Every year, India’s advertising calendar lights up around Diwali, Holi, Eid, and Christmas. These marquee festivals dominate campaign planning, media spends, and brand visibility. Look at any advertising agency around the season time, and you’ll see a flurry of activity and empty coffee mugs.
Yet, I believe that beneath this glittering surface lies an overlooked reality. India is a mosaic of regional and cultural celebrations that rarely feature in mainstream marketing strategies. Ignoring these so-called ‘smaller’ festivals, like Bihu in Assam, Chhath in Bihar and UP, Onam in Kerala, or Lohri in Punjab, is a missed opportunity for cultural relevance. And it could well be a billion-dollar blind spot.
The Power of Localised Festivities
Smaller celebrations are anything but ‘small’ in the markets they belong to. Chhath Puja, celebrated across Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern UP, draws millions to riverbanks and carries its own unique rituals, food, and gifting practices. Bihu, the Assamese New Year, is marked by community feasts, new clothing, and agricultural rituals with strong ties to youth culture and music. Onam in Kerala, while geographically specific, has seen global resonance with the Sadya meal and Vallam Kali boat race becoming cultural icons. Each of these festivals shapes consumer behaviour, from purchasing clothes and jewellery to upgrading household goods and embracing digital services, often at a scale that rivals national festivals within their regions.
The reason most brands concentrate on Diwali, Holi, or Eid is simple – these festivals deliver pan-India recall. But the result is predictable, with an overcrowded marketplace where campaigns often blur into one another.
For years, marketers argued that smaller festivals lacked the reach to justify large budgets. Today, that argument does not hold. With micro-targeting, local-language media, and programmatic advertising, the cost of entry into regional storytelling has dropped dramatically. And more importantly, smaller festivals provide the perfect opportunity for brands to extend and sustain their larger narrative. Instead of appearing only during headline festivals, marketers can maintain continuity across the cultural calendar, ensuring their voice is present in meaningful, localised contexts throughout the year.
Untapped Consumer Markets
The consumer base powering India’s next wave of growth sits largely in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. They also form the heartlands of festivals like Chhath, Bihu, and Lohri. To overlook these occasions is to overlook the very consumers who are shaping India’s economic future. One of our clients, a tea company, has about 70% of their revenue emerging out of these cities and towns.
What makes this even more compelling is the data opportunity. Smaller festivals naturally lend themselves to focused, insight-driven campaigns. A brand experimenting with Bhojpuri-language ads during Chhath or Assamese music-led activations during Bihu is generating rich consumer intelligence while building cultural relevance.
Patterns of response across formats, platforms, and messaging can feed back into national campaigns, making them sharper and more efficient. Each regional festival, in effect, becomes a live laboratory for consumer insight while simultaneously carrying forward the master brand narrative.
When Smaller Festivals Deliver Big Results
There are already strong examples of how this approach works in practice. Tanishq has consistently used Onam to reinforce its national message of ‘celebrations made special’, weaving Kerala’s traditional attire and jewellery into its storytelling and in the process boosting sales in the region.
Coca-Cola, by introducing limited-edition packaging in Assamese motifs and tying up with local musicians, created strong emotional resonance during Bihu and registered apparent double-digit growth in Assam during the festival period. Even FMCG players operating in staples like oil and detergent report 20–30 percent spikes in sales when they align promotions with such festivals.
Building Loyalty Through Authenticity
The emotional equity of smaller festivals often outweighs the fleeting recall of big-ticket campaigns. When a brand invests in authentic, concentrated storytelling, whether through language, rituals, or collaborations with local communities, it signals respect and inclusivity.
Consumers notice when their traditions are acknowledged, and this translates into long-term loyalty. An Ugadi-themed campaign in Telugu, for instance, resonates more deeply with families in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana than a generic Holi ad ever could, because it makes them feel seen. Over time, these efforts compound, embedding the brand into the rhythm of a consumer’s cultural life.
From PR Blind Spot to Strategic Edge
Smaller festivals also hold untapped potential from a communications standpoint. Local newspapers, regional influencers, and cultural commentators are far more likely to amplify authentic brand participation in their traditions than generic campaigns during Diwali. For marketers under pressure to maximise efficiency, this presents a dual benefit of earned media coverage combined with cultural legitimacy. In essence, every localised campaign during a smaller festival becomes about data-backed continuity.
The opportunity is vast, but it must be approached carefully. Cultural sensitivity is non-negotiable, as reducing a festival to clichés risks backlash. What we recommend is collaborating with local artisans, musicians, and NGOs, which can ensure authenticity but also build goodwill within the community. And storytelling should not be treated as a translation exercise but as a creative canvas in itself. When executed with care, the payoff can be disproportionate to the spend.
And let’s not forget about how easy technology has made it to scale regional insights. Vernacular OTT platforms and geo-targeted ads allow brands to activate smaller celebrations with precision, without committing massive pan-India budgets. Social commerce further amplifies this effect, turning regional spikes in sentiment into measurable sales. For brands looking to blend cultural resonance with commercial results, the digital ecosystem provides the multiplier they need.
Brands that will win in India over the next decade will be those that embrace the full spectrum of its cultural life, not just the headline festivals. By ignoring smaller celebrations, marketers risk not only missing authentic connections but also leaving billions in consumer spend untapped. Because the big festivals may get brand attention, but it’s the local ones that win lasting loyalty.
(Views are personal)
