Experts Speak

The shift to social-first inspires nostalgic and humorous campaigns for Holi

From nostalgic throwbacks to humour-driven storytelling, brands are bringing fresh, creative spins to Holi campaigns. Here’s how they’re making a splash this year.

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Sneha Medda
New Update
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Holi, the first major festival of the year, has long been a vibrant spectacle — both in the streets and in the world of advertising. For many, it’s a time to relive childhood memories: coming home covered in colour, getting scolded for ruining clothes, and indulging in gujiya and thandai. Just as we dig out our oldest clothes for the occasion, brands, too, dust off their most creative ideas to celebrate the festival.

When you think of an iconic Holi ad, Surf Excel’s "Daag Achhe Hain" campaign likely comes to mind. Its image of a little girl getting drenched in colour so her friend can play without worry has become a staple. Or perhaps it’s the annual flood of Rang Barse-style musical montages, with actors dancing in slow motion, colours swirling in every direction. These ads have come to define Holi advertising, encapsulating the festival’s themes of togetherness, joy, and nostalgia.

But beyond these familiar tropes, the festival’s emotional depth has also inspired more nuanced storytelling in advertising.

Aarti Srinivasan, Head - Creative at Curativity, explains, “Holi storytelling has explored and depicted emotions of joy, laughter, coming together of friends and families, forgiveness, and so on.” 

While these themes have worked well, staying in tune with consumer behaviour, brands are now searching for fresh ways to bring the festival to life. 

"Festivals like Holi remain the same every year, but how do we look at it with a new lens year on year? That’s a good challenge to have," says Srinivasan. “Luckily, Holi hasn’t been as overdone by brands as Diwali. So there’s a lot of room for creativity and new stories to emerge.”

“When we think of Holi, it's more than just colours—it’s about happiness, joy, togetherness, and even forgiveness. The festival itself carries deep emotional meaning, making it the perfect canvas for brands to tell powerful stories. At its core, Holi campaigns work best when they move beyond just the colours and celebrations,” adds Himanshu Arora, Co-Founder at Social Panga. 

This year, brands are embracing this challenge head-on, finding innovative ways to harness the emotional storytelling potential of Holi in their campaigns.

The many emotions in Holi ads

For some brands, the emotional pull of Holi lies in nostalgia. Crocs has tapped into this sentiment by reviving 90s magic with the classic song ‘Rangeela Re’ and reimagined the track with a high-energy dance performance. 

“Our Holi campaign is a blend of storytelling, product-focused content, and festival-centric themes. By combining music, movement, and colour, we ensure that our storytelling is engaging while keeping our product at the heart of the celebration,” a Crocs spokesperson tells Social Samosa. 

While Crocs is playing on nostalgia, Licious has found its story in something more universal — food. After all, if there’s one thing that ties all Indian festivals together, it’s food. Instead of using Holi’s traditional colour symbolism in the usual way, Licious turns to the rich, vibrant hues of Indian dishes — Galouti Kebabs, Tandoori Tikkas, and more, drawing a clever parallel between the festival’s chaos of colours and the diversity of Indian cuisine. 

And then there’s humour, an emotion that's been growing in brand storytelling but remains relatively untapped in Holi campaigns — until now.

Marico’s Parachute Advansed Gold has taken a lighthearted spin on a worry most people have around Holi, hair damage. Instead of the usual ‘prepping-before-Holi’ in front of the mirror route, the brand has chosen witty, high-energy storytelling. 

Additionally, unlike previous Holi campaigns where the brand leaned on longer-format content, this year, it’s taken a more snackable approach with multiple 5-second videos.

“For this campaign, we embraced a bold and fresh perspective leveraging humour and high-energy storytelling on ‘Nariyal Kafi Hai’, to craft an engaging and memorable narrative,” says Somasree Bose Awasthi, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited.

Mirinda has taken humour a step further by flipping the phrase ‘Kaali Zuban’—often used to describe someone who jinxes things — into a playful Holi moment. The campaign introduces colour into the “Kaali Zuban” superstition, with Mirinda taking centre stage. It’s cheeky, fun, and a refreshing departure from the usual Holi ads.

With these varied approaches, brands are showing that Holi’s storytelling potential is far from exhausted. While the festival itself remains unchanged, the stories brands tell around it continue to evolve, proving that creativity knows no bounds.

Medium is the message

Holi has always been a communal celebration — neighbours drenched in colour, friends chasing each other with water balloons, and families coming together over festive treats. But today, Holi is also a performance. The vibrant chaos of the festival is no longer confined to the moment; it’s captured, filtered, and shared across social media.

“A few days back, I was walking at Juhu Beach and saw so many college-goers, impeccably dressed in white, just posing with colours to get their reels done against a sunlit backdrop,” says  Srinivasan. 

Holi is no longer just about playing with colours; it’s about curating a picture-perfect version of the festival for social media.

Brands have quickly caught onto this shift. Holi campaigns today aren’t just TV-driven spectacles; they are social-first, designed for shareability, engagement, and virality.

Take Surf Excel, for example, a brand that has long been synonymous with Holi advertising. Over the years, its campaigns have relied on emotional storytelling, often highlighting its iconic ‘Daag Achhe Hain’ messaging. But this year, Surf Excel took a new direction, collaborating with Zepto to promote ‘Surf Excel Matic Smart Shots’. The digital ad taps into convenience — one of the growing consumer needs — while reinforcing the brand’s legacy of Holi messaging.

But it doesn’t stop there. To push the product further, the brand has also partnered with influencers, ensuring Holi-specific content reaches its audience. 

Similarly, Haldiram’s Holi ad highlights the iconic bond between Holi and Gujiya. Beyond just a static post, ‘Ab Hui Na Holi: Gulal aur Gujiya ki Iconic Jodi’, the brand’s Instagram handle has entirely transformed into a Holi-centric timeline. With behind-the-scenes glimpses of how its products are made and influencer collaborations crafting relatable content, the brand has gone all in.

Kailash Agarwal, President – Retail, Haldiram's says, “While we continue to invest strategically in our festive campaigns, our focus this year is on enhancing engagement and accessibility. We've expanded our digital presence and curated special Holi hampers to meet growing consumer demand.” 

Another significant shift shaping Holi campaigns is the rise of quick commerce (Q-commerce). Brands like Haldiram’s and others are leveraging platforms like Blinkit and Zepto to make festive treats accessible with just a few clicks. The idea is simple: meet consumers where they are—literally at their fingertips.

“We are seeing a shift in how consumers engage with brands. With quick commerce, we are making our festive treats more accessible, ensuring customers can enjoy our gujiyas and Holi hampers with just a few clicks,” says Agarwal.

Finally, the evolving consumer behaviour has made Connected TV (CTV) a key part of brand strategies. With audiences increasingly turning to on-demand content, brands are adapting their media mixes to cater to this shift.

“CTV has been a consistent and growing part of our media mix. As consumer viewing habits continue to shift towards streaming and on-demand content, CTV provides an excellent opportunity to reach our target audience in a more engaging and impactful way. We're increasingly incorporating CTV into our strategy to enhance our brand presence and ensure we're meeting our audience where they are, with the right content, at the right time,” says a Crocs spokesperson.

What’s next for Holi ads?

As brands continue to push creative boundaries, a few trends are shaping the way Holi campaigns evolve:

  • Expanding festive relevance: While Holi itself is the moment, brands are thinking bigger. “We are focusing on creating more wearing occasions throughout the year to deepen brand relevance and engagement,” says a Crocs spokesperson. Brands are learning that holiday campaigns need to be connected to broader brand narratives, giving them more long-term resonance with their audiences.

  • Personalised gifting: The trend of personalised gifting is gaining momentum, especially as consumers crave more tailored experiences. “Consumers want personalised gifting and premium assortments. Convenience is key, so we’re ensuring our festive range is easily accessible online and in stores,” says Kailash Agarwal. The demand for bespoke experiences is pushing brands to offer more customised, accessible festive options.

  • New-age stories: Holi ads have traditionally leaned on emotional storytelling or music-driven montages. But that's evolving. “Humour, though a rising trend for brands, has remained relatively unexplored in Holi campaigns. I expect to see more of it this year, along with fresh execution styles,” says Aarti Srinivasan. Brands are increasingly adopting new narratives and tones to connect with their audiences in unique ways.

Holi, at its core, remains the same festival of colour, chaos, and camaraderie. But how we celebrate it, talk about it, and market it? That’s evolving faster than ever.

Brands are no longer simply splashing colour on the screen and calling it a day. They’re tapping into nostalgia, using food as a storytelling device, weaving humour into campaigns, and reshaping how we experience Holi in a social-first world. The perfect reel, the snackable story, the campaign that makes you pause mid-scroll — these are now the markers of a “good” festive ad.

The future of Holi advertising is bright, innovative, and engaging, ensuring that the spirit of the festival is captured in ways that resonate deeper than ever before. 

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