WPP Media has won the integrated media mandate for LT Foods’ flagship brand Daawat in India, bringing strategy, planning, media buying and activation under one integrated partnership. The mandate comes as Daawat looks to strengthen its consumer connect and accelerate growth in India’s evolving packaged food market.
The account is significant for both sides. For LT Foods, the partnership comes at a time when consumer food brands are navigating an increasingly fragmented media environment. For WPP Media, the win adds another prominent FMCG account to its portfolio and gives the agency an opportunity to bring its data, technology and AI-led media capabilities into a large consumer brand.
WPP Media to handle Daawat’s end-to-end media mandate
Under the new mandate, WPP Media will manage Daawat’s media strategy, planning, buying and activation across India.
Rather than treating individual media channels separately, the agency will work on an integrated approach that combines audience intelligence, data, technology and AI-powered planning.
The objective is to create more connected consumer experiences while improving the effectiveness and measurability of media investments.
For a mass consumer brand such as Daawat, this integrated approach becomes increasingly relevant as consumers move between television, digital platforms, social media, e-commerce and other touchpoints before making purchase decisions.
Why the Daawat mandate matters
Daawat is the flagship brand of LT Foods, a global consumer food company with a presence in more than 85 countries.
While rice remains at the heart of the brand, the packaged food category has become far more competitive in recent years. Consumers have more choices, brands are investing heavily in digital platforms and traditional media continues to play an important role in building mass awareness.
That means media strategy is no longer simply about deciding how much to spend on television or digital.
Brands increasingly need to understand who they are reaching, where those consumers are spending time and how different media interactions work together.
That is where WPP Media’s audience-first approach is expected to come into play.
Data and AI take centre stage
One of the more interesting aspects of the partnership is the emphasis on AI, audience data and technology.
WPP Media says it will use its capabilities in audience intelligence and AI-powered planning to help Daawat build a more connected media ecosystem.
For marketers, this reflects a broader shift taking place across the industry.
Media planning is increasingly moving from broad demographic targeting towards more granular audience understanding. At the same time, AI is being used to process consumer signals, identify patterns and support faster planning and optimisation.
The role of the agency is consequently evolving from simply buying media inventory to helping brands understand and influence consumer journeys across platforms.
LT Foods looks to deepen consumer connections
For LT Foods, the partnership is closely linked to its growth ambitions in India. Ritesh Sud, Chief Marketing Officer – India & Far East, LT Foods, said that creating stronger and more meaningful consumer connections is a strategic priority for the company.
He highlighted WPP Media’s integrated capabilities, audience-first approach and understanding of the changing media landscape as key reasons for the partnership.
The focus, therefore, is not only on media reach.
It is also about making the brand more relevant to consumers and linking marketing activity more closely to business outcomes.
A changing media landscape for FMCG brands
The Daawat account also reflects the challenges facing FMCG marketers today. Consumers are no longer consuming media in predictable ways. A person may watch a television programme, discover a recipe on Instagram, search for a product online and eventually purchase it through an e-commerce platform or a nearby retailer.
For brands operating at scale, this creates both an opportunity and a challenge.
The opportunity is the ability to communicate with consumers at multiple stages of the purchase journey.
The challenge is ensuring that these interactions are connected rather than functioning as isolated campaigns.
An integrated media partner can potentially help bring those pieces together.
WPP Media’s integrated approach
Priti Murthy, President, Client Solutions, WPP Media South Asia, said the future of marketing lies in connected experiences supported by data, technology and a deeper understanding of audiences.
The agency plans to combine strategic planning, AI-powered capabilities and precision execution as part of its work for Daawat.
This approach aligns with the broader evolution of media agencies.
The traditional separation between television planning, digital buying, performance marketing and audience analytics is becoming less relevant as brands increasingly look for integrated solutions.
For WPP Media, the Daawat mandate provides an opportunity to demonstrate how those capabilities can work together for a large-scale consumer brand.
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What this means for Daawat
For Daawat, the immediate opportunity is to strengthen its brand relevance while making its media investments more targeted and measurable.
The brand operates in a category where familiarity and trust are important, but where consumers are also increasingly exposed to new brands and product propositions.
A stronger audience-led media strategy could help Daawat identify changing consumer preferences and adapt its communication accordingly.
The emphasis on data and AI could also enable the brand to make its media planning more responsive, particularly across India’s increasingly diverse consumer markets.
The larger business opportunity
LT Foods’ partnership with WPP Media comes against the backdrop of India’s expanding packaged food and consumer goods market. As household consumption patterns evolve, consumers are experimenting with different food products, premium offerings and convenience-led formats.
For established brands, this creates an opportunity to expand beyond their traditional consumer base.
Daawat’s challenge will be to remain familiar while continuing to stay relevant to a new generation of consumers. That makes the role of media particularly important.
The right strategy can help a legacy consumer brand maintain mass visibility while also creating more targeted conversations with emerging audiences.
A win that goes beyond a media account
The WPP Media-Daawat partnership is ultimately more than an agency mandate announcement.
It reflects how the role of media is changing for consumer brands.
Reach still matters, but understanding the audience behind that reach matters even more.
With WPP Media bringing together media planning, buying, audience intelligence, AI and technology, LT Foods is looking to create a more connected approach to growing Daawat in India.
For WPP Media, the win strengthens its position in the competitive FMCG media landscape.
And for Daawat, the partnership comes with a clear ambition: use smarter, more integrated media to build stronger consumer connections and support the next phase of growth.
