Diwali is just around the corner and from a commercial standpoint, it’s one of the busiest times of year for brands and retailers in India.
Most companies release special Diwali advertising campaigns and centre sales and promotions around the Festival of Lights. But marketing usually targets the Indian sub-continent itself and even mutli-national brands tend to remain region specific.
But Coca-Cola Canada’s new commercial celebrating Diwali seems to be changing that. It is the brands first Diwali campaign targeting a market outside of India, created specifically for the South Asian community in Canada.
The advertisement, uploaded to the Coca-Cola Canada Facebook page with the caption “What Makes Diwali in Canada a #HappyDiwali?” is available so far in Hindi and Punjabi.
With diyas, rangolis, laddoos and other goodies, it invokes some warm and festive Diwali imagery. The narrative and jingle speak to being away from home and family mixed in with familiar refrains of long distance calls with relatives.
Photo Credit: Screen grab from video via Coca-Cola Canada Official Facebook page
Coca-Cola regularly runs festival and community specific advertising in different countries, like its Ramadan specific campaign that ran in Indonesia last year or the Chinese New Year advertisements from earlier this year. But this is arguably the first time the food and beverage giant has specifically targeted a diaspora community.
In fact, according to the Globe and Mail, an increasing number and wider range of companies in Canada are taking multicultural marketing to mainstream levels. With one in five people in Canada born elsewhere (according to Statscan's 2011 National Household survey), big brands including companies like Clorox Canada, Kruger and Jergens Canada have been allotting more revenue to community or language-specific advertising.
And with Canada being home to one of the largest South Asian populations outside of the home countries, there’s no denying that Coca-Cola’s Diwali campaign is a very smart marketing strategy, with the added benefit of positioning the company as culturally aware and sensitive.
Watch the Hindi version of the ad:
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What makes Diwali in Canada a #HappyDiwali?
Posted by Coca-Cola on Thursday, November 5, 2015
and the Punjabi version and weigh in with your thoughts.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
What makes Diwali in Canada a #HappyDiwali?
Posted by Coca-Cola on Thursday, November 5, 2015
Main Image Photo Credit: Screen grab from video via Coca-Cola Facebook Page
Advertisement, Canada, Coca Cola, Coke, Commercial, Diaspora, Diwali, Festival Of Lights, Happy Diwali, South Asian

Dilshad Burman
Author
Dilshad Burman is an award winning TV host and Canadian media personality. Born in Mumbai, India, she was surrounded by its creative energy and grew up with a passion for music, film and television. While completing her Bachelor of Arts in English literature from The University of Mumbai, she i...
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