that it's something a large chunk of the population can relate with.

Once you design the campaign, make sure you promote it everywhere! However, it can be a struggle to connect with your audience digitally without the right online marketing strategy. Use this as a time to ramp up your online visibility with SEO tools, strengthened social media promotions, and online directories.