Campaign Crash Course: How to market to consumers during Ramadan

Welcome back to Campaign Asia-Pacific's Crash Course learning series, in which you will learn valuable lessons and practical business tips on trending and essential topics from industry experts in just five minutes. Think of it as a mini mini MBA, if you will.

Lessons will cover the breadth of the marcomms industry, including technology, creative, media, strategy, leadership, diversity and inclusion and more. We'll start off by introducing you to larger topics and delve deeper into specific elements in the future. This series is designed to be useful to C-suite executives as well as those just starting out in their careers.

This 26th lesson in the Crash Course series falls in the holy month of Ramadan. The month-long religious observation, which began this week, is the biggest event in the Indonesian calendar for brands. With research showing that the majority of Indonesians plan to shop only during the holy month as opposed to throughout the year, it's becoming an even more fertile ground for ecommerce, online deliveries and e-payment providers. Brands looking to stand out and thoughtfully align with the religious month need to consider the key tenets of Ramadan, timing of Sahur, and how consumer behaviour has been altered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this lesson you will learn:

• What tone brands should strike as the pandemic continues to alter Ramadan celebrations.
• How consumers are expected to shop, eat and spend their time during Ramadan 2021.
• Key considerations including the timing of Sahur.
• How brands can win consumer confidence in five key categories: telecommunications, retail, fashion, ecommerce and fintech.

Your teacher

Anish Daryani is the founder and president director of M&C Saatchi Indonesia. Daryani co-founded the Jakarta-based agency in 2018 and has nurtured it into one of the most successful agencies under the M&C Saatchi network in Asia-Pacific, bringing in its biggest account of the year in 2020 with Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism. It ranked 2nd on R3’s Indonesia New Business League for 2020, and bagged four Agency of the Year awards, including gold for creative and independent. Daryani was named Southeast Asia Agency Head of the Year in the 2020 awards.

Prior to co-founding M&C Saatchi Indonesia, Daryani was the CEO of brand marketing agency Phibious Indonesia and held senior roles at Lowe and Partners, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy and Rediffusion Y&R across Vietnam, Africa and India. He was awarded in Campaign Asia's 40 Under 40 2016.

The quiz

After you watch the above video, test your knowledge of Ramadan consumer trends with this quiz: