Festival season campaign management -- what we didn't know about Indian buying cycles

Our first real festival season managing campaigns at scale was October 2021. We had three e-commerce clients running ads through Navratri and Diwali. We had read that this was a peak buying period. We increased budgets, freshened up creatives, and expected good things.

The results were mixed in a way that confused us until we spent time understanding what actually happens in these windows.

What we got wrong

We treated the festival season as a single event. It is not. Navratri, Dussehra, Dhanteras, and Diwali are separate windows, each with different purchase categories and different buyer intentions.

Dhanteras is specifically tied to buying gold, silver, and electronics -- there is a cultural meaning to purchasing these items on that day. An electronics retailer running generic Diwali ads through the whole period was underperforming because the most intense buying intent was concentrated on one or two days, not spread across two weeks.

We also underestimated how much of the decision happens before the purchase window. By the time Dhanteras arrives, most buyers have already researched what they want. The research phase happens in late September and early October. We started our campaigns in mid-October. We were showing up after the research was done.

What we changed this year

This time, we started brand and consideration campaigns in late September for our e-commerce clients. Search and conversion campaigns ramped up closer to the purchase dates. We created separate campaign structures for each major shopping moment rather than a single Diwali campaign.

We also mapped our clients' product categories to the specific festival moments where purchase intent is highest. Not every product belongs in every festival window. A home decor client has peak intent across Navratri and Diwali. A jewellery client needs to be present specifically around Dhanteras.

The other thing we learned is that delivery costs and logistics capacity affect conversion more than creative during peak periods. A beautifully optimised campaign pointing to a product page that says "estimated delivery: 7-10 days" during Diwali week is going to underperform. The backend logistics question is part of the campaign planning conversation now.