Ramadan is one of the most significant periods for both people and businesses in Southeast Asia. Since it is the festival of the highest importance in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, there is a surge in excitement and activity around this season. The month of Ramadan also sees a spike in shopping like no other, and this phenomenon is called the Ramadan Rush.
The Ramadan Rush is a great time for brands to accelerate their marketing efforts and connect with people in meaningful and memorable ways. With this piece, we explore seven things you should know and keep in mind when you craft your advertising campaigns during Ramadan.
We know the Ramadan Rush is unmissable. But how do we know when the shopping frenzy begins and ends each year, so we don’t miss it?
While this period changes each year, a pattern that is usually seen is people beginning to plan their Ramadan and Eid shopping around two weeks before the holy month begins, and this continues until the days ahead of Eid.
Each year, we uncover the behavioral trends that reveal the Ramadan Rush in our Ramadan reports, which help brands understand the time to push their marketing communication and tips to make them memorable. Afterall, getting the timing right is key.
No two Ramadan seasons are the same. It is critical to identify key shopping trends and understand how people are behaving each year. This is because the unique situation of the country in that particular year affects how they celebrate that season.
A variety of factors such as economic situations, political conditions, cultural and social occurrences, and so on impact how people observe and conduct the festivities. For instance, in 2021 in Indonesia, we saw people continuing to increase the use of mobile to search, shop, and continue with loved ones. This was a habit that begun to form in 2020 since the pandemic changed lives forever, inviting people to stay home more and keep their connections and celebrations virtual.
This demanded that brands begin to look at mobile not as an afterthought but rather as a fundamental necessity. With this knowledge, brands could create Ramadan advertising campaigns that touched hearts through mobile.
The need to understand and adapt to the changes in privacy regulations is firmly established today. Therefore, the challenge is reaching the right audience in a respectful yet highly effective way.
Through in-app advertising, marketers can reach an extremely engaged audience through their always-on companion: their mobile phone. We live in times where we see people’s behavior evolving continuously, and such times call for programmatic advertising that lets marketers optimize their message efficiently in real time.
Moreover, leveraging deterministic audiences let you reach high-intent audiences without going to the individual identity. At InMobi, we took steps to empower marketers with that capability. Through our recent partnerships with Gojek and Telkomsel, we have formed a vast audience pool of possibilities for brands to target niche cohorts, such as college students interested in perfumes, mothers who buy chocolate, first-jobbers who love gadgets, and many more. Using this power during Ramadan can make for truly memorable and heart-warming communication and a solid connection between brands and people.
The times we live in have given rise to a new kind of content consumption behavior. People no longer want to go through a series of eight to ten steps to reach the content or experience they want – from unlocking their phone and firing up a platform to searching for something, scrolling and then finally coming to it. Instead, they would love for what they seek to come straight to them with a single click – creating a feeling of serendipitous discovery.
We call them the one-click consumer, and this is their age. It is inevitable for marketers to think of them, and craft one-click experiences to make a true impact.
Some have already begun doing so, delivering such content and experiences through the smart lock screen on Glance. This engages people without them having to unlock their phones, which is great even beyond the festive season for regular marketing campaigns. A great example of this is how Pepsodent increased awareness about and consideration for its toothpaste, Complete 8, though Glance marketing.
People’s one-click behavior holds true even more during Ramadan, when they are constantly looking for ways to pass time. They are more likely to engage with content that seamlessly offers what they want with just one click. Imagine your customer getting a customizable Ramadan greeting card from you that they can edit and share with friends and family – with just one click of waking their phone up! Or think of the possibility of giving them Ramadan recipes on the smart lock screen right when they pick up their phone. Your brand can make this happen with Glance, and this approach will help you build stronger connections with your audience.
While effectively reaching and engaging people, marketers must not get lost in the creativity and innovation aspect and miss the chance to inspire action that matters and delivers business impact.
Leveraging the right moments and inspiring action that brings results to your brand’s marketing efforts is an art. It requires understanding the thinking of your audience, appealing to their state of mind, creating experiences that uniquely catch their eye, and tying it to an action that makes a difference to your business.
During Ramadan 2022, Wall’s Indonesia delivered one such campaign as they relaunched their popular family-sharing ice cream tub, Viennetta. By being present in the moment of Mudik, when Indonesians traveled to reunite with their families after spending two consecutive Ramadans away from each other due to the pandemic, Wall’s invited people to sweeten their reunions by sharing a tub of ice cream. This led to 49% and 51% of engaged people visiting the online and offline stores respectively – a massive impact! Read more about Wall’s Indonesia’s Ramadan marketing campaign for Viennetta.
Ramadan is all about getting closer and deepening connections – something brands must do on a daily basis! In the mad race for results, marketers must not lose sight of the fact that their audience is made up of people – with minds, hearts, a belief in goodness, and a passion for deep connection.
With regard to this, there are two things that need to be kept in mind while approaching marketing campaigns during Ramadan – data privacy and cultural sentiment.
Respecting everybody’s privacy and letting them decide what happens to their data can make a world of a difference to your brand’s relationship with your audience. And today, with strict privacy regulations that are growing stricter, it is an absolute necessity. It is thus important to consider alternatives such as new methods of data collection and building data repositories, targeting people on a collective level rather than an individual level, and tapping into the power of deterministic audiences, as we covered above, to reach niche, high-intent audiences that uniquely meet your brand’s objectives.
When it comes to your audience’s sentiment, your brand should look at it on two levels – one, sentiments about the festival of Ramadan, and two, larger sentiments about the unique socioeconomic situation. One such time was the year, 2020, which taught us how to drive meaningful marketing in uncertain times. We all know tone-deaf brands are never appreciated, and even with the best of intentions and dazzling creativity, your brand must not make the mistake of being removed from the larger sentiment, because it can backfire big time. The best way to avoid this mistake is by rooting your campaign communication in the latest consumer insights.
Keep your eyes and ears open, because other brands can be great teachers and industry experts always have the most powerful insights to share.
Here are a few beautiful examples of creative campaigns that celebrated Ramadan in a special way. You will see how they followed all of the above practices – from getting the people’s sentiment to crafting moving communication and eye-catching experiences.
And as always, tune into the insights that industry experts share. This can be your source of truth to understand the Ramadan festive shopper’s behavior, the channels they use, emerging technologies and platforms, content consumption patterns, expectations from brands, and so much more!
We have seen how Ramadan is an extremely important time for marketers in Southeast Asia and covered key considerations while planning Ramadan advertising campaigns. If you’d like to get more granular insights from all the years gone by, read more of our Ramadan Marketing reports and articles, and hear from industry experts.
Here’s wishing you, your team, and your loved ones a truly wonderful Ramadan!
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