Homegrown digital payment companies PhonePe and Paytm plan to spend a combined Rs 2,000 crore on marketing this year, as they look to increase awareness, credibility and promote products to a wider consumer audience, top executives at these firms said.
While PhonePe has earmarked Rs 800 crore for marketing, Paytm plans to spend Rs 1,200 crore. For both companies, these spendings are across all platforms including ATL marketing which means widespread brand-building advertising, and BTL marketing, a form of highly targeted direct marketing focused on conversions as well as digital marketing.
“For us, a strong brand recall on trust, integrity, and innovation is important as our focus is to get at least 150 million new users through the year,” PhonePe founder and chief executive said Sameer Nigam said. As of date, the Flipkart-owned entity has about 200 million registered customers of which 75 million are monthly active users. Nigam said the company plans to double that active user base this year.
PhonePe is the official co-presenting sponsor for the TV broadcast of IPL this year.
The move also signals a larger trend brewing in the financial services sector where companies — whose main focus is to tap new users including merchants from smaller towns and even villages — are looking at multiple ways to establish credibility with their audience. A large portion of these users are making their first digital transactions via these payment platforms.
“Our branding and marketing campaigns are designed and conceptualised to be simple but effective so that they can resonate with our merchants and users, be it in metropolitans or small tier-III and rest of India towns,” a Paytm spokesperson told ET. Last year, Paytm was awarded title sponsorship rights for the Indian cricket board’s international and domestic seasons till 2023.
Financial services companies are also forming partnerships with celebrities, banking on data which indicate that consumers show greater recall and trust in products that have been endorsed by celebrities — regardless of whether they are actual fans or not. PhonePe has roped in Alia Bhatt along with Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador. Merchant service and UPI payments app BharatPe onboarded Salman Khan last year.
Leave a Reply