Do the best festive campaigns begin at home?

You know how festivals in India are? Loud, messy, sugary, and somehow always emotional. They live in hugs that nearly choke you, laddoos that disappear too fast, overstuffed boxes of soan papdi making their yearly rounds, and WhatsApp groups that go off like firecrackers with family photos.

There’s always that one cousin who insists on being the official photographer, that one aunt who thinks her homemade sweets are the best (and she’s probably right), and the predictable debate about whether crackers are tradition or trouble. And yet, under all that noise and sugar, there’s a heartbeat of warmth. That unspoken magic of being together, even if it means bickering over who gets the last gulab jamun with siblings. 

For ad creatives, all this chaos is inspiration. Somewhere between this chaos, stories are born that go on to light up our screens as campaigns.

We asked a few creative leaders to share those unexpected, very human sparks that shaped their festive ideas. What we got were slices of memory that remind you: advertising isn’t just about selling, it’s about remembering. And sometimes, the sparks of a campaign come from the quirks of our own families.

From family fumbles to festive insight

If festivals had mascots, Rakshabandhan’s would be the panicked brother, armed with cash from his wallet and zero clue what to do with it.

Mahima Mathur, Creative Director at DDB Mudra, didn’t have to look far for inspiration; her brothers provided it on cue.

“Rakshabandhan was coming up, and I knew exactly what my brothers would gift me: a tight hug for the camera and a couple of 500-rupee notes that looked like they had just survived the washing machine,” she shared “That’s when I realised it wasn’t just my family, it was a national epidemic. Brothers mean well but plan badly.”

That little observation grew into Myntra’s campaign, where the brand turned “every brother’s guilt into a pledge” to do better, backed with funny helpline videos from Ahsaas Channa and instant gift links for the last-minute crowd. 

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What began as a personal frustration with her own brothers’ lack of imagination transformed into a cultural insight, and eventually, a campaign.

Little acts that spark big ideas

Sometimes the most memorable celebrations are in the little ways people show they care, and who knows, you might just find inspiration tucked between thoughtful gestures and surprise acts of kindness.

Hemant Shringy, Chief Creative Officer and Managing Partner at Wondrlab, found exactly that in the people around him.

“I’ve always been fascinated by how some of my cousins, friends, family members take time out to think not just about themselves and their families, but others too,” he shared. “They find ways to do something meaningful not just on festivals, but birthdays and anniversaries as well.”

What struck him most was that quiet empathy, something he later channelled into a campaign. While he can’t reveal the brand yet, Shringy noted that this spirit of looking outward rather than inward became the soul of the idea.

It’s a reminder that inspiration doesn’t always come from a brief; sometimes it comes from simply watching how people celebrate with heart.

Celebrations beyond boundaries

Sometimes festivals surprise you by turning strangers into family. That lesson has stayed with Pawan Sarda, Chief Growth Officer, The House of Abhinandan Lodha and Former Group CMO- Digital, Marketing & e-commerce business (shop.bigbazaar.com)

“For me, Diwali is not just a festival, it’s an emotion. It’s about families coming together, moments of connection, and the joy of belonging,” he said.

He recalled his school days in Chennai, when going home to Siliguri for Diwali was the highlight of the year. One particular year, the train got delayed by 36 hours, and Diwali was spent onboard. What could have been a dampener transformed into one of his most cherished memories. “Strangers came together, shared what little they had, and celebrated like one big family. That night taught me what Diwali truly means, togetherness beyond boundaries.”

Years later, this memory shaped one of Sarda’s favourite campaigns at Big Bazaar, directed by Anurag Basu. 

The film recreated the joy of celebrating Diwali on a train, turning a personal story into a collective emotion.

Gifts that repeat, feelings that linger

Kapil Batra, President (Creative) at Lowe Lintas, says the smallest personal quirks often unlock the biggest ideas.

“Every Diwali, we end up receiving the same gifts again and again,” he recalled. “So when I was working on a brief for a payment app, that memory sparked a thought: what if this very repetition could be turned into a story?” 

That little annoyance transformed into a playful narrative that consumers instantly related to.

Home away from home

Festivals are also when distance feels the heaviest. The lights, the laughter, the rituals become reminders of what you’re missing, and for some creatives, that very sense of separation became the spark for festive campaigns.

For Senthil Kumar, CCO, VML India, the ache of distance became the seed of an idea that would later light up millions of screens.

“Ideas born out of real life experiences always hit the right emotional note,” he said.

As a 24-year-old creative director setting up Trikaya Grey’s Colombo office, Kumar found himself stranded in Sri Lanka during Diwali, unable to return home amid the civil war. While his family back in India gathered as they always did, he drove all the way to Talaimannar on Mannar Island, the northernmost tip of Sri Lanka, just to glimpse home across the Palk Strait. With binoculars in hand, he could faintly see firecrackers sparkling in the sky above Dhanushkodi.

“That moment stayed with me,” he recalled. “I thought, how wonderful it would be to see Diwali from the skies, an aerial view of India lit up on Diwali night.”

Years later, when Nestlé KitKat briefed him for a Diwali film, that memory came rushing back. The result was The Lonely Indian Astronaut, a story of being stranded far away from home, yearning for the lights and warmth of Diwali. 

What began as one man’s lonely night became one of the Diwali campaigns.

Distance leaves its own kind of imprint. A memory that stayed with Batra was also steeped in spending a Diwali away from home.

“The absence of lights, warmth, and wishes, basically that festive feel, that ‘Delhi waali Diwali’, hit me harder than I expected,” he said. Later, when a brief came in, he drew directly from that ache, shaping a campaign steeped in longing and the power of togetherness.

These were instances where distance itself became the strongest source of inspiration.

What ties all these stories together are lived experiences. A brother’s unthoughtful gifts, a cousin’s empathetic gestures, or the silence of a Diwali away from home, these are the sparks that travel from memory to storyboard.

Because when it comes to festive campaigns, you don’t have to look too far. Often, the best ideas begin at home. It can be tucked in a dimly lit corner as you light a lamp with your mother, hiding in your WhatsApp family group, your old photo albums, or that one gift box of soan papdi that just won’t quit.