How Diwali UGC campaigns brought brands closer to consumers

User-generated content (UGC) has long served as relatable advertising. Yet, as brands doubled down on it this Diwali season, they showcased the potential for authentic engagement.

Brands like Havmor, Xiaomi India and BigBasket led the charge by leveraging nano influencers and real-life scenarios.

In what has become a crowded digital space, these festive UGC campaigns for Diwali not only cut through the clutter but redefined how brands can speak to consumers on a highly personal level.

Moving away from polished, big-budget campaigns, brands found success with UGC-driven storytelling, embracing organic, sometimes humorous moments that touch upon universal themes. This approach has helped brands balance relatability with visibility, creating a compelling narrative that resonates with the festive spirit.

Take Havmor's campaign, for example. The brand quickly spotted a viral WhatsApp exchange in which an influencer's mom humorously reminded him to bring ice cream for the Diwali celebrations. This simple, authentic moment turned into a larger campaign. Havmor went as far as filling a fridge with their ice creams and delivering it to the influencer through Swiggy Instamart.

These campaigns went beyond just one video. Havmor’s collaboration with Dewang Bhagwat, a digital creator with only 10K followers, brought an extra layer of intimacy and relatability through humorous “mom roast” skits that strongly resonated with consumers.

After the first video garnered 15.7K views, Havmor followed up with a second video, which attracted 11.6K views, further boosting the brand’s visibility.

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A post shared by Dewang Bhagwat | Entertainment (@damndsb)

This shift toward nano influencers is no accident. Nano influencers, with their close-knit communities, bring a level of authenticity that’s often hard to achieve with larger influencers. According to Shudeep Majumdar, CEO of Zefmo, the demand for nano influencers surged by 40-50% this Diwali season. Many brands opted for barter deals with these creators, providing products instead of financial compensation, a strategy that kept costs down and maintained an organic, unpolished feel.

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