Doms’ festive ad gives children their own dreams

The new film

Doms has unveiled a festive campaign built around a young girl named Tara and a family celebration where every relative seems to have already decided her future. The gifts arrive as ready-made career paths—business, art, architecture—until her brother hands her something that leaves the choice open. Only then does Tara voice what she wants: to travel the world. Created with Havas Creative India, the film closes on the Hindi tagline, “Iss tyohaar, unka kal mat chuniye. Unhein har kal ke liye tayyaar kijiye.” The rough translation: this festive season, do not choose their tomorrow; prepare them for every tomorrow.

The levers it pulls

The film works less by showing a product and more by staging a small behavioural shift.

• Self-determination theory. People, including children, engage more fully when they feel autonomous. Tara stays quiet while relatives choose for her; she claims her ambition once her brother gives her the freedom to decide.
• Default effect. Each grown-up gift acts as a default future. The brother’s gift removes the preselected path, changing the frame from “we know your future” to “you know your future.”
• Identity-based appeal. Doms positions the gifting range not as paper and pens but as a signal of trust in a child’s emerging identity. The product becomes preparation for a dream rather than a school tool.

The bet the brand is making

Doms is wagering that festive stationery can carry emotional weight. Managing director Santosh Raveshia frames it as more than a product push: “At Doms, we believe every ambition needs preparation.” The film makes the gifting range the proof of that belief.

The strategic bet is that parents will choose a brand that respects their child’s autonomy over one that merely fills a pencil case. It trades a functional demo for a relational moment, aiming to turn a commodity category into a small act of encouragement. Anupama Ramaswamy of Havas Creative India puts the insight plainly: “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.”

What to borrow for your next campaign

First, find the moment the product hands agency back to the user. Doms doesn’t linger on pens; it lingers on the instant Tara is allowed to choose for herself.

Second, name a familiar tension. Parental expectation versus a child’s dream is instantly recognisable, so the brand doesn’t need to explain the stakes.

Third, make the promise an instruction. The tagline tells parents what to stop doing and what to do instead, which makes the brand useful rather than just warm.

The wider lesson is simple: in a commodity category, an emotional position about autonomy can be more distinctive than a faster feature.

Watch the original: Doms on YouTube

Source: ETBrandEquity.com