ITC Foods takes festival marketing local with Puri, Durga Puja activations

ITC Foods is building regional cultural narratives into festive marketing for Aashirvaad, YiPPee and Bingo Tedhe Medhe, following Rath Yatra activations in Puri and ahead of planned Durga Puja campaigns.

— Source publishedSun, 6 Sept, 2026, 12:32 IST·First seen Sun, 6 Sept, 2026, 12:40 IST·Source Mint

What happened

ITC Foods is intensifying regional-festival marketing, using Aashirvaad and YiPPee activations at Puri Rath Yatra and planning Durga Puja campaigns. The company

Key facts

  • 13 traditional Odia dishes using YiPPee noodles
  • 51 Rath Yatra prasad dishes made with noodles two years earlier
  • Bara Masare Tera Parba: 12 months, 13 festivals

Why this matters

ITC Foods’ strategy raises the value of partnerships with regional event platforms, local food creators, cultural institutions and last-mile activation agencies that can provide credible access to festival communities.

What to watch

  • Evidence of sales or distribution gains in Odisha following Rath Yatra activations.
  • Scale, creative format and retail linkage of the planned Durga Puja campaign in West Bengal.
  • Festival-specific SKUs, packaging, promotions or e-commerce bundles from ITC Foods.
  • Competitor launches or increased regional-language spending by Nestle, PepsiCo, Haldiram's, Bikaji and local snack brands.
  • Expansion of ITC's activation model into additional regional festivals and tier-2/tier-3 cities.
  • Build a repeatable regional-festival calendar linking Aashirvaad, YiPPee and Bingo Tedhe Medhe to high-footfall local occasions.
  • Convert activations into retail execution through festival bundles, limited-edition packs, sampling near event routes and kirana-level display incentives.
  • Use local creators, chefs, artisans and community organizations to increase authenticity and reduce the perception of generic event sponsorship.
  • Measure city-level incremental sales, household penetration, repeat purchase and retailer reorder rates against matched control markets.
  • Develop product and communication variants aligned with regional tastes, languages and sharing occasions.