Our score: 7/10 · Asian Paints, “Asian Paints turns Diwali preparations into a celebration”
Verdict: A warm and strategically sound festive musical that reframes prep as celebration but lacks a sharp proprietary edge.
What works
- Names the pre-Diwali prep phase, where paint decisions actually happen
- Musical format turns chaotic preparation tasks into celebration
- Brand integration sits naturally inside cleaning, decorating and painting
What misses
- Source shows no distinct casting, plot or visual device beyond the musical
- Familiar Diwali warmth risks blending into a crowded category
The lesson: Name the build-up ritual you want to own, then give it a distinctive memory hook beyond the category's default warmth.
The ad
Asian Paints has launched ‘Taiyyari Shuru, Tyohaar Shuru’, a Diwali campaign created by Ogilvy. The source does not name a director or spell out the media plan. The musical ad film brings together the cleaning, decorating and painting routines that lead up to Diwali, showing families, friends and relatives preparing their homes. Asian Paints is placed inside that preparation as the brand that gives the home a fresh festive look. Asian Paints CEO and managing director Amit Syngle says the festive emotion begins building before the official celebrations start.
What works
The strategic reframe is the strongest part. Diwali advertising usually treats preparation as a quick montage before the main event; here the preparation is the main event. By naming the taiyyari, Asian Paints claims the moment when paint and makeover decisions actually happen.
The musical treatment does real work. Ogilvy group chief creative officer Sukesh Nayak describes the festive season as chaotic, and the campaign gives that chaos a rhythm. An upbeat tune turns shared tasks into celebration rather than labour. The brand role is functional: painting sits naturally alongside cleaning and decorating as part of a family ritual.
What misses
The source gives no sharp evidence of differentiation. Warm family togetherness, festive home makeovers and Diwali music are crowded territory in Indian advertising. Nayak calls the film “completely familiar”, and that familiarity is double-edged.
The campaign description also does not point to a distinct casting choice, narrative turn or visual device beyond the musical. That leaves the film feeling like a polished category player rather than a piece that resets the Diwali paint ad.
The verdict
Score: 7/10. Taiyyari Shuru, Tyohaar Shuru is a strategically sound festive musical: it moves the brand into the build-up phase and makes the product useful. But its execution appears to stay safely inside a familiar template, and the source offers no hook strong enough to guarantee it will be remembered beyond the season.
The lesson
Rituals that already exist can become brand territory if you name the build-up and give it a distinctive rhythm. The risk is that warmth without a proprietary memory hook becomes background music.
Watch the original: Asian Paints on YouTube. Shown for review; the rights stay with the brand.
Source: Afaqs!
