Pongal, Sankranti and Lohri influencer campaigns: ten language-first ideas for January 2027

Pongal, Sankranti and Lohri influencer campaigns are really four campaigns run in parallel: a Tamil Pongal plan, a Telugu Sankranti plan, a Punjabi Lohri plan and a Gujarati Uttarayan plan, each with its own creators, language and food. In 2027 they fall on 14 to 17 January, ten weeks from now. This post is the January slice of our guide to influencer marketing in India, written for brands that sell sweets, kitchenware, clothing, winter products or travel across regions.

The temptation is a single "Happy Makar Sankranti" film for everyone. It fails, because the four audiences do not share a festival. The festival calendar for influencers lists the days together; this post separates them.

The dates for 2026 and 2027

In 2026, Makar Sankranti and Pongal both fell on Wednesday 14 January, per Drik Panchang. In 2027, the New Delhi listing on Drik Panchang reads as follows:

Office Holidays lists Sankranti and Pongal as regional holidays on 15 January. The Sun enters Makara at 9:14 pm on 14 January 2027, per Drik Panchang, which is why some calendars, such as Hindu Blog, list Lohri on 13 January and Sankranti on 14 January, with most rituals on the 15th. The calendar post gives the window as 13 to 15 January. Put a two-day window in every contract and confirm with the local community calendar.

Two clashes: JEE Main session 1 is tentatively on 20 to 24 and 28 January, per Careers360, and Republic Day follows ten days later on 26 January; see national-day campaigns.

What audiences do online

In our experience, the four festivals feel alike only from outside. Tamil homes cook the first pot of pongal on 15 January and decorate with kolam. Telugu homes celebrate Sankranti over three days, with Bhogi bonfires on the first. Punjabi audiences gather round a Lohri fire with peanuts, popcorn and sweets, with a "first Lohri" for newlyweds and newborns. Gujarati audiences take to the rooftops with kites, undhiyu and chikki. In Assam, Magh Bihu brings feasts and bonfires.

Across all four, people travel home, buy new clothes and gifts, and spend a long weekend with family. Creators go quiet on the morning of the main day, so schedule the big post for the day before.

Ten ideas, in the language of the festival

1. The first pot (Tamil). Tamil food creators film the pongal pot boiling over on the morning of 15 January. Suits rice, jaggery, ghee, cookware and induction hobs.
2. Kolam and muggu. Art creators draw a kolam or muggu with your colours or chalk, in a time-lapse. Cheap and visual.
3. New clothes for the festival. Fashion creators style veshti, pattu and half-sarees, or kurtas and winter wear, at set budgets; see fashion and apparel.
4. The bonfire night (Punjabi). Punjabi creators host a society or rooftop Lohri with snacks, winter wear and heaters. Keep Maghi's religious side out of the product frame.
5. Kites and rooftops (Gujarati). Gujarati creators film a family rooftop with undhiyu, chikki and kites. Shoot safely, below.
6. Til-gud, chikki and gajak boxes. Food and gifting creators open hampers by language; see our gifting and seeding service.
7. Farm to pot. A farm-visit film for rice, jaggery or sugarcane brands, with farmers paid for their time.
8. The journey home. Creators in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad film the trip back, with luggage, snacks and phone battery in the frame. Suits buses, trains, cabs and power banks.
9. The four-day stretch. In 2027, 14 to 17 January is a Thursday-to-Sunday run. Travel creators film short getaways; see travel and hospitality.
10. Winter skin and hair. Beauty creators run a winter routine tied to bonfires and cold mornings; see beauty and skincare.

Four cities, four plans

Add Hyderabad for Telugu Sankranti and Guwahati for Magh Bihu if your distribution reaches them. Onam uses the same language-first rule.

Briefing four languages without losing control

A single master brief with four local scripts is the cheapest way to run this, and the one that goes wrong most often. The structure that holds up:

• One claims sheet. What the product is made of, what the offer is, what the delivery date is. Translate it, and do not let creators paraphrase a claim on the fly.
• One idea per language. The pot for Tamil, the bonfire for Punjabi, the kite for Gujarati. Do not ask the Punjabi creator to film the Tamil idea.
• One reviewer per language. Someone on your team or ours who reads the script in the language, because an English-only reviewer cannot catch a joke that misfires.
• One shared label rule. The same disclosure label in every language, upfront and on the visual.
• One calendar. A table of which creator posts on which day, so that the Tamil and Telugu posts do not clash with the Punjabi one on 14 January.

Karnataka and Maharashtra also mark Sankranti, with til-based sweets and gifts. If your distribution reaches them, add Kannada and Marathi creators rather than reusing Hindi content.

What to measure

Count orders by creator code and by language, so you can see which cohort converted. Compare the 1 to 17 January window with a normal fortnight, because winter gifting and wedding season lift sales anyway. Watch saves on recipe and hamper posts, and link taps in the days before each festival. For travel and bus brands, count bookings by code. At the end, rank the four language cohorts by cost per order and keep the best two for Baisakhi, Tamil New Year and Vishu in April; see the festival calendar for those dates.

A ten-week timeline to 15 January 2027

Christmas and wedding season both compete for the same creators in December; see Christmas and New Year campaigns.

Budget notes

Use the ranges on our influencer rates guide: a nano Reel about ₹2,000 to ₹10,000, a micro Reel ₹8,000 to ₹80,000, a micro Story set ₹5,000 to ₹20,000 and a mid-tier Reel ₹50,000 to ₹3.5 lakh. A four-language plan has four briefs and four sets of approvals, so expect the management fee to sit at the top of the published 15 to 25 percent range, and watch revision rounds: one published guide lists ₹5,000 to ₹30,000 for each round beyond two.

Hamper logistics are the other hidden line. Sweets and ghee travel badly and need packing that survives a courier in December, so budget for it alongside the product. Usage rights add about 35 percent in our plans, and creator ad rights add 60 to 120 percent over an organic post in one published guide. Our influencer cost calculator helps you test the split.

Sensitivities and things to avoid

• Jallikattu and animal traditions. They are legally and politically charged. Do not use them as props or stunts.
• Kite safety. Glass-coated or synthetic string injures people and birds. Show cotton string only, shoot from safe terraces and keep children away from edges.
• Bonfires. Get society permission, keep a bucket of water near, and never burn plastic or rubbish. North India's January air is poor.
• Maghi. It is a religious observance for Sikhs. Keep products out of gurdwara and religious imagery.
• Language. Brief in Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati or Assamese, and do not translate a national script. Do not call Pongal the South Indian Diwali.
• Farmers. Do not use farm imagery as decoration, and pay farmers who appear.
• Food. Offerings in Pongal content are vegetarian. Do not put non-vegetarian dishes in the pot.

Disclosure, labels and tax

A hamper, a fee or a code is a material connection under the ASCI influencer guidelines, even if unsolicited, so the creator needs a label such as Free gift, Collaboration or Ad. The label may be in English or in the language of the ad, as long as an average consumer can understand it. Put it on the visual for a Story, keep it on screen for at least 3 seconds in a video of 15 seconds or less, and announce it at the start and end of a live Lohri stream. The brand shares responsibility for claims, so "pure ghee" or "organic jaggery" needs proof.

For tax, gifts a creator keeps are a benefit: above ₹20,000 per creator in a financial year, 10 percent TDS under section 194R can apply, with exemptions for some small individual creators. See TDS 194R and GST on influencer payments and the ASCI guidelines explained. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Next steps

Pair this with the festival calendar and our regional influencer service. For a plan with named creators in four languages and a cost estimate within 48 hours, send us a brief.