For years, India’s biggest consumer companies have spent the festive season running Diwali and Dussehra specials, along with local campaigns around regional festivals across the country.
But as regional festivals gain national interest and recognition, companies are getting more serious about how they relate to the motifs and cultural codes of these events.
This year, ITC Foods ran its most intensive marketing campaign yet at Puri’s Jagannath Yatra in Odisha. Shuvadip Banerjee, chief marketing officer of , speaks to Mint about the changing nature of festive pride and how are leaning into regional festivals with greater authenticity.
For example, in previous years, we only showcased the range of Aashirvaad products and their USPs. This year, we have used the brand to celebrate the work of the people who make the rath, part of the Vishwakarma Maharana community, and the precision, high quality, and history of their work. The campaign was called Gunatmaka Paramparaa, or tradition of quality.
Now when we do such a campaign, we think about how our brands also stand for these codes. We work with farmers, have one of the largest agricultural businesses, and give you the best of products. We recognise these codes and tell them through these campaigns.
Food brands have increasingly been using festivals to create experiences around their products. How did you approach it this year?
The central question for doing any big campaign is that if my brand were not there, would that engagement be equally interesting for someone? A lot of money spent on media can get you reach, but when you experience the brand in a relevant context, you retain much more about the brand.
For example, with noodles. We could have created a stall, made hot noodles and sold it. But we thought, after offering prayers and being in the arena, where do people go? To the beach to get entertained. Can I engage with these people better there?
We took the theme of the Odia phrase Bara Masare Tera Parba [translated: 12 months, 13 festivals] to create 13 traditional Odia dishes but with Yippee noodles. For example, we did a traditional stuffed parwal but with noodles.
We had done this food integration theme two years ago too – 51 dishes of the traditional Rath Yatra prasad made with noodles. But the dishes were not integrated with traditional Odia flavours.
Are there other ways in which you’re incorporating food into region-specific cultural codes during festivals?
Yes. During this year’s Durga Puja, we are thinking about a number of more intensive campaigns.
For example, when you exit a pujo pandal, can we make an alley where you can sample pan-Asian noodles in the street style of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia? We are planning this campaign for noodles. Kolkata also has a long history of Chinese food and a very old Chinese origin community.
We are also working on a campaign for Bingo Tedhe Medhe [extruded snack brand] with Sukumar Ray’s Abol Tabol, the iconic collection of Bengali rhymes for children, celebrating “tedhapan” of life. It is all about fun, and fun is one of the pillars of the Bingo brand.
How have regional festivals changed over time? There was a time when national brands used regional campaigns mainly for local relevance. Is that changing?
There is a diffusion of people from one state to multiple states. Look at the size of the Bengali community in Bengaluru for example. There is a diffusion of people across the country, especially in the bigger cities due to the job opportunities there. Every large city has become more cosmopolitan.
As people travel and become more cosmopolitan and stay there for work and education, they are no longer as rooted in their identity in everyday life. At best, one may wear their cultural outfit at a cultural event.
A couple of years ago, we tried to see if national news coverage was interested in the story of the Puri Rath Yatra. We were happily, pleasantly surprised that people outside, not just by migrants from the state, were consuming that content. People want to know the legends associated with the festival, and details of the Sri Jagannath Puri Temple.
So culture codes are spreading for different reasons. And the curiosity to understand [each other’s festivals] has grown by leaps and bounds. As a brand, we are not just in Dura Puja in Kolkata but across West Bengal. We are at a Puri Rath Yatra, but a Bali Yatra [or Bali Jatra] in Odisha is equally important. We are seen in Chhath Puja in Bihar, Bihu in Assam, and Onam in Kerala.