"Our aim is to make physical wallets redundant": Saurabh Srivastava, CMO, MobiKwik

The company's first-ever TV campaign aims to position MobiKwik as an easy, safe and fast way to pay, and a replacement for cards and cash on delivery modes of payment.

MobiKwik, a prominent mobile wallet company that claims to have over 17 million users and 50,000 merchants, has launched its first-ever television campaign called 'More Than A Wallet'. Conceptualised by Happy Creative Services, the series of ads aims to establish MobiKwik Wallet as the new way to pay online, and a replacement for cards and cash on delivery modes of payment.

The three-month-long campaign will run across a bouquet of infotainment, entertainment, movies and lifestyle channels. Building a high recall through television to create India's largest payments network with 100 million digitally paying users on one side and 200,000 retailers on the other side, is the long-term goal that MobiKwik has in mind. While the overall internet users in India are 250 million, only about 35 million of them currently pay online.

The TV campaign comprises a series of four advertisements - all of which signify that one attribute which we often look for while making payments. Happiness, peace of mind, blessings and friendship are the four 'free presents' that you get when using MobiKwik Wallet, is what the TVCs convey. The ads offer a funny take on making payments in a jiffy.

MobiKwik's gamut of services includes recharges and bill payments, money transfers and shopping.

Brand Speak

When asked about the need for a TV campaign, Saurabh Srivastava, chief marketing officer, MobiKwik, says, "After adding 17 million users, we are now ready to reach out to a wider audience. Television provides higher reach and a more engaged audience than radio and OOH. Hence, when we decided to tap into mass media to increase awareness about our brand, it was only natural for us to make TV a significant part of our grand plans. We believe with awareness there will be wider acceptance of MobiKwik wallet as a payment instrument, both on the user as well as the retailer side. That really is the goal of this advertising campaign."

He says that an annual marketing budget of Rs. 100 crore has been allocated towards the campaign. "The target group for this campaign is the 85 per cent of internet users in India who still prefer to pay in cash or not pay at all. It is the difficulties associated with various online payment options that drive users away from making payments digitally. What we are providing in the form of MobiKwik wallet is more secure, easy and fast alternative, which replaces cards and cash on delivery. Hence, this campaign aims to reach all users who own a smartphone and access the internet," he adds.

Players in the mobile wallet category in India have been consistently on the rise. Even in such a scenario, Srivastava remains unfazed by the competitors in this segment. "The biggest USP of MobiKwik is its focus and dedication towards the wallet segment. We have a laser sharp focus on building our wallet offering as the most convenient and preferred way of making payments across the entire spectrum of online and offline consumer services that our customers access. Our battle is not with the other players; our battle is with physical wallets that users carry in their pockets. Our aim is to make them redundant and replace it with MobiKwik wallet, lying light on your smartphone."

Bipin Preet Singh, founder and CEO, MobiKwik, says, "Over the years, MobiKwik Wallet has seen a high organic growth, largely through word-of-mouth marketing by our loyal users. But now the market is ripe and our product has made tremendous strides. It is the right time for us to take our brand to a larger set of internet users who are yet to discover the ease of making secure, quick, and convenient digital payments. This is the first time in the history of our company that we're advertising on TV, and we couldn't be more excited to see the response."

Kartik Iyer, chief executive officer and co-founder, Happy Creative Services, the creative agency of MobiKwik, shares, "Thanks to technology, user behaviour is being altered on a daily basis. A product like MobiKwik has more than one dimension to it. And, to be able to communicate that all under one umbrella was really the challenge. I think we have managed to charmingly communicate the different facets of how MobiKwik delivers on being more than a wallet. May the app downloads begin."

Critique

Siddhartha Vinchurkar, managing director, Mirum, feels that the campaign doesn't communicate a unique brand message as to why people should switch to MobiKwik from the existing ones, nor does it talk about the product innovation if any, over the competitors. He also points out is all the campaigns are male-centric.

Comparing MobiKwik's TVC with its competitors', he says, "The Freecharge campaign remained with consumers for a while; however, Paytm excelled due to its product quality. I'm not sure if consumers will remember the MobiKwik campaign, or the product itself, once the campaign is off air. The 'Aur Dikhao' campaign from Amazon really connected with people instantly, as it picked up a cultural keyword (Aur Dikhao) that's known to everyone who shops in India."