Back to school marketing peaks in June, driving 40% of annual spending

June is no longer just the season of monsoons; it’s also a downpour of marketing activity in the education and stationery space. As classrooms reopen and children step into crisp uniforms, marketers get busy too, rolling out big-budget campaigns during this short but mighty ‘back-to-school’ (BTS) window. For brands in the category, this isn’t just a seasonal surge for the category, it’s the moment that defines their year.

According to industry insiders, the BTS season can command a significant chunk of annual marketing spends. It’s when brand recall, emotional resonance, and sales align like perfectly sharpened pencils.

“Approximately 40% of our annual marketing budget is dedicated to the BTS season,” said Abhijit Sanyal, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Stationery Department, Navneet Education Limited. “It’s undoubtedly a high-impact period, especially for a low-involvement category like stationery. This window allows us to drive maximum brand recall and engagement when students and parents are actively seeking relevant products.”

That impact, however, doesn’t unfold all at once.

“Given India’s vast geography and the varying school reopening timelines across states, our marketing spends are strategically spread from January to June, aligning with each region’s academic calendar,” explained Ayan Chaudhuri, GM – Marketing (Education & Stationery), Classmate.

He added that typically 60–70% of their annual marketing budget is allocated to this season. “It remains a high-impact window for both ROI and brand recall, as consumer consumption and, hence, decision-making is heightened during this period.”

But in 2025, schoolbags are stuffed with more than books — they’re bursting with aspirations, aesthetics, and a growing dose of algorithms. The real question marketers are facing now isn’t when to spend, but who they’re selling to: the parent with the wallet or the child with the wishlist?

Who’s the real target: kids or parents?

Back-to-school campaigns have always walked a tightrope between reason and emotion, but now, even the consumer profile is a moving target. The child may be the user, but it's the parent, most often, the mother, who makes the purchase. Yet in the age of Gen Alpha, that dynamic is shifting rapidly.

“Parents sign off, but kids spark the demand,” said Neelanjan Dasgupta, Vice President – Creative Strategy & Innovations at RepIndia. “Smart campaigns speak to both: the rational buyer and the emotional trigger.”

And that emotional trigger is growing louder. Over 60% of parents say their kids influence them to spend more during the BTS season, according to Dasgupta. 

“Children now outpace digital ads and marketplaces as a source of brand discovery. That’s not influence, that’s early-stage consumer behaviour,” he added.

At DOMS Industries, CMO Saumitra Prasad said that while the child remains central to their messaging, their strategy is anchored in a dual focus: appealing to children’s imagination while aligning with mothers’ practicality.

He explained that the products are designed to excite children and offer functional value, but its marketing also factors in the pivotal role mothers play in the purchase process.

Chaudhuri said, "Classmate's back-to-school campaigns are carefully crafted to resonate with both children and their parents. Children are the end-users, driven by fun, design, and interactivity, while parents are the gatekeepers who look for quality, utility, and educational value."

Navneet's Sanyal pointed to an even more nuanced shift: “For children under 10, mothers are typically the primary influencers. But for kids aged 11 and above, the child often becomes the key decision-maker, with parents simply facilitating the purchase.”

The takeaway? Brands aren’t picking one audience over the other, they’re learning to speak both languages fluently. Think: bright colours and quirky mascots for the kids, durability and utility cues for the parents.

At its best, back-to-school marketing doesn’t pick sides. It connects imagination with information. Kids are the entry point. Parents are the gatekeepers. Great creatives know how to unlock both.

-Neelanjan Dasgupta

But striking that balance isn’t just about messaging, it’s also about where and how that message is delivered. Because no matter how sharply targeted the pitch, if it’s not seen or swiped on time, it’s lost.

And in an age where Gen Alpha scrolls faster than you can say ‘limited edition pencil box,’ attention is everything.

Cracking the media code

With attention as the new currency as Gen Alpha scrolls, swipes, and skips like second nature, most brands are still learning the exchange rate. In a world where a 15-second video feels like a full-length feature, marketers are rethinking both where and how they show up.

“The most effective campaigns aren’t platform-first; they’re behaviour-first,” said Dasgupta. He noted that each platform now serves a distinct purpose: “YouTube drives mass visibility across India, Instagram taps into aspirational parenting and peer-led discovery, Snapchat’s AR lenses offer playful engagement with Gen Alpha, and TV still holds sway in tier II and III homes.”

That said, the road to relevance is not one-size-fits-all, it’s geo-behavioral, as Dasgupta put it.

He said, “Instagram, despite its reach, remains the wild west of regulation.”

Sanyal shared that kids may no longer sit still for TV ads, but parents still do. “While TV’s relevance among children is diminishing, we’ve adopted a diversified media mix,” he said. For Navneet, this includes social media, influencer collaborations, and on-ground activations. “Parenting influencers and kid creators have helped generate authentic brand recommendations, while digital outreach has significantly boosted visibility and engagement.”

Chaudhari shared that their media strategies have also evolved from being TV-heavy to a balanced mix of legacy media, digital, influencer-led, and retail interventions, with custom messaging tailored to each cohort.

DOMS, meanwhile, is blending digital with hands-on brand touchpoints. “Our media mix is primarily focused on digital platforms,” said Saumitra Prasad, “but for mass-market categories, we also maintain a strong mass-media presence to ensure maximum reach.” DOMS has set up interactive zones in places like KidZania, where children engage with the products in playful, educational settings.

Brands are pulling out all the stops, using AR lenses, kidfluencers, and immersive brand zones to capture attention in a crowded, fast-moving media landscape. But as the boundaries between entertainment and advertising blur, especially for young minds, a more critical question arises:  In the race to engage, are we remembering where to draw the line?

Drawing the line: Where does influence end and ethics begin?

Marketing to children has always required a delicate touch. But in today’s hyper-connected landscape, where kids are consumers, creators, and content curators all at once, the ethical stakes have never been higher.

Dasgupta said, “Kids today have more digital accessibility than ever, but not always the maturity to navigate it. Digitally, they’re fluent, yes, but still emotionally young. Which means the content they consume isn’t just a brand’s opportunity, it’s a responsibility. Despite their confidence online, the digital world can be overwhelming.” 

This evolving reality, he said, calls for a careful balancing act, campaigns must be imaginative and engaging, but also authentic and responsible. Brand discovery should feel organic, not manipulative or exploitative. With Gen Alpha spending most of their screen time on mobile games and online videos, platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and gaming apps offer powerful avenues for connection, but ones that require cautious navigation.

Dasgupta also pointed out that everything from creator selection to choosing the right formats needs to be done with sensitivity to ethical boundaries. He noted that it’s common to hear parents express concern about their children’s growing addiction to shorts and reels, and that brands have a responsibility not to worsen the problem. Capturing a child’s attention at the expense of a parent’s trust, he warned, is “a losing game”.

Adding to the complexity is the rise of kid influencers, often managed by parents, and parentfluencers, both of whom operate in a regulatory gray zone where advertising disclosures are not always transparent.

When kidfluencers are selling pencil boxes to five-year-olds and #ad is buried in the caption, ethics can’t be an afterthought. While the rules may be murky, our ethical standards don’t have to be. Protecting children’s emotional well-being is non-negotiable.

-Neelanjan Dasgupta

As the lines blur between parent and child influence, between entertainment and advertising, and between creativity and responsibility, brands are learning that success lies not just in visibility, but in values. In a high-stakes season fuelled by emotion, aspiration, and attention spans that vanish in seconds, those who win will be the ones who can market with empathy, think like a child, speak to a parent, and never forget who they’re really accountable to.