How brands are embracing monsoon rituals, not just selling through them

New Delhi: What’s the best way to spend a rainy weekend?  Maybe it’s sipping chai with pakoras by the window, or bingeing on K-dramas with a hot bowl of ramen. Perhaps you’re pottering around your indoor garden, or simply staring out at the downpour with a good playlist. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?

But life, and monsoon, often bring their own plot twists: a leaky window, a phone dropped in a puddle, or a lonely money plant gasping for air.

This monsoon, brands aren’t trying to sell their way out of these moments. They’re stepping right into them, capturing not just the season, but the small rituals, moods and annoyances that come with it. 

Nothing says monsoon like a rain-soaked romance, and Crocs’ latest campaign channels that sentiment into a short film combining K-drama aesthetics with Bollywood storytelling. Created by Kulfi Collective, the film stars South Korea’s Chae Soobin and India’s Siddhant Chaturvedi in an “enemies-to-lovers” arc, complete with soft lighting, dramatic rain, and a heart-shaped Korean Jibbitz charm. The brand’s rain-friendly footwear becomes a character in the story, not the lead.

In-store, Crocs is extending the idea with monsoon-inspired installations and themed charms, blending retail with narrative.

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If Crocs turned the rains into a soft-focus romantic frame, Fenesta chose damp realism, with a dose of dry humour. In a film conceptualised and directed by Titus Upputuru, a man blames his dog for a puddle, only to realise the culprit is a leaking window. The punchline lands gently: “Windows leaking again? Time to switch to Fenesta Windows and Doors.”

On a similar note, Ugaoo moves away from Pinterest-perfect plant parenthood. The brand’s ‘Anyone Can Plant’ campaign celebrates muddy hands, overwatered Monsteras and chai breaks near drooping ferns. “This campaign champions the desire to nurture, not the pressure to be perfect,” said Siddhant Bhalinge, Founder & CEO of Ugaoo.

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Moto G96, in its rain-ready campaign by SW Network, repositions the smartphone not just as water-resistant, but as a rain-loving companion. Billboards and ambient installations lean into monsoon culture with lines like “While other phones run for cover, I’d stand in the rain for you.” The creative swaps tech specs for personality, reframing resilience as a relatable emotion.

Over the years, monsoon has become more than a seasonal peg for marketing; it’s a canvas for emotion. Unlike festive campaigns that often shout joy or urgency, monsoon films tend to sit in silence, shadows and softness. Brands use this in-between season to tell stories of care, romance, and everyday resilience.

Brands have approached the monsoon through different lenses, some cautionary, some comforting, others nostalgic. These past campaigns didn’t just acknowledge the season’s quirks, but attempted to meet consumers where they were: inside homes, on slippery roads, or curled up with a cup of chai.

Similarly, Dettol painted its story in damp tones and blue hues, a household disrupted by the rain but gradually reclaimed through careful routines and disinfectant sprays. Their message wasn’t about control, but about preparation: Ab baarishon ke liye ghar ready hai. 

For example, Sebamed India, meanwhile, shifted the gaze to the newest member of the household, casting “Baby’s First Monsoon” as a moment of cautious joy. It wasn’t a high drama ad; it was a soft, almost whisper-like portrayal of protection and love.

Beyond the walls of home, the rains brought with them other anxieties, especially on the roads. CEAT Tyres brought those to the fore, not through fear-mongering, but through relatability. Its campaigns were filled with real-world tension: the slip of a two-wheeler on a flooded street, the white-knuckled grip on the handlebars. 

Volvo, in collaboration with Autocar India, offered a more instructive route. Their #RainReady content series treated the monsoon like a test of driving disciplines, braking tips, and visibility hacks. These weren’t adrenaline-pumped auto ads. They were almost parental in tone, firm, clear, and quietly concerned.

But the monsoon in India is never just about what goes wrong. It’s also about what we do when we’re forced to stay in. Brands that tapped into that stillness, the warm kitchens, the fogged-up windows, the intimacy of routine, often left the deepest impressions. 

Switz leaned into food as a love language. Its film featured a woman braving the rain to surprise her husband with samosas, only to discover he’s done the same.

There were no big speeches. Just the quiet rhythm of a shared craving and a shared life. 

Tea brands followed suit, Taj Mahal Tea portrayed monsoon as soulful solitude, the kind where the tea steeps as slowly as the thoughts. 

Brooke Bond Red Label went wider, framing the rain as a stage for small kindnesses: a transgender woman offering tea to a grandmother and her granddaughter stuck in traffic. In this case, the brands were present, but never overbearing.

Across these campaigns, what stood out wasn’t the cleverness of the scripts or the crispness of the visuals. It was the willingness to pause, to look around at what people were actually experiencing during the rains, and to simply show up there. Brands didn’t push products. They poured themselves into the gaps left by the season, illness, dampness, hunger, fear, longing, and said, We’re here too.

The brands that remained memorable were the ones that knew the rain doesn’t need drama. It just needs understanding.