UPI Chalega campaign adapts to social distancing

Tweaking their UPI Chalega campaign according to the narratives relevant under the lockdown, NPCI runs a digital and influencer marketing campaign.

Under lockdown due to COVID-19, significant changes in consumer behaviours have come to the fore due to need and necessity. This, in turn, has led to brands shifting their objectives from awareness and sales to information and assistance, in order to bridge gaps as well as stay relevant. On their part, the real-time payment system UPI has extended the UPI Chalega campaign, tweaking the narrative to reassure consumers about safe digital transactions. 

The new campaign features the return of their flagship mascot, Mrs Rao. As in earlier ads, she has been a key character in now providing information on the important aspects of the lockdown, the transmission risk with cash payments and how digital payments could help maintain social distancing.

The new set of films shot with Mrs Rao, showcase her at home, instead of at a local shop. In her own unique manner, she talks to consumers about making necessary payments and money transfers while being at home. 

To ensure that the new narrative for UPI Chalega reaches relevant audiences across India, the campaign amplification was pushed through social media platforms and featured across multiple news, business and entertainment websites, garnering 65 million video views and 200 million impressions. The campaign even trended on Twitter for a total of 7 times, gathering 80 million impressions on the micro-blogging platform.

Focusing on the ease of making payments while social distancing, several celebrities also joined the campaign, asking their followers to adopt digital payments under lockdown. Among the stars that put up posts in favour of UPI payments were Jaqueline Fernandez, Riteish Deshmukh, Shruti Hassan, Arjun Kapoor and Nushrat Bharucha. They talked about how UPI could be used to buy groceries, make utility payments and more. These efforts helped UPI Chalega garner another 80 million views.

@awezdarbar

India nahi rukega, kyuki UPI chalega. PaySafeIndia Payment karni hai, UPI Karo. ##UPIChalegaChallenge ?

♬ UPI Chalega Song 1 - UPI Chalega

On TikTok, the campaign went live with two songs around digital payments. On the video-first platform, the #UPIChalegaChallenge campaign generated over 20 billion views. Influencers such as Awez Darbar, Arish Fakhan and Riyaz were a part of the campaign. The digital amplification of the new UPI Chalega campaign was led by Yaap Digital Pvt. Ltd, yaap.in