Promotion of Sustainability and Sustainable Development by the Indian Businesses in their Festival Marketing

Abstract

Festival Marketing is the strategy used by the businesses during festivals to attract the customers. They use a variety of tactics under this, one of them is Sustainability. The companies claim that they fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals through Festival marketing. When a business follows sustainability during the festivals, it follows all the 5 Cs of sustainability- Clean, Culture, Community, Corporate Governance, and Care. The purpose of the study is to check if the claims made by the companies are true or they are making false claims just to increase their sales. This study is based on more than 100 newspaper articles published online on Economic Times, Times of India, Financial Express, Business Standard, ANI etc. between year 2019 to 2025. The study follows a process-oriented approach to know how companies are making their festival marketing a success by promoting sustainability and sustainable development. Thematic Data Analysis has been used. The research findings highlight four themes related to the study- Artefacts, Targeted Audience, Behavioural Pattern, and the Companies. These themes include- Subversion of the Production Techniques by the businesses, adopting proactive approach of festive marketing, and incorporating behaviour change through education and awareness by the companies and the government. The findings of the study have theoretical implications around sustainability, including the SDGs and how festival marketing when combined with sustainability benefits both the businesses and the consumers. This manuscript presents original research that offers novel insights into how Festival Marketing can promote sustainability and fulfil sustainable development goals.