This Onam, Maitri Advertising Works has gone all in on the season, creating a portfolio that spans the full spectrum of culture, entertainment and celebration.
As Maitri enters its 30th year, the agency has brought together a team of around 125 people working across Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Maldives and Seychelles, with an increasingly integrated creative and production capability. This Onam alone, its creative team has produced more than 70 television commercials, alongside a wide range of print, outdoor, digital and social media campaigns.
From a larger-than-life mass entertainer for MYG to celebrating Padma Shri recipients shaping the idea of Kerala for Mathrubhumi, from cinema and pop culture to AI, technology, retail and large-scale public experiences, Maitri’s Onam work brings together an unusually wide range of brands, formats and creative territories.
With campaigns for myG, Mathrubhumi, Kerala Tourism, Asianet, Amul, Brahmins Foods, AVT Premium Tea, Mathrubhumi Books, Kerala Vision, Kalyan Silks and many more, the agency has built an Onam portfolio that moves effortlessly from mass to class, while keeping the festival at its centre.
The season has also seen Maitri work with some of the biggest names in Malayalam cinema, including Mohanlal, Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Lal Jr, Sreenath Bhasi, Kunjan, Dhruvan, Surjith, Jibin Gopibath, Thirumalai and John Kaippally, bringing together established stars and contemporary talent across its various campaigns and productions.
“We wanted to embrace the scale of Onam rather than limit ourselves to the typical advertising language of the season. The ambition was to own the season creatively, across categories, formats and audiences,” says Raju Menon, Managing Director, Maitri Advertising Works.
“The opportunity with Onam is enormous because it allows us to move between very different creative worlds. One moment you are creating something as big and entertaining as a mass film, and the next you are talking about books, heritage or the people shaping Kerala’s future. That range is what makes this season creatively exciting,” says Venugopal R Nair, Chief Ideation Director, Maitri Advertising Works.
MAKING ‘MASS’ MASSIVE
For MYG, the challenge was to make the “mass” in its Onam positioning genuinely feel massive.
Maitri moved away from the conventional commercial format and treated the film like a larger-than-life masala movie, packed with huge crowds, colour, dance, music and high-energy moments.
The result was designed to make the brand’s Onam presence feel less like an advertisement and more like a full-blown festive spectacle.
REFRESHING ONAM’S LOOK AND FEEL
For Mathrubhumi, Maitri stepped away from the familiar visual language of Pulikali and Pookalam to ask a different question:
What has Kerala built with the values it has celebrated for generations?
Through Manasil Ennum Maveli, the campaign looks at how the Kerala imagined in Maveli Nadu Vaneedum Kaalam has evolved across generations. The campaign features Padma Shri Meenakshi Amma, Padma Shri Kolakil Devaki Amma, Padma Shri Lakshmikutty, and technology innovators Devan and Devika Chandrashekhar, connecting Kerala’s cultural heritage with its present and its future.
Maitri also created Manathoru Maveli for Mathrubhumi, an effort to take the true story and meaning of Onam to younger audiences and help them connect with the festival beyond its familiar symbols and celebrations.
“When you look at the work together, what stands out is how differently each brand has interpreted Onam. There is no single visual or cultural shorthand holding the work together. Each brand has found its own entry point into the season,” says Jayakumar N, CEO, Maitri Advertising Works.
OG ONAM
For Asianet, the biggest highlight of Onam is the movies releasing during the festival.
Maitri built OG Onam around the idea of a cinematic multiverse, bringing together characters and worlds from the season’s biggest releases. By combining pop-culture references with the energy of Onam entertainment, the campaign created a crossover designed to resonate with audiences beyond the traditional festive advertising format.
MAKING ONAM A SEASON OF READING
For Mathrubhumi Books, Maitri explored a quieter but equally important side of the festival.
Built around “Aaghoshaaravam. Vaayanaavesham,” the campaign set out to make Onam a season of reading as well as celebration.
Following the publication of renowned actor Indrans’ autobiography, Maitri created a special Onam video featuring him, alongside an AI-assisted digital Onam song and a series of engaging social media posts.
The campaign also extended into the physical world, with Mathrubhumi Book Stalls receiving an Onam-themed visual identity, bringing the campaign into spaces where people could discover books as part of their festive experience.
SHAPING KERALA’S BIGGEST VISION
For Kerala Vision, Maitri’s Onam communication extended beyond a festive offer. The agency created advertising for the brand’s Onam offer, while also developing a three-part brand campaign that reinforced Kerala Vision’s larger brand proposition. Together, the campaigns gave the brand a presence across both festive and brand-led communication.
WHEN AI MEETS ONAM NOSTALGIA
For AVT Premium Tea, Maitri explored AI as a new creative medium while holding on to one of the most familiar emotions of Onam: home.
Nostalgia: The AI Edition transformed a story originally imagined for a live-action shoot into an experimental AI film, created with the help of a Dubai-based visual artist.
A new medium carried a familiar emotion: family, conversations and the warmth of a cup of tea.
The campaign then moved beyond the screen, with AVT Premium Tea becoming part of the Athachamayam festivities in Thrippunithura through Pulikali stilt walkers, bringing colour, energy and a memorable brand presence to the streets.
AI has also become an increasingly important part of Maitri’s creative and production process, with the agency using the technology extensively across films, music, digital content and visual development while continuing to build its in-house production capabilities.
FROM SAMBAR TO SONGS
For Brahmins Foods, Maitri put music at the centre of its Onam communication.
Brahmins Sambar Hits was an AI-composed musical property featuring four original songs released across major music platforms, each accompanied by a standalone lyrical video.
The campaign then invited audiences to submit their own lyrics. Those contributions were used to create and release a fifth, community-created song, turning the finale into an audience-authored piece of music.
For the Uralakk Upperi Offer, meanwhile, a straightforward offer became an entertainment-led Onam idea. Buy two 100g packs of Brahmins Sambar Powder and get ₹50 worth of Kerala salted banana chips free.
Maitri brought back Sambar Samba, played by actor Krishna Shankar, from the earlier Brahmins Sambar campaign. Set against an Onam sadya, the idea used the connection between urula, sambar and upperi to turn a functional offer into a memorable festive moment.
FROM CGI TO THE STREETS
For Amul, Maitri explored CGI and digital-first storytelling through Onam Thookkan and a series of digital reels.
KALYAN SILKS: OWNING THE FESTIVE WARDROBE
For Kalyan Silks, a front-runner in Kerala’s textile segment, Maitri’s Onam work extends into the heart of the festive shopping season.
With the brand opening new showrooms and strengthening its retail presence, the agency has worked across communication and creative formats to make Kalyan Silks part of the way Kerala dresses and celebrates during Onam.
BEYOND CAMPAIGNS, INTO EXPERIENCES
Maitri’s Onam presence also extends beyond advertising into events and public experiences, with the agency’s events team handling celebrations of different scales across the season.
From large public gatherings to more focused brand experiences, the team has been working across formats to bring Onam ideas to life on the ground.
For Kerala Tourism, Ini Ennum Pookkalam is set to return following the resounding success of last year’s annual Onam event, extending the celebration into the public sphere once again.
“Events bring a different kind of energy to the season because the work has to come alive in real spaces and in real time. This Onam, our events team has been working across celebrations of different scales, making sure each experience feels relevant to the brand while still feeling unmistakably Onam,”says says Paul Antony, Vice President & Branch Head, Maitri Advertising Works.
30 YEARS OF CREATING WHAT’S NEXT
Thirty years into its journey, Maitri continues to expand what an advertising agency can do, from traditional campaigns to in-house production, AI-led content, entertainment properties, digital experiences and large-scale events.
From mass entertainment to literature.
From cinema to heritage.
From AI to live experiences.
From retail to technology.
From nostalgia to the future.
Across all of it, Maitri has made the best of the season.
See Maitri’s work here: https://www.instagram.com/maitriworks?igsi=dDR0ZzZtMzVnNm5r
Or check out: www.maitri.com