sign in sign up
<<
Home , Paytm, Payworld, RuPay

CCI NG 3.5 Product: ETMumbaiBS PubDate: 04-01-2017 Zone: BrandEquity Edition: 1 Page: BEPER3 User: sandeep.dutta Time: 12-31-2016 00:35 Color: CMYK

Use your life to animate your copy. If something moves you, CLASSIC BE 4 chances are, it will touch someone else too – David Abbott THE ECONOMIC TIMES JANUARY 4-10, 2017

FOR OUR FIRST EDITION OF THE NEW YEAR, WE BRING YOU THE BEST AND THE BEKAAR OF Continued from Page 1 >> BESTBEKAAR LAST YEAR ACCORDING TO THE BE EDIT TEAM. READ ON FOR SOME SHOCKS AND SURPRISES

Pan Bahar Jio SWIPE RIGHT sharing the last words of #LastWords Erstwhile Bond-man Pierce Brosnan’s Newlyweds taking a 2016 has not been the best terminally ill patients. Nine year for Indian , out of ten pined for their returned to Indian advertising (after selfie, a monk chatting TO INVEST even though some families, people who weren’t Reid & Taylor many years ago). The on his phone, auntyji in December work may well with them at that time. It of brand was surprising, and the rollers swiping right, a And so, Kakar and his team first opted to drive prove us wrong through felt like an honest effort to film incredibly bizarre, with the age- woman Skyping on her a #PaiseKoJagao across social channels, talk- award season. One campaign sensitise us to the ordeal of ing defeating ninjas and bouncers, bed, another Facetiming; ing about idle money, without highlighting the that stood out for its pure nurses and patients. And while affectionately smooching a tin of where did all those brand behind the message. After five days of intent and neat execution established the need for Pan Bahar. What followed was a furore: people go? When last seen, all of them were launching it gaining social currency, the brand quickly was: #LastWords by Indian palliative care so patients Brosnan being trolled far and wide for into the stratosphere powered by Jio balloons. Will the stepped in, seeing its rivals start to piggyback on Association of Palliative can spend their last few Care (IAPC). An over two- precious moments with agreeing to endorse such a brand, and next lot of space explorers or Baumgartner bump into the hashtag. Kakar admits he knew the category minute long video featured loved ones. A tear-jerker, the star himself coming up with a weak our Jio floaters? Or are they destined to go round and would duplicate the idea right working and retired nurses yes, but one with its heart explanation accusing the brand of “un- round the earth like aimless human satellites? And down to the app but is okay from across the country and soul in the right place. authorised use of his image” claiming what happens when their devices run out of juice? All with it as long as it increases he thought it was for “a breath freshner/ pertinent questions, if you ask us. Almost as much as the quantum of investment. tooth whitener”. Whether the amount of this commercial for what was one of the biggest stories The blitz phase of the cam- IDFC Bank publicity this evoked and the rub off on and launches of the year. paign has seen everything Fate and demonetisation just made IDFC’s cam- Pan Bahar consumption was greater or from a TV commercial to a Installations paign #BankingNibhao “rishteydari nahi” all the lesser than the presumably astronomical #Doobara Poocho strong digital leg via native and registra- more relevant and somewhat prescient. The cam- paid to Brosnan is probably the true We half suspect this ad emerged as an in joke, consider- advertising sites and posts on tions hap- paign for IDFC’s 4-minute account activation took a measure of this ad’s success or failure. ing it came from the same agency that gave us the hi- social media. Bira Sun Life pened very well dig at all the ponderous and overly sentimental bank larious Doobara Math Poochna for Chlormint. While hopes to get youngsters to ads we’ve been subjected to over the past few years. depression is a poorly understood, seriously underdi- make their parents aware of with digital. Savlon This one, however, cuts to the sell. It’s not the first agnosed ailment, we were not fans of this ad; where (it and start transacting via the But actual tri- If you’d told us one of our favourite ads time an ad has taken a dig at other ads, an old trick seemed to us) a bunch of compulsive do-gooders badger app. The results are encour- als with money from 2016 (technically very late 2015) in the marketing playbook of the Davids going up their friends till they start feeling bad about themselves aging 4.2 installs as of began once we would feature a product window, we’d against the Goliaths. But it’s a point that had to be and their lives. The worst offender is the morose car the 18th of December accord- started mass have laughed you right out of the room. made. Stick to banking not bonding. driver who drags his buddy (who starts off the ad on ing to Kakar, with 2.2 lakh media which But Savlon proved you can push the a road trip, laughing without a care in the world) into registereing their phones via brings trust, creative envelope even while hardsel- Amazon whatever slough of despond he is currently wallowing an OTP, which indicates seri- recall, visibility ling product benefits. A man looking Amazon managed to in himself. Besides, there are often no pat solutions ous interest. An interesting and the urge for something in the house, bumps his cut through the festive to depression. It sometimes involves counselling by a learning in the journey has to try head against furniture and his wife clutter — no mean task trained professional and a drug regimen, and not just been the role of mass media Ajay Kakar rushes to his assistance, smacking — balancing the warmth talking to friends, no matter how well intentioned. in pushing a digitally driven him in the face with a catapult. The and fuzz with discounts product. Kakar admits, “Installations and reg- point: why add the sting of an antisep- and offers. Simple as it eBay: eBay came up with a moving positioning statement this year: Things don’t istrations happened very well with digital. But tic to the pain you are already dealing may sound; most play- judge. Oh! You don’t say? It called to mind the old man from the SBI Life Insurance ad gently actual trials with money began once we started with? A man in a labcoat prattles on for ers dropped the ball on this. Some took a bizarrely remonstrating with his wife saying, “Arre, heere ko kya pata tumhari umar?” (The diamond mass media which brings trust, recall, visibility a bit, and the product window we allud- esoteric stance that left most viewers confounded. But doesn’t care how old you are). The eBay ad showcases several such diamond-like objects and and the urge to try.” ed to also puts in an appearance. But in Amazon’s festive campaign did an overall neat job of beautifully at that. The only place it goes wrong is that it becomes didactic. Not everything It’s a long slog though for a campaign that claims an age of ‘skip in 5 seconds’, this kept us good casting, crisp direction and just the right amount needs to be romanticised all the time. Watching this, we feel like the guy who shows up at the end as its audience, every one with a . hooked for a lot longer. Savlon moved of identifiable emotions. The entire communication of a memorable Ikea ad from the early 2000s about a castaway table lamp who says “Many of you Kakar signs off, “For those who have the app, on to a more purpose driven plank later was pegged around the theme of ‘tyohaar bade dilwala’ feel bad for this lamp. That’s because you are crazy. It has no feelings! And the new one is much every SMS alert about bank balance should be a last year, but this odd little ad remains and resisted the temptation to transform into a hard- better.” How about #ThingsThatDon’tDisappoint? wake up call to swipe right.”. a favourite. core sales-pitch. It had us saying ‘aur dikhao.’ [email protected]

BAWDY COPY Brand Equity takes a look at all the Who’s who and what’s what of all that is Bawdy in the industry The Blue Screen of Debt Let’s A (Health) The wheels are coming off the wagon, if Drink Sometime A Pitch Perfect Fee industry sources are to be believed, for Our ever vigilant in- The quest for a pitch fee is something like this technology driven firm that arrived dustry moles inform the legend of El Dorado when it comes to ad in with a bang and a multi-screen us there’s a concerted agencies. Some claim to have seen fleeting product portfolio, led by a range of attempt being made glimpses of it, others claim to know someone phones. Unlike many of its countrymen by a (relatively) who certainly got paid. So we are regard- who opted to enter this market relying freshly minted team ing this news from one of our moles with a heavily on buzz and fans to spread the heading an ad agency healthy side of scepticism. Apparently this message, the tech contender went in to bag a key chunk of business from their former employer. This former indie that got acquired a while back for a good old fashioned ad blitz. With Musical Thrones is a brand that many of the team members earned their spurs on. but which has still resisted the bloated trap- troubled times being reported at the Making this a tough ask is the health food drink’s longstanding We hear the head of this media agency conglomerate will soon be making way pings of larger networks, charges as much global HQ, the tremors are being felt legacy and relationship with its current agency. However in a ` for his successor. He’s had, by all accounts, a remarkable reign, bolstering the core as 30 as project fee for its ideas. The even by the Indian ops. From what we world where “project” is no longer a dirty word and where sup- media business and even making inroads into closely guarded creative territory. fee is waived should the client sign the dot- hear, the media agency of the brand is posed “one-offs” get more visibility, mileage and internal plau- However, it’s apparently group policy to rotate leaders every four years, and ted . Assuming this to be true, maybe owed around `40 crore; which can’t be dits than workaday ads, perhaps the former dream team is on to by that reckoning, his time at the top is up, say our industry moles. No news on something. It will be a coup if this fructifies, since the agency, long the question should shift from ‘What am I good news considering the shop has lost whether he will move to a role within the network or outside, but his successor reputed to be a quiet and understated shop, has lapsed into what getting as a pitch fee?’ to ‘Is what we are pre- several big chunks of business over the is someone who has risen up from the ranks, and will be pulled back home from feels a lot like deathly silence of late, with little to write home senting worth a pitch fee?’ last few years. manning a global outpost. We expect to hear more on this sooner than later. about even after a high profile change of guard. ILLUSTRATIONS: ANIRBAN BORA

Continued from Page 1 >>

Anant Bhagwati, partner, in Bajrang market, Greater MOBILE WALLET WARS... Bain & Company says, “Any , “I sold `2 lakh worth of company that reaches 10% of NO PAY-N NO GAIN goods in one week. But I can the population benefits from withdraw only `20,000 a month. A tie-up with National Association of ers and operates over 10,500 PoS terminals, network effect. We expect to case and continues to be so. And that after standing hours Street Vendors to train over 30 lakh ven- has seen its offline business grow 6 times see the same network effect Transport and energy (paying in long queues. It’s impacted dors is another step to gain on a monthly basis. The online play out in the case of for rides like , Delhi Metro my business and now I don’t ac- currency across 25 states, says business too has grown twice and other wallets.” Growth has etc and utility bills) round out cept Paytm.” MobiKwik’s Singh, who has claims Gupta. been unstoppable, with demon- the top three. But in last 50 Sharma says regulations put rolled out 10,000 offline staff “We want to stay away from etisation acting as a steroid. days, Paytm has been used to a withdrawal limit on mer- to activate merchants across this race,” proclaims Gupta, Paytm has clocked 173 million buy milk and other daily con- chants who don’t have VAT, India. quickly adding that his compa- users by December, growing sumption items. TIN. For verified merchant “The real business is not go- ny — owned by South African at half-a-million per month. The hockey stick growth accounts, there’s no limit. He is ing to happen in the world of media and internet giant And it has been used across is the envy of companies now 100% focused on the wal- recharges or Domino’s,” he Naspers — has huge financial 350 districts, 1,000 small and — big, small or startup — and let, which incidentally is still says, adding that it’s the heart muscle to play the burn game big cities across the country. its brand building exercise loss making, thanks to carrots of India’s economy, retail, brick but doesn’t believe in the futile Since November 8, Paytm has even before demonetisation like cash backs. Besides if he and mortar and thousands of strategy of cash back. “I don’t surpassed its metrics — tri- was a game changer. Sreedhar aims to take Paytm to the same small cities and towns where believe in cash back as a way to pling transactions per day to Prasad, partner, e-commerce league as brands that survive the real action will play out. MobiKwik engage consumers,” he says. 7.5 mil lion, more than doubling and startups, KPMG India tech changes like Microsoft That explains the reason why 45 million Recently Citrus Pay, which employees to 13,000, tripling ad says, “When there’s confusion, On a few occasions, during prepared for New Year week- or Apple, “Vijay will have to MobiKwik launched a lighter Wallet users across India is owned by PayU, partnered spends. Frauds have spiked whoever reaches out first, gets peak times, users have been end peaks and beyond.” Paytm move out of harvesting the 10 million version of its app which can Wallet users added in with HPCL to drive cashless almost three fold to `11 crore the business.” The ad cam- left stranded, unable to con- traced some of the flaws in its wind and innovate. Paytm even work in the areas where November and December payments for LPG gas cylin- a month. Available in 11 lan- paigns only reinforced the mes- firm payments made to the iOS app, used by less than 10% should be careful not to get into internet connectivity is patchy. this year ders. The users get an SMS the guages, it claims to have sold sage — you don’t have a choice merchants. Users have found of its users, which impacted the a g rowth trap,” cautions Bijoor. 10 lakh ` Less than 1 MB in size, Overall merchants/retailers day their cylinder is out for de- 18 crore worth of tickets (out but Paytm karo. queries sent to update passbook platform at large. A new bug- As of now, Paytm is riding high. MobiKwik Lite can be down- using MobiKwik livery, and can follow the of a box office collection of `106 There have also been hurdles. to track transactions taking free app has been released. Sharma says, “We will make loaded even on smartphones 9 lakh in the text message to make the crore) in the opening weekend Marketing consultant Harish inordiantely long. Apart from The problem at the retail money once the payment bank Merchants/retailers added in with low net speed or by ones payment via credit and debit for Bollywood hit Dangal. “We Bijoor questions, “Can Paytm the spike in fraud, some users end is mainly with small mer- starts in March. People have November and December without a store ac- 30 lakh cards, net banking or Citrus clock 78 million active users a go deep into hinterlands and reported money disappearing chants: corner cigarette shops, started calling us like Xerox count. The app is available in Street vendors across 25 Pay wallet. month (Facebook India does offer fraud free transactions?” at the time of loading wallets. fruit vendors, kirana stores. for photo copying or Google for English, Hindi and Gujarati, states to be trained Other wallet players are also 140 million) and could overtake While new users have come “There were glitches,” admits Regulations don’t allow mer- search. We want to ensure we 7,000 and will soon be rolled out in outlets accepting focusing on their strengths social media at our current in truckloads, merchants and Sharma, and adds, “We spotted chants to take out more than don’t lose that. What the brand 10 more regional languages for MobiKwik payment rather than get bogged down growth rate,” says Sharma. users have abandoned the plat- flaws and fixed them. System ` 20,000 per month, while they means to merchants and users widespread adoption. by the aggression of Paytm. For When Paytm started, mobile form as well due to glitches , security is far more important need money to manage daily is the key.” Jitendra Gupta too is not PayU India instance, India’s first mobile re-charge was the biggest use technical and regulatory. for us than scale. We are now cash flows. Says one merchant [email protected] bothered by the din around 26.5 million wallet Oxigen. With over 30 Paytm. “All the noise today is Users across India million wallet users and a retail 1 million short-term distraction,” says Users added after November reach of 150 million merchants, Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG launched one of its biggest Chauhan suspects most ini- the managing director of PayU 8 this year Oxigen claims to be only wal- Mediabrands, says “The cur- programs, ‘Swachh Aadat, tiatives of this nature are just India, a digital payments pro- 10,500 let player to offer payment rent government has been far AND NOW A... Swachh Bharat’ with a cam- preaching though. On the other vider. “We have chosen to be PoS (point of sales) terminals solution including ahead of the curve in a mar- paign called ‘Haath, Munh hand there are initiatives like operated by PayU deaf for the time being to stay Enabled Payment, Rupay and keting blitzkrieg of its various aur Bum’ for its leading brands Tata Tea’s Jaago Re (2005-06) focused,” he adds. Oxigen other cards, UPI, recharges/ initiatives: Swachh Bharat, like Lifebuoy, Domex and with its message of ‘If you don’t Gupta, for his part, believes bill payments under Bharat Bill , , Pureit. Sanjiv Mehta, manag- vote, you are sleeping. Please 150 million in building long-term business Retailers on Oxigen network . “Our focus is Financial Inclusion in the ing director and CEO, HUL, wake up’. He says, “It integrat- and focusing on something 30 million more on what we can do rather form of Jan Dhan, Girl Child said in a statement: “We believe ed the brand idea and appro- which most of the so-called big Mobile wallet users in India than what others are doing,” Education – Beti Bachao, Beti that companies like HUL have priated the election. This on 5 million players have been convenient- Mobile wallet users added says Sunil Kulkarni, deputy Padhao and many more beyond a key role in helping the coun- the other hand is because ev- ly ignoring: security. “We have since November 8 managing director of Oxigen. only an Incredible India. Not try achieve ‘Swachh Bharat’… eryone wants to be close to the been constantly focusing on , with a presence in surprisingly then government This gives us both an opportu- establishment. They use com- ensuring world-class security 630 cities, and 80,000 villages ad spending has been at an all- nity and responsibility to make mercial money to establish to standards while ensuring 100% uptime,” across 23 states, has been tapping merchants time high.” Adding a dash of a meaningful difference.” But it the government that we are on he says, adding that digital payment is a in tier II, III towns, cities and rural areas. glamour to the expense list are government initiative should “Brands are closer to people’s was Lifebuoy’s rival and early your side. Do any of the brands marathon and not a race. Unfortunately, he “Paytm is largely an urban phenomenon,” the celebrity brand ambassa- co-opt varied stakeholders lives and if the relevance of par- bird Dettol from RB’s stable actively support causes that lets on, what is happening in India is a race says Praveen Dhabhai, chief operating offi- dors from Amitabh Bachchan and beneficiaries,” says Dr. ticipation is established, it is a that made the most of its as- the government is not backing where the winner is the one who spends cer of Payworld. “The game has just started.” to Priyanka Chopra. Renuka Kamath, professor, win-win both for the initiative sociation with the Clean India like wildlife and the environ- most and gets consumer attention. It seems, picture abhi baaki hai… All brands need to do is add marketing, SP Jain Institute and the brand(s).” mission and successfully em- ment?” PayU India, which has over 2 6.5 million us- [email protected] advertising to taste. “Any wise of Management & Research. In 2015, Hindustan Unilever bedded the brand. [email protected]

Regn.No.MAHENG/2002/6711Volume 16 Issue No. 1Published for the Proprietors, Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd. by R. Krishnamurthy at Building, Dr. D.N.Road, Mumbai 400 001Tel. No. (022) 6635 3535, 2273 3535, Fax- (022)-2273 1144 and printed by him at (1) The Times of India Suburban Press, Akurli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivili (E), Mumbai 400 101. Tel. No. (022) 28872324, 28872930, Fax- (022) 28874230 (2) The Times of India Print City, Plot No. 4, T.T.C. Industrial Area, Thane Belapur Road, Airoli, Navi Mumbai-400708 and (3) TIMES PRESS, Plot No. 5A, Road No. 1, IDA Nacharam Ranga Reddy District, Hyderabad-500076. Editor: Ravi Balakrishnan(Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of the Publisher is prohibited.