 "Paytm: Cashing in on convenience")
Xerox has been fighting the double-edged effects of being an eponym for decades now. Its unprecedented early success made its brand name a common noun that applied to the category it created and owned, and a verb denoting the solution it offered. But payments solution company Paytm is clearly hoping it finds itself in a similar dilemma.
The brand's new campaign, 'Paytm Karo', shows people using Paytm's special quick response (QR) code feature as they pay their grocery bills, auto fares and so on. Apart from promoting the brand's QR feature, the campaign also attempts to widen the scope of the mobile wallet service by showcasing new use cases. For instance, one of the television commercials (TVCs) features an aunt gifting money through Paytm to her young nephew even as the boy's mother asks him not to accept money that his aunt might offer him.
As things stand, while consumers are still in the early days of the mobile wallet transformation, the idea itself is no longer unique with a whole host of players and banking apps offering the same service.
Given that, Paytm's primary aim seems to be to own the category, to reinforce its early presence in the business. Also, while ideating on the brief, its creative agency McCann looked for a simple expression that could capture the convenience offered by the app. The expression needed to make the consumer feel empowered. Hence, "Paytm Karo".
The situations highlighted in the film were meant to leave the audience with the message that Paytm reduces the consumer's dependence on cash. This message comes through convincingly in a TVC where a shopper returns candies handed by a sales person who seems to have run out of change. Instead the shopper scans the QR code at the shop and makes the payment using Paytm.
"We believe our product truly enriches people's lives. So we were clear that our communication needed to appeal to the heart, not just the head," says Shankar Nath, senior vice-president, Paytm. He adds, "All the situations depicted in the campaign try to demonstrate the use cases in a warm and emotional manner. At the same time, these are situations every user can identify and connect with."
Over the past few months, Paytm claims to have added a lot of use cases to its mobile wallet service - payment at offline stores, paying for fuel, auto fare, movie tickets etc. "So the time was right to go to users and highlight the multiple roles that Paytm can play to make users' everyday life easier," underlines Nath.
"Once we had a simple yet potent expression, we took everyday situations where Paytm can be used and converted them into meaningful benefits for consumers by demonstrating the versatility of the app across usage occasions," explains Alok Lall, executive director (ED), McCann World Group, national head of advertising at McCann.
The campaign primarily depicts urban situations and characters. Does this mirror Paytm's user base?
Lall dismissed such implications: "The proposition 'Paytm Karo' is background agnostic. As penetration and places of usage grow, the communication will extend and bring them into its fold. Paytm already has a user base that's upwards of 125 million and growing rapidly."
Even as Paytm continues to grow the category and get more users on board, what are the challenges facing the brand? Despite the perceived benefits, there are still a large chunk of non-users. Therefore, the biggest challenge is lack of education - and adoption - by both consumers and brands.
For Nath, getting more people to use mobile wallets involves bringing about a change in habit and so the exercise will be time consuming. "We will keep chipping away, and we are seeing the results. The key thing for us is to drive first time usage. Once the user overcomes her inertia and does her first cashless transaction through Paytm, she is delighted by the ease and convenience and freedom that it provides...and becomes a regular user."
The brand's new campaign, 'Paytm Karo', shows people using Paytm's special quick response (QR) code feature as they pay their grocery bills, auto fares and so on. Apart from promoting the brand's QR feature, the campaign also attempts to widen the scope of the mobile wallet service by showcasing new use cases. For instance, one of the television commercials (TVCs) features an aunt gifting money through Paytm to her young nephew even as the boy's mother asks him not to accept money that his aunt might offer him.
As things stand, while consumers are still in the early days of the mobile wallet transformation, the idea itself is no longer unique with a whole host of players and banking apps offering the same service.
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The situations highlighted in the film were meant to leave the audience with the message that Paytm reduces the consumer's dependence on cash. This message comes through convincingly in a TVC where a shopper returns candies handed by a sales person who seems to have run out of change. Instead the shopper scans the QR code at the shop and makes the payment using Paytm.
"We believe our product truly enriches people's lives. So we were clear that our communication needed to appeal to the heart, not just the head," says Shankar Nath, senior vice-president, Paytm. He adds, "All the situations depicted in the campaign try to demonstrate the use cases in a warm and emotional manner. At the same time, these are situations every user can identify and connect with."
Over the past few months, Paytm claims to have added a lot of use cases to its mobile wallet service - payment at offline stores, paying for fuel, auto fare, movie tickets etc. "So the time was right to go to users and highlight the multiple roles that Paytm can play to make users' everyday life easier," underlines Nath.
"Once we had a simple yet potent expression, we took everyday situations where Paytm can be used and converted them into meaningful benefits for consumers by demonstrating the versatility of the app across usage occasions," explains Alok Lall, executive director (ED), McCann World Group, national head of advertising at McCann.
The campaign primarily depicts urban situations and characters. Does this mirror Paytm's user base?
Lall dismissed such implications: "The proposition 'Paytm Karo' is background agnostic. As penetration and places of usage grow, the communication will extend and bring them into its fold. Paytm already has a user base that's upwards of 125 million and growing rapidly."
Even as Paytm continues to grow the category and get more users on board, what are the challenges facing the brand? Despite the perceived benefits, there are still a large chunk of non-users. Therefore, the biggest challenge is lack of education - and adoption - by both consumers and brands.
For Nath, getting more people to use mobile wallets involves bringing about a change in habit and so the exercise will be time consuming. "We will keep chipping away, and we are seeing the results. The key thing for us is to drive first time usage. Once the user overcomes her inertia and does her first cashless transaction through Paytm, she is delighted by the ease and convenience and freedom that it provides...and becomes a regular user."