Not so Sweet Jab: Paytm takes a playful dig at Zepto's free Soan Papdi Campaign!!!

Paytm's new campaign, ‘Iss Diwali gifting ka naya tareeka shuru karo (this Diwali starts a new trend in gifting),” comes as a surprise. Paytm is a fading brand in the payment apps. It is seen as a Nokia in that category. Just like Nokia, it grew the segment only to give way, market share, word of mouth, and top-of-the-mind awareness to Google Pay and Phone Pay. Phone Pay and Google Pay have become the default payment apps, and Paytm is slowly fading into the background.

The advertisement shows a family visiting their friend’s house on Diwali night. As they are ringing the bell, they hear voices from inside the house. The husband is commenting, “What did you get as a gift from your office?" His wife says, “Soan Papdi, what else? and adds, “If anyone else gifts me Soan Papdi, I will shove it down their damn throats.”.

Hearing this, the visiting couple hurriedly dumps the offending soap Papdi gift packet into the bushes. Pleasantries are exchanged, and the cheeky little boy asks, “Uncle, what gift have you brought us?”. The friend couple is nonplussed for a second but recovers dramatically and transfers Rs 1,100/- on Paytm, and the day is saved. But rubbing salt into the wound, he cheekily comments, “With that money, your dad can buy you gifts or can buy you—Soan Papdi!!!”.

In the present scenario, it is quite strange that Paytm launched this campaign. It was okay to talk about its own USP (it is no longer Paytm’s USP) and try to promote itself. Instead, it is trying to make fun of Zepto, who is trying to do a noble thing in trying to bring back glory for Soan Papdi.

While the Zepto campaign brings a lump to the heart and makes us smile, the Paytm campaign tries to be too smart for its own good. It is smart alerky and sounds like a campaign executed by a fresh behind-the-ears management school employee trying to be funny and falling flat on his/her face.

And while Zepto and Paytm have a symbiotic relationship. Each is dependent on the other for survival. Customers use Zepto and Paytm for convenience. So, is it worthy to make fun of your business partner? Not in my view. Both need each other to survive. All in all, a campaign that could have been avoided. 

peyTM - Sweat Pants - Fake products that imitate famous brands - Any thing goes!

Very interesting, one of my colleagues is wearing trousers with the brand name Peytm. Classic case of fake/Spurious brands that imitate famous brands and the audacity of Indian manufacturers to get away with such practices! 

The funniest part is that Paytm is an E-wallet company and is not a clothing brand. But in a world full of clutter, Paytm is a clutter cutter and it has a huge recall. And there are enough predatory vultures to take care of any opportunity to get a free promotional ride.

Comments: 

Raghavendra Raghavender Matam: And it's Sweat too!

Anil Ramesh: PeyTm sweat is copycat's sugar syrup, Raghavendra Raghavender Matam!

Vijay Arjun Veeravalli: But Did he buy checking the brand name on that. I don't think so.

Innovative “Soundbox” from Paytm

I am fascinated by new products. Yes, it is true that 80% of new products are not new and are at best ‘new wine in an old bottle’. They are new, improved versions to induce to the jaded buyer to rebuy the products. At best it is a weak appeal to the customers to get excited again akin to a sixty-year-old Indian hero prancing around in a ridiculous wig and with fluorescent clothes with a young lass who would be in his granddaughter age! 

But some products are new, and they are very much needed. One such product that caught my eye is the “Sound Box” from Paytm. It is a boon for the harried retailers, who are becoming more and more dependent on online payments and that through the omnipresent Paytm App. 

I watch with great astonishment when the twenty-somethings pay six rupees for their cup of tea using Paytm app. What would happen if the internet or Paytm suffer an outage? I am sure that the Indian economy will take a hit on Sensex fearing a massive spread of the Coronavirus causing havoc on world markets. 

Paytm synonymous with digital transactions in India. The app rose to popularity during the demonetisation phase in 2016. When a customer is trying to pay via his smartphone, there is a long, elaborate conversation with the retailer to share the QR code which the customer then scans and then wait till the payment is confirmed and the retailer gets a message. The SMS often doesn’t come instantly, and there’s an awkward silence till the time the SMS comes in.  

Both the customer and the retailer are impatient. In some cases, the customers claim that the payment is made and walk away. The retailer is hard-pressed to balance his concentration between tracking the digital payments and in serving his other customers. 

Paytm is looking to smoothen the payment process with a new smart device the ‘Soundbox’, It has a speaker with a SIM card slot attached that will act as a voice-activated POS (point-of-sale) machine for the retailer. The Soundbox will alert the retailer the payment is complete, instead of the retailer having to wait for an SMS on their smartphone. 

The Soundbox loudly announces the amount paid, thus relieving the retailer of the stress of tracking SMSes. A user will still have to scan the QR code on this device to make the payment. With the Soundbox, the retailers do not require another smartphone to accept Paytm transactions.