Today we launched the Festive Season In-App Campaign Playbook, a free guide to turning the busiest shopping week of the year into engagement that lasts well past Bhai Dooj.

Dhanteras is this Friday. Between now and Bhai Dooj, more people will open shopping, travel, fintech and grocery apps than at any other point in the year. Redseer (via PTI, 20 October 2026) forecasts India’s online festive sales at US$15–16 billion this year, about 25% higher than last year.

That traffic will arrive whatever you do. What you get from it depends on what users find once they’re inside.

So we put everything we know about festive in-app campaigns into one playbook, and it’s free from today.

An in-app campaign is any message, offer or interactive moment shown to users while they’re already in your app, like a spin wheel, a bottom sheet, a product carousel or a guided tour. During Diwali it carries extra weight, because users show up ready to buy and short on patience.

The Google & YouTube Festive Playbook 2026 (Ipsos survey, n=2,450) found that 70% of festive shoppers made a spontaneous purchase last season. A well-timed prompt inside the app can decide a purchase that was never planned.

The playbook starts with the shopper’s side. Someone opening your app this week is quietly asking “Where do I start?” and “Where are the festive offers?” If the answer takes more than a few taps, they go and compare elsewhere.

And they do compare. The same Google study found 9 in 10 festive shoppers researched before buying.

The heart of the playbook is eight plays, each tied to a stage of the festive journey from first inspiration to repeat purchase. Here are four:

Loyalty might be the play that matters most once the lights come down. MediaNews4U (8 October 2026, Ipsos survey) reports that 8 in 10 festive shoppers are open to trying new retailers, so this season’s first-timers can become your regulars or someone else’s.

The other four plays cover festive offers, discovery, shopper insights and in-app video.

Every play runs on the same five-part framework of Goal, Audience, Experience, Timing and Measurement. A five-step launch checklist then takes you from planning to retention, so you can go live in phases and adjust offers mid-week as results come in.

Each play in the full playbook comes with three screen concepts designed around real apps. That’s 24 designs across 13 industries, from a Snapdeal Dhanteras countdown and an OYO Diwali spin wheel to a Tata 1mg festive combo and a Dhan Muhurat Trading watchlist, each paired with the stat that explains why it works.

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Everything runs in your browser, so there’s no signup, nothing gets uploaded, and it keeps working offline once the page has loaded. Keep it handy for CSS, design handoffs, or matching your festive campaign colors to your brand palette before Friday.

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