How Durga Puja celebrations are rewriting the brand playbook

Resilience flows through the veins of every Indian, and West Bengal stands as a testament to this indomitable spirit. The state has weathered countless storms in recent years, both literal and metaphorical. 

Just days ago, torrential overnight rains exceeding 200mm submerged the state capital in one of the worst rains in 39 years, claiming nine precious lives. College Street, that beloved sanctuary where bibliophiles have, for generations, found every book imaginable, bore the brunt of nature's fury. But it wasn't alone in its suffering. Southern and Eastern Kolkata became ground zero for the deluge, with Garia Kamdahari recording the highest rainfall, whilst Jodhpur Park, Kalighat, Topsia, and Ballygunge battled their own rising waters. Across these neighbourhoods, shops lay submerged, livelihoods washed away in muddy currents, and countless dreams drowned.

No compensation can ever truly measure the weight of lives lost, nor can it fully restore what the floods destroyed. Yet, in the face of such devastation, Kolkata did what it has always done, it rose. Within days, the city dusted itself off and stood tall once more. For as Hardee Shah, Head of Marketing at Pantaloons, notes, "Durga Pujo isn't just a festival in West Bengal. It's an emotion that takes over the city."

And now, as Durga Puja has begun, the streets pulse with life again. Crowds throng the larger-than-life pandals across Kolkata and throughout West Bengal, their enthusiasm undimmed with the help of their faith in Maa Durga. The festival lights shine perhaps a little brighter this year, not just in celebration, but as beacons of hope, symbols of a city and a people who refuse to be broken. This is the spirit of Bengal: bruised, perhaps, but never beaten; tested, but forever resilient.

It is this emotional landscape, this theatre of collective memory and renewal, that brands must now navigate. 

A logo slapped onto a pandal no longer cuts through. The savvy, deeply connected, Bengal audience sees through the superficiality. Marketers have been forced to reckon with an uncomfortable realisation, to be part of the celebration, you must first understand its soul. This necessity to connect on a deeper level hasn't been a choice, it's been a matter of survival. And it has driven a remarkable, almost Darwinian evolution in festive marketing.

The reckoning

The transformation of Durga Puja advertising reads like a case study in corporate awakening. Gone are the days when mere visibility constituted strategy. Shreyansh Baid, Founder and CEO of Shreyansh Innovations, charts this seismic shift with precision, "Durga Pujo advertising has come a long way from being pandal posters and sponsorship banners to becoming full-fledged 360 campaigns. Earlier, visibility during the five days was enough. Today, brands start their Pujo conversations weeks in advance, blending television, digital, influencer-led content, and on-ground activations. It's no longer just about presence - it's about creating an emotional connect that lasts beyond the festival."

But what catalysed this metamorphosis? According to Siddhant Jain, Partner at Three Fourth Solutions – a marketing agency based in Kolkata, the change strikes at something fundamental, a shift from surface to substance. 

"A decade ago, the visual language was dominated by stock imagery, pandals, dhaks etc, all symbols of festivity, but also very surface-level. Today, the canvas is broader. Campaigns aren’t just about showing celebration, they’re about capturing what celebration feels like. We’re seeing imagery that focuses on community moments, generational bonds, the quiet rituals at home and even urban adaptations of tradition. Brands have realised that consumers connect with the emotion of the festival rather than just the symbols of it and that shift has made Puja advertising far richer."

The subtext is unmistakable, brands that refused to evolve have been left behind, their campaigns dissolving into the noise of a marketplace that demands authenticity or nothing at all.

The new creative brief

Walk into any marketing agency today with a Durga Puja brief, and you'll encounter something markedly different from the paint-by-numbers briefs of yesteryear. Shreyansh Baid reveals the nature of contemporary client demands: "Clients are asking for narratives that feel authentic yet modern. There's a focus on celebrating with inclusivity - Pujo as experienced by diverse communities, senior citizens, or even eco-conscious communities. Some brands want to highlight sustainability in pandal-making and festive fashion, while others are leaning into nostalgia, reviving the 'Para Pujo' feel but telling it through digital platforms. It's about striking the right balance between local heart and global storytelling craft."

This isn't simply about political correctness or ticking diversity boxes. It's a recognition that Bengal itself is evolving, that the festival now contains multitudes, each deserving of representation. The challenge lies in honoring these complexities without reducing them to tokenism. This indomitable spirit of storytelling is visible everywhere, not just in Kolkata's elaborate pandals, but in celebrations across the entire state, where communities use the festival as a canvas to narrate their own evolving identities, ideas and aspirations.

This has led some brands to move beyond mere messaging and create campaigns that actively intervene in cultural conversations. The Times of India's award-winning Sindoor Khela #NoConditionsApply campaign, for example, confronted the centuries-old Sindoor-Khela tradition that systematically excluded widows, transgender individuals, and single mothers. Through the creation of a 'two-dot' unity symbol and the organisation of inclusive gatherings, the campaign sought to reshape a ritual of exclusion into a celebration of belonging.

In a similar vein, Smart Bazaar's 'The Second Question' initiative exposed the contradictions inherent in society's treatment of sex workers, welcoming their labor in crafting idols while barring them from the festivities themselves. The campaign sparked an essential, if uncomfortable, dialogue about what genuine inclusivity truly demands.

Meanwhile, other efforts, such as Safed Detergent's recent film, have drawn upon the festival's fundamental celebration of divine feminine power to honor modern women who are challenging traditional gender boundaries and reshaping social expectations. 

Perhaps more intriguing is the strategic deployment of anticipation as a narrative device. Sohan Ray, a creative at Talented, articulates an insight gleaned from his work with Pantaloons, one that rewrites the temporal boundaries of the festival itself, "We ended up telling the story through anticipation and arrival; the insight that Pujo is not just about the five festive days but an ecosystem that stirs the city long before. In our first and latest with Pantaloons for Hok Tomar Agomon, you’ll find cues we (Bengalis) grew up with, the ones that instantly signal 'Maa aschen'."

This is marketing as anthropology, unearthing the cultural codes that resonate at a cellular level, then amplifying them through commercial storytelling.

The authenticity paradox

Here lies the central tension for national brands, how do you bottle the essence of Bengali culture without diluting it for mass consumption? How do you remain true to regional nuance whilst appealing to audiences from Assam to Gujarat?

Sohan Ray's answer is counterintuitive, almost heretical in its rejection of conventional wisdom, "I think the best way honestly, is to go hyperlocal and then let the authenticity travel. For example, a trigger like kaash phool hits home instantly in Bengal, but it's also poetic enough for anyone, anywhere to understand that 'a season is arriving.' I don't believe that brands need to dilute the details for scale, you lean into them as hard as possible, so that they become universal."

It's a bold thesis, that specificity, not generalisation, creates resonance. That the path to universal appeal runs through the most particular, most culturally embedded details. It's also a philosophy that demands courage from brand custodians accustomed to playing it safe, to smoothing out edges that might alienate some demographic segment or other.

Silicon meets Sindoor

In an era drunk on technological possibility, the temptation to deploy every shiny new tool, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, must be intoxicating. Yet the marketers navigating Durga Puja seem to have developed a healthy scepticism, a wariness of technology for technology's sake.

Siddhant Jain's perspective is instructive, "For younger audiences, these formats create buzz, but they only work if they’re layered with cultural context. A tech gimmick alone doesn’t cut it; it has to feel like an extension of Puja itself. For instance, an AR filter that lets you 'try on' traditional attire virtually, or a VR walkthrough of a pandal for NRIs who can't be here, has relevance. So, yes, innovation is happening, but the best examples are those where technology doesn't replace culture, it amplifies it."

Cutting through the clutter

In a marketplace where every brand seemingly traffics in the same vocabulary of togetherness and homecoming, differentiation becomes the ultimate challenge. Three brands offer instructive case studies in finding distinct voices within a crowded conversation.

Hardee Shah of Pantaloons, articulates an evolving consumer reality, "Shoppers mirror this shift in their tastes and expectations, looking for contemporary-ness in how they dress and present themselves. For Pantaloons, a brand with deep roots in Kolkata, it was important to respect the legacy while reflecting the festival's modern, evolving character." This understanding birthed a campaign that subverts expectation. "Most festive advertising stops at welcoming Maa. We wanted to take that cultural truth and add a new layer," Shah explains. "Our Hok Tomar Agomon campaign positions Pujo not only as Maa's arrival, but also as yours — a chance for every individual to step into the season with confidence and flair." It's clever positioning—taking the most sacred narrative of the festival and personalising it, making every shopper the protagonist of their own arrival story.

Casio India stakes its claim on something increasingly rare in modern life: temporal presence. "Our core strategy is to build an authentic connection with Bengali consumers by using the Bengali language and a relatable family setup that resonates deeply with their cultural context," says Shilpi Negi, the brand manager. But the brand pushes beyond generic togetherness. "Instead of simply celebrating togetherness, we focus on a deeper truth—that in today’s busy lives, the best gift you can give your loved ones is your time. It's not just about capturing moments, but about making those moments truly meaningful." For a watch brand, it's an elegant philosophical circle—product as metaphor, timekeeping as an act of love.

Louis Philippe takes a different route, anchoring everything in sartorial excellence. Farida Kaliyadan, the brand's COO, outlines their product philosophy, "We see Pujo as a time when fashion and emotion converge, which is why our Pujo ’25 collection is designed as a versatile wardrobe for every moment of the season... From earthy tones for Ashtami to festive maroons for Navami, and from relaxed daywear to elevated evening formals, every look is crafted to complement the many moods of Pujo." This fashion-first approach defines their communication strategy. "While most narratives during Pujo highlight homecoming and togetherness, our approach is to anchor the conversation in style," Kaliyadan states. "For us, Pujo is about elevating the way people celebrate through what they wear, and that is where Louis Philippe stands apart." 

It's a risky manoeuvre, foregrounding aesthetics over emotion, but one that carves out unmistakable territory in a homogeneous landscape.

The price of prominence

Behind every campaign lies the brutal arithmetic of media buying. And the numbers tell a story of escalating costs and intensifying competition. Shadab Khan of dentsu X India delivers the sobering reality: "Media costs have seen a steady rise over the last 3-4 years, especially for regional media. Pujo-specific TV programming slots are also priced at a premium now." The digital realm offers no respite. "Instagram and YouTube are leading the way in terms of digital engagement, particularly among Gen Z and millennials. Short-form content around Pujo fashion, pandal-hopping guides, food recommendations, and cultural storytelling is seeing strong traction."

Dhiraj Khanna from Mudramax maps the contemporary digital battleground with tactical precision: "META i.e. Facebook & Instagram - For community engagement & storytelling; Google (Display & Search) - For broad reach and retail targeting; OTT platforms - To reach Bengali households; YouTube - For campaigns and influencer collaborations."

The implication is clear: successful Durga Puja marketing now demands not just creative excellence but sophisticated media strategy, substantial budgets, and the agility to navigate an increasingly fragmented landscape.

The lesson

In the end, the evolution of Durga Puja marketing is a story about humility, about brands learning to listen before presuming to speak. They are moving beyond transactional selling towards something more nuanced: becoming enablers of cultural moments, participants in shared meaning-making. As Jain eloquently frames it, the aspiration now is for "a celebration with the consumer, not a performance for the consumer."

The brands succeeding in this space have grasped a fundamental truth: to connect with the heart of Bengal, you must first learn its truest language. Not Bengali necessarily, though that helps. But rather the language of deep-seated emotion, authentic storytelling, and that unbreakable, resilient spirit that rises from floodwaters to reclaim the streets, that transforms tragedy into celebration, that refuses, categorically, definitively, eternally, to be diminished.

This is marketing as cultural stewardship. And in a world increasingly characterised by hollow brand purpose and performative corporate values, it offers something increasingly rare: substance that matches the claim, emotion that earns its expression, and campaigns that don't just capture attention but command respect.

As this year’s celebrations reach their peak, the theories outlined above are being tested in real time.