MAM

Festive Tales: How Connecting Through Stories Accelerate User Personalized Experience & ROI

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2023

Mumbai: India’s biggest festival season is here which means that it’s time to share the moments and turn them into memories while unwrapping the presents as the festivities season is also the most awaited time in India when the entire nation comes and unites under one umbrella of traditions and rituals. These celebrations can be a great opportunity for the brand owners and marketers to tap into the potential consumers since acquisition, engagement, and retention of such an audience via storytelling campaigns can help make a difference in a brand’s presence.

Brands often start prepping up a few weeks before the beginning of the festivities to avoid last-minute chaos or mess wherein, they also try and test different advertising practices to analyze and choose the best-performing ones with the hope that it would accelerate sales during festivities. Thus, brand owners can leverage storytelling campaigns, especially during the festival times to connect the right audience and the brands in the most effective way.

Here’s how they can shape up their Festive Tales while Connecting Through the Stories to Accelerate User Personalized Experience & ROI.

Diwali, Bhai Dooj etc. each festive affair has its own story and significance but what makes the brand stand out during such times is their “narrative campaigns depicting stories”. Storytelling revitalizes campaigns and supercharges sales and the major reason behind this is people’s emotions and sentiments; this is why, I believe that a powerful story can either make or break a campaign. In the ever-evolving AdTech landscape, brands strive to come up with new offerings and innovations to win the consumers and here are some effective solutions that can help you make a difference.

Storytelling: A Limitless Constant

Dhanteras, During festivities, storytelling helps create a buzz in the ecosystem in some or different ways to sustain the digital landscape. This is due to the festive fervour at online marketplaces which becomes an opportunity for brands to catch the moment via their impactful creatives depicting real-time and resonating stories.

Beth Comstock has said, “you can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything” wherein, Context, Content & Time Mapping can better help brands edge their stories. For example, during Dhanteras and Diwali, emotions are more towards pooja and aarti of Goddess Lakshmi wherein, marketers can showcase the users with content such as “Diwali Fest”, “Dhanteras Gifts” which will pump their emotions towards pooja, rituals, traditional dance, food, ethnicity and other associated factors of the festivals.

This can also be done via AI as it would help match the Context of Dhanteras with the Content of Gifts at the specific Time when the users remain active on their devices and screens. This will also give marketers a fair understanding of users’ choices and preferences and they can place the prominent creatives at the most engaging touch points throughout the device lifecycle. In fact, while targeting the audience interested in attending fests, they can also target the cohorts interested in ethnic wear during Diwali. In this way, brands can leverage contextual targeting as well wherein, storytelling coupled with Gifts’ content can accelerate sales in a different way.

So, there would be nothing wrong with saying that storytelling allows you to tap into emotions by crafting narratives that resonate with your audience. When users feel emotionally connected to your brand, they are more likely to engage and make purchases.

Another effective way of engaging the audience through storytelling is showcasing digital adverts that encourage them to tilt or rotate their phones from different angles such as try coupons, play games or avail discounts. This can be further enhanced via Rich Media Ads as such ads are enriched with playable and eye-catching elements that beautifully draw user attention towards a brand.

For example, during Diwali, people prefer to shop for home decor things such as furniture, curtains, crockery, showpieces, electronics, etc. In fact, people prefer to paint their homes so Rich Media Ads with some playable components like colour palettes, paint buckets and brushes can be shown, encouraging users to pick the colour of their choice and experiment with them to get an idea of how colours would look at the walls of their home. This will help brands create a unique and recalling identity among users with the possibility of more conversion rates.

Another way of engaging the audience through storytelling is showcasing them with short ads like Bumper Ads, Contextual Video Ads etc as such ads majorly occur on social platforms and are proving to be a driving force in drawing users’ attention towards a brand. These ads help marketers analyze user emotions and sentiments and further showcase them the content, tailored to their emotional and personalized needs. Leveraging this, brands can better grip user attention and make the most of their festive campaigns.

For example, during Bhai Dooj, video content pertaining to siblings can be placed at the most engaging and eye-catching touchpoints on the device. This would help brands create a sense of belongingness, and recall value too, giving users a reason and a story to engage with it.

Storytelling enables brands to deliver tailor-made messages to individual preferences and behaviours. This can again be better edged via AI as it would help marketers collect and analyze user data and create personalized stories that align with audience needs and interests. Thus, the X-Factor of stories empowering brands can make it and sustain the digital ecosystem as it encourages users to effectively respond with the campaign that further builds a trust factor and an affinity between brands and netizens.

The article is written by Xapads Media VP, sales & marketing Alok Pandey

Related Topics:Alok Pandey Xapads Media VP

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Brands

Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

1 week ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

1 week ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

MAM

Washington Post CEO exits abruptly after newsroom cuts spark backlash

Leadership change follows layoffs, protests and a bruising battle over trust.

Published

1 week ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: When the presses are rolling but patience runs out, even the editor’s chair isn’t safe. The Washington Post announced on Saturday that its chief executive and publisher Will Lewis is stepping down with immediate effect, bringing a sudden end to a turbulent two-year tenure marked by financial strain, newsroom unrest and public backlash.

Lewis’s exit comes just days after the Bezos-owned newspaper announced sweeping job cuts that triggered protests outside its Washington headquarters and a wave of anger from readers and staff. While newspapers across the US are grappling with shrinking revenues and digital disruption, Lewis’s leadership had increasingly come under fire for how those pressures were handled.

The Post confirmed that Jeff D’Onofrio, a former Tumblr CEO who joined the organisation last year as chief financial officer, has taken over as CEO and publisher, effective immediately. In an email to staff, later shared by reporters on social media, Lewis said it was “the right time for me to step aside.”

The leadership change follows the announcement of large-scale redundancies earlier this week. While the Post did not officially confirm numbers, The New York Times reported that around 300 of the paper’s roughly 800 journalists were laid off. Entire teams were dismantled, including the Post’s Middle East bureau and its Kyiv-based correspondent covering the war in Ukraine.

Sports, graphics and local reporting were sharply reduced, and the paper’s daily podcast, Post Reports, was suspended. On Thursday, hundreds of journalists and supporters gathered outside the Post’s downtown office in protest, calling the cuts a blow to public-interest journalism.

Former executive editor Marty Baron described the moment as “among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organisations.”

Lewis defended his record in his farewell note, saying “difficult decisions” were taken to secure the paper’s long-term future and protect its ability to publish “high-quality nonpartisan news”. But his tenure coincided with growing scrutiny of editorial independence at the Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos faced criticism for reining in the paper’s traditionally liberal editorial page and blocking an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 US election. The move was widely seen as breaking the long-standing firewall between ownership and editorial decision-making.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, around 250,000 digital subscribers cancelled their subscriptions after the paper declined to endorse Harris. The Post reportedly lost about $100 million in 2024 as advertising and subscription revenues slid.

While the wider newspaper industry continues to battle declining print advertising and the pull of social media, some national titles have stabilised. Rivals such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have managed to build sustainable digital businesses, a turnaround that has so far eluded the Post despite its billionaire backing.

As Jeff D’Onofrio steps into the role, the challenge is stark, restore confidence inside the newsroom, win back readers who walked away, and prove that one of America’s most storied newspapers can still find its footing in a brutally competitive media landscape.