Coca-Cola India is leveraging Kolkata’s Durga Puja festivities to revive the city’s traditional adda culture through ‘LaalMejhe’, a cultural initiative designed to recreate neighbourhood gathering spaces and encourage community engagement.
Inspired by the courtyards, verandas and red oxide floors that historically hosted informal conversations, the campaign aims to reconnect people with Kolkata’s cultural heritage as traditional social spaces become less accessible amid urban development. The initiative seeks to complement pandal hopping, food and other festive activities by creating dedicated spaces for friends, families and acquaintances to gather.
Karthik Subramanian, senior director of marketing at Coca-Cola TM India and Southwest Asia, said the campaign was intended to preserve the tradition of adda and encourage people to make time for conversations and community connections despite increasingly busy lifestyles.
Sukesh Nayak, group chief creative officer at Ogilvy India, highlighted the historical significance of red oxide floors as gathering places for discussions on politics, football, relationships and everyday life.
As part of the initiative, Coca-Cola has launched a dedicated microsite, https://www.coke2home.com/lal-mejhe/, through which people can reserve preferred locations and timings for group gatherings.
The campaign forms part of Coca-Cola’s Durga Puja engagement, linking its brand presence with Kolkata’s cultural traditions and the festive season. The company operates in India through its owned bottling operations and franchise bottling partners, with a distribution network spanning more than six million retail outlets across the country.
