‘50% of consumers likely to increase festive spends in 2021’

MMA, GroupM and Amazon Advertising have announced the launch of ‘Decoding Consumer behavior and Winning the 2021 Festive Season’ Playbook, a handbook for marketers on expected consumer sentiment along with recommended strategies for Diwali this year. The handbook rests on the expectation that the 2021 Diwali festive season will be an unprecedented test for marketers.

This playbook will help brands in making efficient decisions around their media strategy during the festive season. It captures insights around consumer sentiment and marketer expectations for the upcoming festive season, along with implications and recommendations for advertisers. The playbook is based on findings from consumer survey, brand marketer survey, and inputs from key opinion leaders.

A few takeaways from the playbook:

• Consumer sentiment remains positive: ~50% consumers are likely to increase their festive spends this year
• Consumers are still not fully decided on their purchase: 62% consumers are currently undecided about the product/brand choice
• Digital channels will be crucial across the journey: ~80% consumers journeys will be ‘digital’ influenced and 77% endemic journeys will involve amazon.in
• Brands should leverage multiple touchpoints: Be visible across touchpoints leveraging Connected TV, Video, Search advertising etc. to drive active/passive discovery and leverage ‘efficiency’ related metrics to assess performance holistically.

Moneka Khurana, Country Head, MMA India commented, “MMA is proud to have co-authored the white paper in collaboration with GroupM and Amazon Advertising to provide the much needed insights and guidance for the upcoming festive season for the ecosystem helping brands navigate the challenging times and drive optimal visibility and performance. 76% of marketers mentioned they will be allocating more spends for digital as compared to last year. Hence it’s key to understand omnichannel users better in the changing times as we continue to drive the narrative of shaping the future of marketing.”

Tushar Vyas, President – Growth and Transformation, GroupM South Asia commented, “Digital influence in consumer journeys has increased significantly while the e-commerce adoption has accelerated in last 18 months. Hence, Digital is no more a support media platform but is core to media plans. Ecommerce platforms offer brands the opportunity to hand-hold consumers across the purchase funnel by not only aiding in active/passive brand discovery but also in closing the loop by measuring performance objectively. This playbook contains several key insights and is a must-read for any marketer who is planning for the festive season.”

Vijay Iyer, Director-Ad Sales, Amazon Advertising India commented, “Digital is a part of our lives now like never before and the influence is only increasing. Ecommerce portals act as gateways to this world that we are so quickly embracing and are playing a crucial role in brand and product discovery. For marketers, this presents an unprecedented opportunity – to be able to identify and leverage customer intent at an unprecedented scale. This playbook will help brands in not only sharpening their online strategy, but will redefine how they measure and drive business outcomes.”