HOCCO Ice Cream has entered the East Indian market with a Kolkata launch built around Payesh ice cream, a modern format of the traditional Bengali dessert. The launch is timed to Durga Puja and anchored by the campaign ‘Pujo Jome Galo HOCCO’r Shathe’, created and executed by Havas Creative India.
The product is the campaign
Most festive campaigns start with a message. This one started with a stock-keeping unit. Havas Creative India came up with the Payesh flavour after identifying an opportunity to give HOCCO a culturally familiar entry into the eastern market. Anupama Ramaswamy, Managing Director & Chief Creative Officer, Havas Creative India, said payesh was ‘the first thing to run out at the pandal’ during her Kolkata childhood—a memory that shaped the recommendation and the campaign platform.
The brand then built the campaign around the Bengali word ‘jome’, which can mean freezing or setting and also a moment that comes alive. That double meaning lets HOCCO speak to both the product category and the festival experience.
Where the campaign shows up
The activation plan is built for pandal-hopping audiences. At Ballygunge Cultural Association (BCA), one of Kolkata’s prominent Durga Puja destinations, HOCCO will run a Chill Zone and a branded HOCCO Toto. Visitors can pause between pandals and try the new Payesh flavour. Music extends the idea: Havas Creative India wrote an original Pujo song around the campaign proposition, Bengali band T.R.A.P. composed and created the music, and an Instagram music video will carry the campaign on social media. T.R.A.P. is scheduled to perform the song live at BCA on Nabami.
- Product: Payesh ice cream, a regional dessert turned into packaged ice cream.
- Campaign: ‘Pujo Jome Galo HOCCO’r Shathe’, rooted in a Bengali word with a dual meaning.
- Experience: HOCCO Chill Zone and branded Toto at Ballygunge Cultural Association.
- Music: An original Pujo song by T.R.A.P., with an Instagram video and a Nabami live show.
A framework for regional entry
HOCCO’s approach follows a clear sequence: cultural insight first, then product, then platform, then experience. That is the reverse of a typical national launch, where a media plan often leads and the product remains unchanged. For marketers entering a new regional market, the lesson is to localise the offer, not just the language of the ad. A familiar dessert like payesh gives consumers an immediate reason to try the brand during a high-emotion festival window.
Roli Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, HOCCO, called the East India launch ‘a significant milestone’ and said the ambition is bigger than becoming ‘just another ice cream company’. The goal, she said, is to connect with people, become part of their culture and find a place in everyday lives and special moments.
That ambition shows up in the agency’s end-to-end role. Havas Creative India handled the Payesh concept, cultural insight, positioning and execution across product, music, social media and on-ground experiences—an unusual scope that turns the agency into a product and culture partner, not only a communications vendor.
What to watch
For HOCCO, the festival window is a test of whether a regional flavour can drive trial and brand recall beyond the activation. For the industry, it is a useful case of festive marketing that begins with consumer memory and a product decision. The next signal will be whether HOCCO extends the Payesh formula to other East India festivals or makes it a permanent regional fixture.
Source: MediaNews4U
