Case Study: How Bingo! Tedhe Medhe used a viral reel and memes to capture youth culture online

The Indian snacking market is rapidly evolving, driven by changing tastes, regional flavours, and digital engagement. Bingo! Tedhe Medhe, ITC’s playful snack brand, tapped into this shift by turning a viral Instagram reel into a nationwide cultural moment. Through its #SabkaJawaabTedheMedhe campaign, the brand leveraged music, dance, memes, and creator collaborations to spark widespread participation, driving both engagement and cultural relevance among India’s youth.

Category Introduction

The Indian snacking industry is witnessing rapid growth, driven by evolving consumer palates, regional flavour preferences, and experiential brand engagements, valued at over Rs 55000 crore. As brands strive to create differentiation, leveraging large-scale cultural events has emerged as a game-changing strategy.

Brand Introduction 

Bingo! Tedhe Medhe, a snack brand from ITC, known for bold flavours and fun positioning, has built connections with its target audience. Rooted in the ‘Son of the Soil’ ethos, the brand aims to integrate regional flavours to stay ahead in the competitive snacking market. On social media, Bingo! taps into trending conversations, building cultural relevance and aims to deepen its connection with its audience.

Summary

Celebrating the spontaneity and humour that define internet culture, the brand transformed a viral reel into a nationwide cultural wave with its #SabkaJawaabTedheMedhe campaign. It was sparked by a light-hearted Instagram reel from creator Deepankar Koshta, whose now-iconic line 'Tedhe Medhe bhi acche lagte hain' struck a chord with millions online.

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A post shared by DEEPANKAR MAXX (@deepankarmaxx)

Recognising the organic momentum, the brand responded with agility and creativity, partnering with music producer Anshuman Sharma to turn the catchy phrase into a snack anthem, and bringing in Parveen Sharma to choreograph a meme-worthy dance that invited mass participation.

By combining cultural relevance, humour, and creator-powered storytelling, the campaign resonated with audiences, turning one spontaneous moment into Bingo!’s most shared content ever and reaffirming the brand’s place at the heart of India’s digital conversations.

Objective

The brand aimed to spark a cultural movement rooted in organic consumer love by amplifying a naturally viral moment and turning it into a platform for widespread engagement, relatability, and shared joy.

Brief

The brief was to create a cultural movement and spark organic conversations around the brand by leveraging relevant cultural pillars: Music (through a remix anthem), Dance (via Praveen Sharma’s viral choreography), and meme-style content to build high recall and audience engagement in a fun, relatable way.

Creative Idea 

The campaign set out to capture the unpredictable, quirky spirit of everyday life that lives at the heart of internet culture. It started with a spontaneous reel that struck a relatable chord, and the brand saw an opportunity to turn that moment into something bigger.

With its bold, twisted flavours and playful personality, the brand brought that same offbeat, Tedha charm to every scroll, share, and story across social media. Through a remix anthem, meme-worthy dance moves, and creator-fuelled content, the campaign celebrated Bingo!’s deep-rooted connection to youth culture, while reinforcing its place as the go-to snack for life’s most unpredictable, fun moments, whether you're in your college canteen or scrolling through reels at midnight.

Challenges

• Social media is a highly saturated space with countless brands vying for attention every second.
• The challenge was to create content that felt authentic and emotionally relevant to audiences, not just promotional.
• How to inspire users to not just consume content, but to actively share it within their own networks, making it a part of their personal expression.
• Ensuring the campaign remained strongly associated with Bingo! while still feeling spontaneous and community-driven.

Execution

A multi-platform strategy was crafted for the campaign to amplify a spontaneous digital moment into a full-blown cultural wave. Each phase built upon the previous one, creating compounding engagement and cultural relevance.

Real-Time Trend Spotting & Brand Reaction: The campaign began with a reel by creator Koshta, featuring the line 'Tedhe Medhe bhi acche lagte hain,' which organically went viral. Instead of a paid activation, the brand responded with a custom hamper and personalised letter, turning the brand into a genuine participant in the conversation, not just a sponsor. The gesture led to 7+ organic follow-up reels, racking up 1.5 million+ views.

Anthem Creation: Collaborating with music creator Sharma, the brand transformed the viral dialogue into a musical snack anthem. The anthem was launched across Instagram and YouTube Shorts, with the familiar phrase now turned into a catchy, memeable track. The anthem exploded online, garnering over 68 million views and 122k shares, making it the second most shared piece of content in Bingo!’s history. 

Hook Dance Integration: The anthem was accompanied by a hook step choreographed by Sharma, a creator known for his meme-dance routines.  The internet embraced it instantly, the video amassed over 44 million views and clocked 225k shares, setting a new record for the brand's most shared content ever.

UGC Engagement via #SabkaJawaabTedheMedheContest: Led by Satish Ray, fans were invited to remix the anthem as a quirky answer to tough or awkward questions. The challenge sparked a flood of witty, relatable entries, generating over 1.7 million views and 14,000 shares. 

Meme-Driven Sustenance: The phrase 'Tedhe Medhe bhi acche lagte hain' was reinterpreted in various meme formats, relationship humour, exam pressure, and work-life chaos. Daily meme posts achieved between 1.4 million to 5 million views, driving sustained buzz.

Creator Ecosystem & Gifting Activation: An intentional mix of comedy, music, lifestyle, and dance creators was activated to showcase the anthem from different lenses. Select creators and top fans were sent the brand hampers, encouraging authentic unboxing content.

Results 

Quantitative

The campaign generated a staggering 112 million+ total views and covering the anthem, dance hook, UGC entries, and meme content. 

It reached over 21 million unique users across platforms

Total Engagement over 990K, 380K+ profile visitsand 3.6K new followers on the brand’s Instagram page. 

Shared more than 361,000 times in total:

• The original creator reel by Deepankar Koshta achieved 3 million+ organic views, and his follow-up reels added another 1.5 million 
• The anthem video amassed 68 million views and 122k shares, making it the second most shared piece of content in Bingo!’s history
• The dance hook reel hit 44 million views and 225k shares, marking Bingo!’s highest-ever shared content
• #SabkaJawaabTedheMedhe UGC challenge added over 1.7 million views, 14K shares and more than 800k accounts reached 
• Meme-led content and Swiggy consistently delivered 1.4–5 million views per post
• The campaign achieved a 3.5× higher engagement rate compared to Bingo!’s typical posts

The campaign was further featured by prominent media publications, including The Hindu Business Line, Financial Express Brand Wagon, Adgully and more. 

Qualitative 

Authenticity & Responsiveness: The brand’s decision to send a personalised gift hamper and letter to Koshta demonstrated genuine appreciation, not a forced influencer strategy, fueling further organic content and positive sentiment.

Cultural Alignment: The transition from a spontaneous viral line to a full-fledged snack anthem by leveraging Sharma’s production effectively translated internet culture into brand property.

Viral Hook Moments: The choreographed dance by Sharma introduced a shareable, visual layer, contributing to the highest-ever shares for the brand.

Creative Participation: The #SabkaJawaabTedheMedhe challenge invited audiences to become storytellers, leading to a wave of itty remixes that positioned the campaign as a cultural dialogue rather than a promotion.

Sustained Momentum: Daily meme posts and participation from other influencers and brands like Purav Jha and Swiggy helped maintain a steady buzz, extending the campaign’s life beyond its initial peak.

Emotional Connection: The campaign resonated with users because it allowed them to express quirky, relatable moments using the 'Tedhe Medhe' audio, building a stronger emotional bond vs. traditional ad campaigns.

Suresh Chand, VP & Head of Marketing, Snacks, Noodles and Pasta, ITC Foods, said, “At ITC Foods, we believe the most powerful campaigns are those that emerge organically from the voice of the consumer. The Tedhe Medhe anthem is a testament to the power of listening, responding authentically, and building on moments that genuinely resonate with our audience. It’s more than just a campaign—it’s a cultural celebration of quirk, relatability, and India’s evolving digital creativity.”