Festive and wedding seasons fuel double-digit growth in jewellery advertising

New Delhi: India’s jewellery advertising landscape is entering its busiest quarter of the year, driven by the wedding and festive seasons. As gold prices climb and consumer expectations evolve, brands are rethinking how they spend, where they advertise, and how they balance heritage with modernity. From leveraging emotional and regional storytelling to experimenting with digital-first strategies, the AdEx narrative for jewellery in 2025 is one of scale, experimentation, and sharper targeting.

The consensus across leading players is that jewellery advertising will grow in double digits this year, but with sharper targeting and smarter deployment.

“Advertising spends in jewellery are set to be higher this year, especially with the festive quarter being so critical for the category. We’re putting more weight behind regional storytelling and engagement-ring narratives, which have delivered strong traction in markets like Maharashtra and Bengal this year,” said Shaifali Gautam, Chief Marketing Officer, CaratLane.

“Jewellery AdEx in 2025 will definitely see a double-digit growth over last year, primarily fueled by the festive and wedding seasons. Consumers are upgrading not just their jewellery but also their expectations of brands, which is pushing us to invest more in storytelling and sharper targeting,” said Rupali Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Limelight Lab Grown Diamonds.

We’re scaling both awareness and trust-building campaigns this year, as lab-grown diamonds are still a relatively new category in India,” added Shrivastava.

ORRA Fine Jewellery, a leading national diamond jewellery brand known for its bridal collections and contemporary designs, is clear about its targeted approach towards advertising. The focus is not on increasing budgets blindly but ensuring every rupee works harder. “Jewellery advertising will continue to grow, but brands are becoming more strategic about where they invest. Instead of simply increasing budgets, the focus is on sharper targeting, stronger creative, and ensuring campaigns travel across platforms. It’s not about spending more, but spending smarter,” Dipu Mehta, Managing Director, ORRA Fine Jewellery, noted.

Digital campaigns take the lead

The media mix has undergone significant change. Print and TV remain staples during festive peaks, but digital, especially influencer-led video conten,t is where the action is. GIVA, a fast-growing direct-to-consumer jewellery brand known for its modern silver and precious collections, exemplified this hybrid reality. 

“Jewellery advertising in 2025 is all about crafting stories that resonate with your brand ethos and your TG. While print and television continue to deliver the broad cultural reach the category needs, digital, especially video-first, creator-led content, is where brands are investing for growth and relevance,” said Resha Jain, Chief Brand Officer, GIVA. 

Limelight Lab Grown Diamonds’ Shrivastava echoed this shift. “TV and print continue to be strong during the festive-wedding burst, but digital is now at the heart of any national jewellery campaign. Digital takes precedence because the category needs education as much as aspiration building. OOH also plays a big role in high-impact moments like city launches or celebrity campaigns.”

“Digital remains the lead channel for discovery, especially among younger customers, but we also invest meaningfully in print, outdoor, and in-store experiences to build trust and local relevance. For instance, our Ganesh Chaturthi film and the more recent Pujo brand film ran across social platforms, but were also amplified through regional print and OOH in related regions. We see the best results when channels complement one another rather than working in isolation,” Gautam added.

ORRA, meanwhile, pursued balance. “Traditional media like print and OOH remain very powerful for weddings and festive occasions, where family decision-making is involved. At the same time, digital has become indispensable for discovery, personalisation, and reaching younger audiences. ORRA’s approach is a balanced, impactful presence in traditional media, with digital always-on to engage the modern consumer,” Dipu Mehta noted.

Regional outspend vs national scale

The divide between regional and national strategies remains stark. Regional players dominate with high visibility in their home markets, while national brands invest in consistency and scale.

“Regional players do outspend national brands in their home territories; they have the advantage of deep-rooted connections, community trust, and high local visibility. But national brands invest in creating pan-India consistency and trust at scale, which comes with a different kind of media mix,” explained Shrivastava.

“Regional players do tend to spend aggressively in their core markets, especially during the festive period when jewellery buying peaks. Their focus is often heavier on BTL activities, and in those moments, they can spend almost as aggressively as national brands,” Gautam said.

“Regional players often dominate their home markets with very high visibility, because their strategy is hyperlocal. National brands like ORRA focus on consistency, strong brand codes across markets, while tailoring communication for key regions and festive peaks. It’s not just about spending, but about relevance and recall,” Mehta added.

Celebs and creators share the spotlight

Celebrity associations continue to carry weight, particularly in wedding and festive campaigns, but influencers and creators are now indispensable for everyday storytelling for Jewellery brands.

“Our strategy has consistently been hybrid, fostering brand trust through emotional storytelling, achieving scale relevance via digital D2C strategies, and merging celebrity influence with creator genuineness for both visibility and sales,” said Jain.

Shrivastava elaborated on this dual approach and said that celebrities remain powerful in jewellery because weddings and celebrations are aspirational moments where star power resonates. But influencers and creators are now indispensable for day-to-day storytelling and education.

“For Limelight, our association with Shilpa Shetty builds national trust, while creators help us explain lab grown diamonds in relatable, bite-sized formats,” Shrivastava added.

“We’ve consciously chosen not to go the route of a single national brand ambassador. Instead, we collaborate with regional faces who have strong cultural connections, like Divyanka Tripathi and Vivek Dahiya for Teej and Karwa Chauth. Alongside this, creators are increasingly important. Our recent consumer study showed that customers often engage with comedy and cooking influencers as much as fashion voices, and that insight is shaping our partnerships,” Gautam noted.

“Celebrities bring scale, aspiration, and trust, especially in weddings and festive campaigns. Influencers and creators bring relatability and freshness, particularly for everyday wear and styling content. ORRA believes the future is about a healthy mix of both,” Dipu Mehta stressed.

Contemporary storytelling gains ground in ads

Weddings, tradition, and heritage remain at the heart of jewellery advertising, but brands are increasingly layering modern messages of individuality, self-purchase, and sustainability.

Shrivastava reflected this duality. “It’s no longer an either-or. Consumers want jewellery to celebrate tradition and heritage, but they also expect it to reflect personal style, individuality, and even conscious choices. We weave our campaigns with emotional moments like weddings with modern narratives of self-purchase and sustainability.”

“The modern bride is at the centre of this shift. Heritage jewellery and wedding traditions remain at the heart of the category, but modernisation is at its peak, today’s bride wants pieces that reflect her individuality, not just tradition,” Mehta added.

Everyday Diamonds rise in brand storytelling

Gold remains unmatched in scale, but diamonds, particularly everyday wear and lab-grown solitaires, are gaining prominence in advertising.

“Gold continues to dominate because of its scale in India, but diamond jewellery advertising is growing rapidly, especially in the urban and millennial segment. Within this, categories like solitaires, everyday wear, and conscious luxury are finding strong resonance. Diamond visibility is growing because lab-grown makes solitaires more accessible,” said Shrivastava.

“Gold continues to dominate festive and investment-led campaigns, but diamonds are increasingly taking centre stage in brand communication. Everyday diamond jewellery is seeing strong visibility as it appeals to younger consumers,” Mehta echoed.

“For us, three categories stand out: Lightweight 9KT and 14KT jewellery, which has become the most popular gifting choice this festive season. Regional 22KT collections like Ananta, created specifically for South India, which reflect how we align product visibility with local cultural preferences,” Gautam outlined.

Rising gold prices test jewellery marketers

From rising gold prices to audience fragmentation, the challenges for jewellery marketers this year are steep. “Confronted with challenges such as increasing gold prices and stricter compliance, marketers need to be more strategic in product positioning and quicker in reallocating budgets to channels that demonstrate conversion success,” Jain noted.

“The biggest challenge is not just rising gold prices but audience fragmentation. Different generations consume media and messaging very differently. For a new-age category like lab-grown diamonds, the task is doubled; we have to create awareness, build trust, and also compete in a crowded festive landscape. That’s why sharper targeting and credible storytelling are becoming non-negotiable,” Shrivastava highlights the complexity for new categories.

“Rising gold prices, audience fragmentation, and changing media habits are real challenges. But the bigger task is to stay relevant in a cluttered environment. For ORRA, the solution lies in clear brand storytelling, digital innovation, and ensuring that every campaign connects emotionally while being sharply targeted,” Mehta underlined.

“The biggest challenge during the festive period is the sheer competition for consumer attention. Large players from both jewellery and non-jewellery categories are eyeing the same space, which drives CPMs up and makes digital traffic more expensive. Keywords also become costlier, with so many brands bidding aggressively. This creates a real hindrance to scaling campaigns. Our counter to this is sharp remarketing, activating our CRM base aggressively, and leaning on owned channels and hyper-local storytelling to sustain efficiency and impact,” Gautam asserted.