Festive and seasonal advertising · Marketing
Book the Diwali slot in August, because by October there is nothing left.
Every trade has weeks that pay for the year. A jeweller's Akshaya Tritiya, a car dealer's Ayudha Puja, a uniform shop's June, a builder's Diwali booking rush. Miss the booking deadline for those weeks and the media you wanted is gone, because somebody else took it in August.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Festive and seasonal advertising is a short, dated burst of media bought around the weeks your trade sells: Akshaya Tritiya, Dasara, Diwali, the wedding dates or the admission season. GullySales works backwards from the selling date to the booking and artwork deadlines, then books the media before the rate climbs.
The festival is not the deadline. A festive supplement closes for bookings weeks ahead, a hoarding cycle starts on the first or the sixteenth, and a flex goes to print days before it goes up. So the calendar we build runs backwards from the day you want to sell.
Rates move as well. A full page in the days before Diwali is not priced like the same page in July, and the festive supplement carries a premium of its own. We book early or we buy a different week.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“We book the festive advertisement in the last week every year”
By then the supplement is closed, the good hoarding cycles are taken and the rate has moved. What is left is the inventory nobody wanted in August.
“The advertisement ran before the offer was decided”
Artwork went out saying festive offers inside, because the discount was still being argued about on the day the file was due. Nobody walked in for that.
“Stock arrived after the campaign started”
The purchase order and the media booking were made by two people who never spoke. So the advertisement ran for a range that reached the shop eleven days later.
“Last year's creative is reused with the date changed”
A file from the previous Diwali with a new year on it reads as a file from the previous Diwali. Regular customers notice it before you do.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Selling calendar for your trade
The dates that matter to your buyers on one sheet: the festival, the muhurta days, the salary week, the school calendar and the month your competitors go quiet.
Deadlines written backwards from the selling day
From the day you want the shop full, back to the artwork date, the print date, the booking date and the day the media owner wants payment.
Media chosen for a short burst
A week does not suit every medium. Newspaper and radio carry a dated burst, a hoarding needs its full cycle, and digital can be switched on the same morning.
Festive package terms in writing
What the publication or station includes in its festive package, what it charges extra for, and whether the position you were promised is written on the release order.
Offer and artwork locked before booking
The discount, the EMI, the gift or the muhurta slot settled and signed off by you, so the file goes to print on the day it is due.
Language and greeting that fit the state
A Kannada greeting for a Bengaluru buyer, and the festival the state actually keeps. The wrong festival on a regional advertisement is read as an outsider's advertisement.
Response route for the burst
A campaign number, a WhatsApp link or a code at the counter, so the week's walk-ins can be compared with an ordinary week.
Reconciliation after the festival
Proof that each insertion, spot or panel ran on the dates booked, with a credit claimed from the media owner where it did not.
How the result is measured
- Insertions, spots and panels delivered on the dates booked
- Rate paid against the festive card and against last year
- Calls to the campaign number during the burst
- Walk-ins and orders in the burst week against an ordinary week
- Enquiries that arrived before the festival and closed after it
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- Jewellers, silk shops and sweet houses whose year is decided by four or five dates
- Car and two-wheeler dealers buying the fortnight before Ayudha Puja
- Schools, colleges and coaching centres advertising into the February to April admission window
- Builders and property consultants timing a launch to the muhurta season
- A retailer who booked last year's Diwali advertisement in October and paid double for it
- Restaurants and banquet halls selling into the wedding season and the New Year night
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- Businesses whose demand is flat all year, where a burst buys attention in a week that was going to be ordinary anyway
- Anyone with three days left before the festival, because the print and mounting deadlines have already gone
- A shop without the stock, the staff or the offer ready, since the advertisement only brings people to a counter that cannot serve them
How it works
From your first message to the first report.
No open-ended retainer. Every step gives you something in writing.
First
Your brief
You tell us what you need in a few short steps: your business, what you want, where enquiries come from and how they are handled.
After the brief
A conversation and a written scope
We read it, then talk with whoever handles your enquiries. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come in writing, and nothing starts before you have read them.
Before work starts
Baseline recorded
The numbers this work is meant to move, such as enquiries, quotations, orders, visits or renewals, written down so every later report has an honest comparison.
After the baseline
The first fix goes live
The fix we agreed to start with is put in place and measured against the baseline, whether that is a reply, a follow-up, a page, a listing or the handover between marketing and sales.
As agreed
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.
At renewal
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.
How the work runs
- 1
Fix the selling window
We agree the exact days the money is made, which for most trades is shorter than the owner first says. A jeweller's Akshaya Tritiya is one day with a fortnight of run-up.
- 2
Work the deadlines backwards
Artwork, print, booking and payment dates are set from that window. The earliest of them falls a month or more before the festival itself.
- 3
Decide the offer first
Nothing is booked until you have settled what you are selling and at what price. An empty festive greeting is the advertisement people turn past.
- 4
Book and negotiate the burst
We coordinate the booking with the publication, station or media owner, with dates, position and package inclusions written on the release order.
- 5
Watch the week while it runs
Insertions and spots are checked against the schedule daily, because a missed date inside a seven-day campaign cannot be made up afterwards.
- 6
Count the week and keep the record
Walk-ins, calls and orders during the burst against an ordinary week, filed with the rate you paid so next year's plan starts from something real.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with your brief and a conversation.
Option 1
The conversation on its own
A call after you send your brief. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix that matters most, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
An ongoing programme
We run the work, report against the baseline, and you renew on the numbers. The term and the reporting are agreed in writing first.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How far ahead should we book a Diwali campaign?
Can you prove the festive advertisement brought people in?
We sell in three states. Should it be one campaign?
Is a one-week burst enough, or should we advertise all year?
What does a festive campaign cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Festive and seasonal advertising, written for your industry.
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Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.