Premium brands with emotional storytelling succeeded this festive season: Kantar’s Soumya Mohanty

The festive season has wrapped up, but the real work for Indian brands is just beginning. As consumers shift from celebration mode to business as usual, marketers face a critical question: how do you turn October's enthusiastic buyers into February's loyal customers?

According to Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director & Chief Client Officer, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar, the answer lies in understanding the shift in consumer behaviour. 

"Consumers are highly receptive to emotional storytelling but expect authenticity and cultural grounding," she observes. Kantar's analysis reveals that brands that embedded themselves meaningfully within festival rituals, rather than as an afterthought, saw stronger engagement and recall.

India's retail industry witnessed its highest-ever festive season performance between Navratri and Diwali 2025, with total trade reaching Rs 5.4 trillion in goods and Rs 650 billion in services, according to a nationwide survey by the Confederation of All India Traders. The e-commerce sector mirrored this momentum, with order volumes growing 24% year-on-year and gross merchandise value surging 23% Indian Retailer, based on over 150 million transactions analysed by Unicommerce.

This surge brought new customers across categories, but acquisition is only half the battle. Mohanty emphasises that post-purchase engagement, community-building, and personalisation are key to converting festive buyers into loyalists. “Signals of long-term loyalty include repeat purchase intent, advocacy, and emotional attachment. Brands should track these through brand equity and predisposition metrics and focus on building ongoing relationships beyond the festive spike.”

When value trumps volume

The divide between discount-led mass marketing and premiumisation strategies played out distinctly this season. "Mass brands leaned on discounts, while premium brands succeeded with emotional storytelling and value framing," Mohanty notes. "The most effective ads fused the brand with the festival's 'moment of truth' and made the brand the hero of the ritual."

The data support this shift. Amazon’s Great Indian Festival 2025 reportedly saw 276 crore customer visits, with premium smartphones, large-screen TVs, and other consumer durables driving the sales. Similarly, categories like fashion and beauty performed strongly in Tier II and Tier III cities. Retail sales surged 51.8% year-on-year in October 2025, driven by GST rate cuts, festive tailwinds, and strong rural demand, according to ICRA's report on the automotive sector.

This premiumisation trend particularly resonated when tied to cultural relevance. Brands succeeding in this space didn't simply leverage festival aesthetics but found authentic connections between their brand identity and festival values. The key was maintaining brand archetype consistency while allowing the festive context to amplify, not overwrite, core brand messaging.

Understanding the regional nuances: Translation isn't localisation

Perhaps the most significant insight from this season concerns regional strategy. "Campaigns that embedded local rituals and idioms, not just language translation, saw higher ROI and trust," Mohanty explains. "Brands that amplified their archetype through regional and cultural codes stood out and drove stronger results."

The distinction between translation and true cultural grounding proved commercially beneficial. Tier II and III cities accounted for about 55% of total orders, with Tier II cities leading regional performance with a 28% year-on-year increase, followed by Tier I cities and metros at 24%, and Tier III towns at 23% As consumption expands beyond metros, brands discovered that speaking the language isn't enough. Understanding local celebration practices, gift-giving customs, and regional festival significance matters. Our report notes that Tier II creators took the lead in festive-season influencer marketing, encouraging consumers to splurge. 

While consumers tend to watch out for consumer goods during the festive season, for non-seasonal categories like insurance, B2B services, and ed-tech, the festive window offered awareness opportunities, but only when executed thoughtfully. 

Mohanty notes, “These brands can authentically ‘borrow’ festive cheer by aligning with the emotional arc of the season — focusing on themes like family, security and future planning. The key is to find a genuine connection between the brand’s archetype and the festival’s core values, rather than forcing relevance.”

Storytelling techniques also evolved. Themes of reunion, gratitude, and shared joy resonated most powerfully, with successful campaigns using cinematic storytelling, strong brand roles, and emotional closure to cut through the clutter. The brands that stood out avoided treating festivals as mere marketing backdrops and instead positioned themselves as integral to the celebration itself.

What happens next Diwali?

Looking toward the next major consumption cycle, the evolution in Indian consumer behaviour demands a recalibration of marketing strategy. "The Indian consumer is evolving — more discerning, digitally savvy, and emotionally driven," Mohanty says. "CMOs must invest in insight-led creativity, regional relevance, and post-campaign measurement. Staying true to your brand’s archetype and letting the festival amplify your brand, not overwrite it, is crucial."

The post-festive period presents an opportunity to build on acquired momentum through personalised communication, community-building initiatives, and consistent brand experiences that reinforce the emotional connections established during peak season.

The data signals to watch extend beyond traditional conversion metrics. Brands should monitor repeat purchase patterns, advocacy behaviours through social sharing and reviews, and emotional attachment indicators through brand equity studies. 

The festive season will always remain a crucial consumption moment, but its true value lies in what brands do with the attention and goodwill they earn during those celebratory weeks.