Jewellery brands plan to increase ad budgets by 45% this quarter

When it comes to the festive season, it is the jewellery segment that makes the most bucks out of the period beginning from Ganesh Chaturthi and extending till Diwali, followed by the wedding season, irrespective of whether they deal in fine jewellery curated out of Gold, Diamonds or even Platinum.

Foreseeing this burgeoning excitement for the jewellery players, BestMediaInfo.com spoke to various industry professionals to gain an understanding of how much of an important role the festive period plays in their overall revenues and sales across different categories or verticals that they witness a spike along with their ad plans for the quarter ending December 31, 2023.

Sujala Martis

As per Sujala Martis, Director- Consumer Marketing, Platinum Guild International (India), jewellery holds immense cultural significance in India, and as the year draws to a close, the festive season becomes a pivotal moment for jewellery brands as consumers turn to jewellery to commemorate significant milestones, celebrate festivals, exchange gifts, and prepare for special occasions, such as weddings.

“The festive quarter has a line-up of both festivals at one end and the marriage season on the other, hence creating many triggers for consumption. As a result, all our initiatives include a robust outreach across television, print, digital, social media, and PR to ensure maximum visibility and impact,” she said.

With this, she also emphasised that, on the advertising front, PGI India will be adapting and creating various formats and assets tailored to specific objectives that range from driving familiarity with the metal to recall and consideration for individual brands within the portfolio.

Suvankar Sen

Speaking of the importance of the festive season for the jewellery industry, Suvankar Sen, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Senco Golds and Diamonds, stated that almost 60% of the business actually comes from the festive season, which not only includes Dhanteras, Diwali, etc. but also the wedding season.

“If each quarter was to contribute 25% to the overall business, then at least 40–45% of the business would be slated to come from this particular quarter,” he opined.

Further, he also shared that the jewellery major would also be increasing its advertising spends for the festive quarter by nothing less than 60–70%, which essentially means that if the brand ideally spends 25% of its ad budget on each quarter, it would spend 35–40% during Q3.

Since Senco Gold and Diamonds’ primary audience includes females and that too from the younger generation, i.e., between 25 and 45 years of age, Sen pointed out that the brand resorts to a media mix that is fairly more skewed towards digital new age mediums like OTT, influencer marketing, social media, etc. as it helps them reach out and target certain audience segments.

Having said that, he also pointed out that the brand does balance it out with traditional mediums such as TV, print, and outdoors as well because they too have an impact of their own on the traditional customer base.

"Because the festive period is the time for action, unlike the rest of the year, during which the initiatives are centred more on awareness and brand building, which is a long process and doesn’t happen in a very short period of time, we will also be spending on performance marketing as it works well in the short term and is all about driving sales and footfalls, which aligns with our overall marketing objectives of driving preference in the minds of consumers and pushing on specific product categories,” he added.

Sampurna Rakshit

According to Sampurna Rakshit, Marketing Head, Mia By Tanishq, the festive season, starting with Ganesh Chaturthi and extending till Diwali, along with a slew of smaller regional festivals, is a huge contributor to the annual revenue of the jewellery brand as it witnesses a very robust spike in sales during this period.

“It used to be a common misconception earlier that for fine jewellery brands like ours, which are 14 and 18 carat and are slightly more modern brands, festivals would not have the same relevance as they do for traditional players, but over the past few years that has been proven absolutely incorrect because every modern Indian woman who buys into jewellery brands like ours also celebrates Diwali, Dhanteras, and all Indian festivals in her own way, which has made the overall market open up a lot more,” she elaborated.

Further, she also added that this is going to be the biggest quarter of the year for Mia By Tanishq, which is why the revenue target is also huge—almost at a multiplier of what previous quarters would have delivered. Subsequently, it is only prudent that the brand spends the most on media in terms of going all out with the campaign.

“Being a digital-first brand that is doubling its revenue year on year and foresees strong double-digit growth this time around, we will continue to leverage both social media platforms and digital channels such as OTT, performance marketing on Google, and Meta Platforms amongst others,” she added.

Ankit Gala

According to Ankit Gala, Managing Director, Antara Jewellery, too, the festive season holds a pivotal role in the jewellery industry, as it represents a convergence of cultural traditions, celebrations, and significant life events like weddings. As a result, there is a remarkable surge in the demand for jewellery across various categories.

“We have consistently observed a significant boost in both revenue and category growth during the festive period as customers seek distinctive and meaningful pieces that resonate with the spirit of the festivities. As for our expectations this year, we are cautiously optimistic owing to external factors like economic conditions and consumer sentiment,” he said.

Moreover, he also mentioned that since the brand has consistently strengthened its financial position, achieving year-over-year revenue growth driven by the customer-centric approach and the ability to adapt to changing market dynamics, it does recognise the importance of strategic investments in advertising, which is why it has also upped its ad budgets incrementally over the past couple of years to align with the expansion plans and changing consumer behaviour.

“This time around as well, we will allocate a portion of our ad budget to digital marketing, print media, in-store promotions, etc. The choice of these mediums is strategic, aiming to maximise our reach and connect with customers at different touchpoints in their buying journey. We analyse the effectiveness of each medium and adjust our ad spend accordingly to ensure we are meeting our objectives,” he stated.

With this, he also emphasised that since the brand’s short-term objective is to achieve strong sales growth during the upcoming festive season and become a recognised global brand known for craftsmanship, innovation, and ethical practices in the long term, Antara Jewellery aims to engage and educate audiences, enhance brand loyalty, and expand market reach via its various media channels and in-store promotions.

“We actively encourage our customers to share their jewellery stories and photos on social media because user-generated content not only engages our community but also serves as authentic testimonials for our brand,” he said.

Sharing more information about the marketing strategy that PGI India has deployed for the festive season, Martis stated that the brand will be launching newly integrated marketing campaigns and fresh collections across all three of its branded categories: Men of Platinum, Platinum Evara, and Platinum Love Bands.

“We pre-empted the festive season by aligning with the cricket calendar for our brand Men of Platinum, unveiling the new collection and campaign featuring Cricket Star Suryakumar Yadav in conjunction with the Asia Cup. Over the past few years, we have leveraged cricket as an effective vehicle, enabling us to engage and connect with the male segment serving multiple objectives via short-format content while maximising impact across mediums,” she said.

Delving deeper, she also pointed out that the highlight for the brand this season would be its mini-series, ‘A Minute with Men of Platinum X Suryakumar Yadav’ wherein each mini-episode would focus on an aspect of the cricketer’s persona and a different chapter of his journey. In fact, the content is structured in a way that showcases the value system that the brand Men of Platinum stands for, with key messaging on what defines platinum as a metal and a platinum-style statement.

Similarly, Mia By Tanishq’s Rakshit also pointed out that this time around, the brand has also roped in Rakul Preet Singh for its celebrity campaign for the festive season, due to which the brand will also be trying out some amount of print and outdoor media as an exception only for the festive season to provide the kind of exposure that a celebrity face needs and deserves.

“We will also be launching a new POV through this year’s festive campaign, which essentially means that it would not just be an ad made to sell the products, but actually be an ad made to define what the brand means in the consumer's minds. For this, we will be looking at metrics such as concentration and awareness,” she added.

On the trend of leveraging celebrities for endorsements, Senco Gold and Diamond’s Sen echoed that while the brand would continue to use its brand ambassadors—Kiara Advani and Vidya Balan, among others—on their various collections, this time around, the jewellery major would shift its focus from celebrity-led advertising to more product- and feature-led advertising to cut through the clutter and highlight the unique intricacies of its designs, which also happens to be their USP.

Throwing light on some of the categories that really see a significant uptick during the festive period, he also stated that since a lot of the wedding jewellery buying also happens during the festive season, especially on Dhanteras, the necklace category, in both golds and diamonds, is one of the most grossing categories for the brand in such times, which averagely brings about 40% of the brand’s sale.

On the other hand, he also opined that because people have limited savings at the end of the day, they generally don’t mind spending anything between Rs 2000 - Rs 100000 on themselves or on their family members, which is why the sale of small ticket size items such as rings, earrings, pendants, etc. goes up during the festive period, so much so, that anywhere between 50 and 60% of the brand’s overall sale come from them.

PGI India’s Martis also shared that when it comes to platinum in specific what starts to become relevant is the fact that younger consumers are redefining their perception of jewellery-  a symbol that marks out and expresses individuality while also building social distinction. It's no longer seen solely as a store of value; rather, it has evolved into a profound vessel of meaning, a symbol of emotional significance, representing a wide array of life achievements, moments, and special occasions.

Similarly, Mia By Tanishq’s Rakshit also emphasised that during the festive period, the brand witnesses an increased acceptance for some of its slightly more experimental categories, such as chaandbaalis, haathphools, maangteekas, etc., as compared to the rest of the year.

“Also, because people are also in the mood to dress up in a festive-kind of way, the acceptance of the non-daily wear category happens during the festive. However, a wide chunk of our revenues still come from the regular categories, such as earrings or bangles,” she added.

Antara Jewellery’s Gala also shared that, in his experience, traditional and statement pieces such as gold and diamond jewellery, temple jewellery, gemstone jewellery, bridal sets, etc. become particularly popular during the festive period as they capture the essence of celebration, tradition, and the desire for enduring beauty.

Taking a cue from the approaching wedding season, PGI India’s Martis also shared that the platinum jewellery brand will be coming up with a new integrated campaign scheduled for Platinum Love Bands.

“The narrative is designed to resonate with younger couples of today who aspire to celebrate and mark special milestones in their relationship with what is truly distinctive. It reflects what modern couples, particularly young women, value in love,” she said.

Following this, the brand also plans to capitalise on the self-purchase phenomenon among today's modern and progressive women buying jewellery for the outreach of Platinum Evara.

 “It will touch on the various aspects that young women hold close, from self-love to growth to acceptance, all critical in their journey of being themselves,” she added.

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