The Pulse Festive Edition 2025: The new marketing playbook

The festive season in India is a time when lights, laughter, and brand campaigns all coexist in the same frame. For brands, it's an opportunity and a challenge. The excitement fuels creativity, but the competition for consumer attention grows fiercer every year. Against fleeting trends, standing out requires an understanding of what truly moves people. It requires a robust strategy, a deep understanding of culture and purpose-driven planning.

That is what The Pulse Festive Edition 2025 explores in depth. It’s a collection of conversations and insights that explore how India’s top brands and marketers are finding meaning, strategy and emotion during India’s biggest marketing moment. 

In our cover story, Gunjan Khetan, Chief Marketing Officer at Perfetti Van Melle India, shares how the brand has been building a new festive playbook, one that moves beyond the predictable sweetness of the season. 

Featured Voices

• Balancing clients and culture during festivities: Binaifer Dulani, Founding Partner & Creative at Talented, reflects on keeping authenticity intact while managing brand expectations during India’s busiest creative season.
• Is attribution the hidden hero of festive campaign success? Sanjay Trisal, General Manager – India, SEA & ANZ at AppsFlyer, breaks down how better measurement and attribution can make or break campaign outcomes.
• Standing out v/s Delivering results: Janhavi Iyer, Vice President, Gozoop Creative, examines the delicate balance between creative fame and performance pressure in festive advertising.
• It’s Just Human Nature! Bharatesh Salian, President – Digital, Wondrlab, reminds marketers that even in the most data-driven era, understanding people remains the ultimate competitive edge.
• Are stock and AI images ruining your performance strategy? Neena Dasgupta, Founder & CEO of The Salt Inc., questions the growing over-reliance on generic visuals and urges brands to return to original storytelling.
• Co-pilot, not autopilot: Kirtan Mankad, Co-Founder & Partner at Blackcoffee.media, explains how AI should assist, not replace, human creativity in festive marketing.
• Overlooked strategies for festive CTV campaigns that drive results: Amitt Sharma, Co-founder and CEO of VDO.AI, outlines smart CTV tactics that move beyond visibility to deliver measurable festive impact.

Inside the edition

• Every festive moment counts features insights on how to turn festive moments into lasting consumer connections by Shwetal Basu (Polycab), Nishant Kedia (Rebel Foods), Gautam Batra (Xiaomi India), Chandni Gaglani (Aisle Network), and Bhavin Devpuria (Triumph Group).
• Niraj Ruparel, Creative Technology Lead at WPP India, decodes how creative technology can guide storytelling without overpowering it in ‘Data should be the invisible hand, not the headline’
• In Heart over AI, Creative leaders Arpan Bhattacharyya (Lowe Lintas), Rohit Malkani (Saatchi & Saatchi India), and Parikshit Bhattacharyya (BBH India) share why emotion remains the most powerful creative tool in the age of AI.
• Human-led, tech-powered sees industry leaders Pankaj Sharma (MGID India), Ratnakar Bharti (Mudramax), Shibu Shivanandan (PivotRoots), Rishi Sharma (Affinity), and Gandharv Sachdeva (Hybrid) explain why data and media innovation cannot replace human instinct in marketing.
• In Steering festive joy Ashish Gupta (Škoda Auto India) and Udit Malhotra (JSW MG Motor India) reveal how automotive brands balance aspiration and affordability to capture the spirit of festive buying.
• Sarabjit Singh Puri (Fateh Rural Limited) and Rajesh Radhakrishnan (Vritti iMedia & Mindwave Media) explain how brands can best leverage their presence at faith-based gatherings in Faith, Footfalls and Brand Impact.
• In What’s driving FMCG sales this festive season?Manav Sahni (Nestlé India), Ashish Goupal (Marico), Nikhil Rao (Mars Wrigley), and Nitin Saini (Mondelez India) discuss how digital commerce and shifting consumer habits are reshaping FMCG’s festive playbook.
• Cracking the Bharat code decodes how regional insight and cultural nuance drive festive success beyond metros with insights from Vaishal Dalal (Excellent Publicity), Dheeraj Renganath (MagicCircle Communications), Siddhant Jain (Three Fourth Solutions), Rashi Ray (Response India), and Amita Srivastava (Carat India).

From creativity powered by emotion to technology guided by human instinct, this edition brings together voices shaping the new festive marketing playbook. Whether you are planning a campaign, studying consumer trends, or simply curious about how brands find meaning in moments of celebration, this is the edition to keep close this season. 

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