Festive season kicks in with ad splash from Auto, Real Estate, Electronics brands

New Delhi: The first day of Navratri brought much-awaited cheer to the Indian media and entertainment industry with many categories splashing their advertisements aggressively across print publications.

The national newspapers turned bulkier on Thursday with each edition adding about a dozen pages carrying six jacket ads on average from categories such as Automobile, Real Estate, Consumer Electronics, Jewellery and Consumer Goods.

While German premium carmaker Mercedes Benz, Real Estate giant Signature Global and Electronics Mart captured the jackets of Hindustan Times, The Times of India had two jackets each from Signature Global, Tata Croma and Duroflex.

Besides, another German carmaker Volkswagen too featured with half-page ads across English dailies.

Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar sold seven jackets across main editions from two-wheelers, jewellery and consumer electronics brands.

The automobile category is the real indicator of festive cheer and aggressive posturing from the two leading German premium carmakers and two-wheeler brands are expected to push more brands for ad blitzkrieg.

A head of a global media agency told BestMediaInfo.com on Monday that it takes one brand to kick off a big campaign and others follow. “We saw how Google Pixel and Samsung reacted to Apple’s iPhone launch. We are hopeful that this will replicate across categories.”

A senior executive from another global media agency termed Thursday's ad splash across print publications quite promising.

“All of us were waiting for this. Navratri’s impact is visible. It is not that the brands were not advertising during the 15 days of Shradh. They were. However, most of the ads were not able to convert the leads into sales as people perceived this period as inauspicious. The response to the ads in terms of queries and buying starts today and we expect that it will lead to a robust festive season,” the senior executive said.

It is learnt that the print players have adopted the strategy to leverage non-premium inventory, such as inside pages, as there is limited premium inventory available, especially during the high-demand festive season.

Suggesting the print players to focus on inside pages last month, Ramsai Panchapakesan, Managing Partner- Investments at Havas Media India, told BestMediaInfo.com, “This can enable brands to execute high-visibility, frequency-driven promotional campaigns at more attractive, incentivised price points.”

On television also, the high-impact properties have managed to onboard a good number of advertisers, multiple sources confirmed.

“The strategy to not increase the ad rates by the broadcasters was aimed at roping more and more brands and that is reflected in the increased volume. The digital inventories of the impact properties are expected to give them the desired boost,” said the agency head quoted above.