Onam is the most revered and celebrated festival of Kerala marking the harvest season and rejoicing King Mahabali’s return to visit his people. It is a 10 day celebration starting from Atham, the first day of Onam and ends on Thiruvonam, the most important day.
‘Pookalam’, the characteristic floral designs lit with lamps are symbolic of this festival. Vallamkali or boat race, especially of Snake boats is a grand event during these days. Elephants decorated with ornaments are characteristic of Onam processions. Dance, music, and banquets are also organised.
The main highlight is the big feast, Onam Sadhya, a nine-course meal consisting of 11 to 13 essential foods served on a banana leaf.
Onam festival season is an important occasion for brands to establish close connection with Malayalees to boost up their loyalty and sales. Hence, all leading brands in this region will be vying to impress the target audience with their creative excellence.
Let’s have a glimpse of some of the brand campaigns from the leading brands across various categories launched during Onam 2022 season.
Featured brands are Kalyan Jewellers, Godrej Appliances, AJIO, Linen Club, Vinod Cookware, Eastern Condiments and Radio Mango.
Kalyan Jewellers
Kalyan Jewellers, one of the largest and most-trusted jewellery brands, commemorates the auspicious occasion of Onam with its unique campaign ad film featuring brand ambassadors Wamiqa Gabbi and Manju Warrier. The unique film exhibits the emotion of ‘Togetherness’, celebrating the sisterhood and eternal bond shared between sisters through the storyline showcasing the Onam festivities, while highlighting the brand’s exquisite range of jewellery from the temple jewellery collection – Nimah and Muhurat Bridal Collection.
The latest digital ad film by Kalyan Jewellers encapsulates the various customs and rituals followed, highlighting that these traditional practices are something that the millennials continue to honour and upkeep.
Godrej Appliances
Godrej Appliances, business unit of Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, has launched a new television commercial bringing alive the festive spirit with a characteristic local sound. The musical film integrates Onam festivities with the brand’s wide product range and new exciting offers.
Conceptualized by Creativeland Asia, the campaign is the third in the series of brand’s collaboration with popular musician and singer Anoop Sankar. The foot thumping music is composed by Anoop Sankar while the vocals are by his sons, Dhruvan and Skanda, reality show winner, Sreelakshmi and well-known classical singer, Bhagyalakshmi.
AJIO
To celebrate Onam, Phantom collaborated with AJIO, India’s leading fashion destination to create #KeralamMaariyo – a musical ode to Kerala’s progressive face.
The track, created by famous Kerala rockers Thaikkudam Bridge, features one of the state’s up-coming star, Kalyani Priyadarshan. The aim of the campaign is to celebrate the changing face of Kerala in particular, and to position AJIO as the top fashion shopping and gifting destination during Onam. The song’s hook, ‘Keralam Maariyo?’ roughly translates to, ‘Has Kerala changed?’
Linen Club
Linen Club, the pioneering linen brand from the Aditya Birla Group, unveiled today, a unique campaign- ‘Homecoming’ – to mark the annual celebration of Onam. The brand has reciprocated to the love Kerala has given them with this film and a beautiful Folk song as a celebration of the biggest festival in the market.
The campaign showcases a heartfelt home-coming of family and friends to their roots based on the age-old tale of the King Mahabali and a celebration of the folk art forms of Kerala to bring in the New Year. The song Thiruvonamullil Nirayenam is a unique endeavour by a fashion brand to present a local folk melody and join their customers as they celebrate their most important annual festival – Onam.
Vinod Cookware
Vinod Cookware, a household name in India, announced its association with India’s Malayalam television channel; Asianet as the joint title sponsor for its Onam special television cooking show ‘Onaruchimelam’. To amplify its recall value and product awareness in the South market, the brand has also launched a Malayalam dubbed TVC, featuring its Platinum range that is manufactured using SAS Metal Technology.
Eastern Condiments
Eastern Condiments releases its Onam anthem ‘Undo-Unde’ sung by music sensation Sithara. The song with the message of “Perfect Onam for all, All for a perfect Onam” is a digital first campaign by the brand that showcases the joys of the festival.
Much renowned singer Sithara, celebrity music director Bijibal and lyricist Rafeeq Ahamed came together to create this melodious ode to Kerala’s favorite festivity. The song celebrates all the nuances of the season, from the coming together of families to dressing up to celebrate the festival, from the making of the pookalam to the most important aspect of all – the delicious Saadya. ‘Undo- Unde’ is a call to celebrate the festival in its full grandeur.
Radio Mango
Onam season is incomplete without the sight of flower carpets known as Athapookalam or Onapookkalam. On Uthradam day (07.09.22), a newspaper ad of a beautiful Onapookkalam in Malayala Manorama caught everyone’s attention.
This innovative campaign called “Kettonam” by Radio Mango for Onam featured a colourful Pookkalam with a QR Code embedded in it. Anyone could scan the code using their mobile phones. Scanning the code led users to a dedicated page on Radio Mango’s website where they could listen to 10 popular Onam songs. The title “Kettonam” is also a portmanteau word that blends the Malayalam word Ketto (listen) and Onam together.
The unique campaign that blended technology and tradition was a roaring success as every Malayali who grew up on these nostalgic Onam songs were taken on a trip down memory lane. This is the first time that a radio station is doing something of this kind.
Delfrez:
Delfrez, Suguna Foods’ newly launched processed food division, conducted an on-ground activity at Trivandrum International Airport on 7th September 2022. The brand created a one-of-a-kind gifting experience by surprising passengers traveling for Onam from Bangalore and Cochin with personalized gift hampers, making this year’s Onam celebration more memorable.
To notify passengers of what was in store, an announcement was issued directing them to the luggage belt. When the passengers arrived at the allocated belt, Delfrez welcomed them with curated gift hampers with the passengers’ names on it. The surprised grin and excited looks from the travelers brought about the much-needed festive cheer at the airport.
