DOMS festive film: why the best gift is the freedom to dream

Festive advertising in India tends to lean on togetherness, food and tradition. DOMS Industries and Havas Creative India have instead built a festive film around a sharper, more uncomfortable insight: the way a well-meaning gift can quietly decide a child’s future.

01 · The film

The story centres on Tara, a young girl at a family gathering. One by one, relatives hand her DOMS gifts, each one representing a future they have imagined for her—a businesswoman, an artist, an architect. The turning point is Tara’s brother. Asked what he wants her to become, he doesn’t offer another career path. He gives her a gift that leaves the choice to her. Tara then shares her own dream: travelling the world.

The film closes on a line delivered in Hindi: “Iss tyohaar, unka kal mat chuniye. Unhein har kal ke liye tayyaar kijiye.” In English: this festive season, do not choose their tomorrow—prepare them for every tomorrow.

02 · Why the idea lands

It would have been easy to make a product-led festive ad. Instead, the film stages a familiar disagreement: parental guidance versus a child’s freedom to dream. Relatives are not villains; they are affectionate, generous and slightly presumptuous. That makes the corrective feel warm rather than preachy.

For DOMS, this is a smart strategic move. The brand’s gifting range is not sold as an instrument of ambition, but as preparation for a child’s own choices. Santosh Raveshia, managing director of DOMS Industries, said the hope is that gifts bring smiles, spark imagination and inspire children to dream big. Anupama Ramaswamy, managing director and chief creative officer at Havas Creative India, put the idea simply: “The greatest gift we can give a child isn’t a future we’ve imagined for them, but the freedom to imagine one for themselves.”

03 · What brand leaders can do

This is not just a heartwarming story; it is a usable approach for any brand selling to families during a cultural moment.

• Start with the unspoken tension. Expectations versus autonomy is felt in every Indian household.
• Let the brand stand for preparation. The product does not promise a specific career; it enables whatever path the child chooses.
• Close with a behavioural instruction. The final line tells parents what to do differently, which makes the message actionable.

Saumitra Prasad, chief marketing officer at DOMS Industries, said the campaign celebrates every child’s freedom to dream and choose their own future. That is the strategic heart: the brand becomes the enabler of agency, not the author of ambition.

04 · The marketing take

Festive gifting is crowded with products. DOMS wins attention by arguing for the recipient’s freedom, not the gift’s features. The product is the proof of the idea—a set of tools that prepares a child for every tomorrow. It gives parents a way to feel generous without being controlling, and gives the brand a positioning that can stretch well beyond one season.

Source: Afaqs!

Mad About Marketing Desk The strategists and writers at Mad About Marketing, writing up what we see in the work every week.