Brand Saga: How marketing helped Paytm win India’s trust

‘Paytm pe chaarso chalis rupaye prapt hue.’ Walk past any local chai tapri or kirana store, and you're likely to hear this familiar chime. It’s the Paytm Soundbox, a now-familiar sound in the everyday rhythm of India’s digital transactions. But this wasn’t always the norm. Back in 2010, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, a small-town boy from Aligarh, set out to simplify mobile recharges with a vision of making payments instant, safe, and digital.

Born out of One97 Communications, Paytm, short for ‘Pay Through Mobile’, began as a mobile recharge platform. With $2 million in seed funding, the company relied on SEO, CPC ads, and word-of-mouth to gain traction. As smartphone penetration and 3G access grew in 2012-2013, Paytm leaned into storytelling-led advertising.

The first ad film illustrated how Paytm and digital payments could fit into everyday lives like surprising your sister during Rakhi with transferring money, recharging your DTH when suddenly the TV show stops, recharging your mother’s mobile from another location — these are some of the moments shared in this ad.

Then in 2014, the brand launched Paytm Wallet and its marketing centered around ease and cashbacks, a theme that continued in the years that followed, speaking directly to India’s love for getting a little extra. 

As Paytm evolved into a full-fledged digital ecosystem, it began exploring cultural tentpoles that unified the country and no conversation about mass reach in India is complete without cricket.

Cricket as a marketing engine

Paytm knew that if it wanted to win India’s attention, cricket wasn’t a channel, it was the whole stadium. 

Paytm’s cricket innings began with a ₹203 crore deal to sponsor India’s international home matches but its real power play came with the IPL Title Sponsorship between 2016 and 2019. Every match carried the ‘Paytm’ prefix, from toss graphics to trophies. 

During this period, Paytm launched cricket-led cashback campaigns, dominated in-stadium branding with LED boards and cheer squads, and served as a ticketing platform for teams like Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab. 

One of its notable campaigns, ‘Kisi Ki Life Ka Paytm Bano,’ a 5 film campaign, launched during IPL 2019, aimed to position Paytm as a technological enabler in everyday life.

As gaming surged during the pandemic, Paytm launched Paytm First Games, a fantasy sports platform that brought Sachin Tendulkar on board as its brand ambassador. Reportedly, a substantial marketing budget of ₹300 crore was allocated, with 50% earmarked for promotions during the IPL season.

According to the CrispInsight eDART-IPL24 report, Paytm was among the most recalled brands that secured high visibility without relying solely on traditional ad slots. Their success was attributed to non-FCT (Free Commercial Time) strategies, including team sponsorships, stadium branding, segment sponsorships, and TV screen placements.​

While cricket helped Paytm become a household name, it was a national economic shakeup that truly catapulted the brand into daily utility. As the brand’s visibility peaked during the IPL years, its relevance deepened during one of India’s most defining financial moments.

The demonetisation pivot

When demonetisation hit in late 2016, Paytm’s communication team moved fast. Within hours of PM Modi’s announcement, Paytm had a full-page newspaper ad ready: ‘Paytm Karo.’ The ad featured PM Modi’s photo thanking him for fighting black money, while nudging India to go digital.

 

PM Modi Paytm

Television commercials from that period were emotionally charged and purpose-driven, addressing issues like corruption and promoting digital payments.  

In the process, ‘Paytm Karo’ found its way into everyday language, transitioning from a tagline into a widely used verb.

The strategy was to position Paytm as the hero in a time of uncertainty. While others hesitated, Paytm flooded the airwaves and dominated front-page real estate. 

As per Harvard Business School report, Paytm had over 100 million users by 2015, and its Wallet alone grew from 125 million customers before demonetization to 185 million within just three months after. During this time, Paytm’s user traffic spiked by 435%, with a 250% surge in overall transactions and transaction value.

Diversifying offerings, diversifying messaging

Post-2017, Paytm’s marketing began reflecting the expanding universe of its services like Paytm Mall, Paytm Money, insurance, ticketing, gold investment, and more. 

With Paytm Money, the brand took an educational route targeting first-time investors in Tier 2 and Tier 3 citie. While, for Paytm Payments Bank, the communication revolved around trust, safety, and no hidden charges. 

For Paytm Mall, campaigns mimicked e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart — with mega sale events, app-only discounts, and influencer tie-ins. The messaging focused on value and variety, positioning the app as a 'trusted Indian marketplace.'

These varied ads helped Paytm speak to different audiences. And while each vertical got its own tone and positioning, but ‘Paytm Karo’ continued to act as the cohesive glue. 

Creating audio branding

A standout chapter in Paytm’s communication saga came with the launch of the Paytm Soundbox. To market this device, Paytm didn’t run splashy TV campaigns initially. Instead, it quietly rolled out the soundbox across small and mid-size merchants, recording organic user testimonials and demo videos.

Eventually, it began surfacing ads and digital content that featured real merchants — from roadside vendors to salons — explaining how the device helped them avoid disputes, build credibility, and serve customers faster. 

The ‘Paytm pe ₹80 prapt hue’ chime isn’t just a familiar sound,  it is Paytm’s sonic identity, as ingrained as Intel’s ‘bong’ or Netflix’s ‘TUDUM’.

Over time, the Soundbox tone became so recognisable that Paytm also made campaigns for it.

As of March 31, 2023, over 6.8 million merchants were paying subscriptions for Paytm's payment devices like Soundbox and Point-of-Sale (PoS) systems.

From edutainment to pop culture

While many fintech brands struggle with sounding too formal or too 'bank-like,' Paytm has carved out a distinct personality across social media platforms — one that’s approachable, witty, context-aware, and human. Whether it’s a meme on X (formerly Twitter), a how-to reel on Instagram, or a campaign video on YouTube, Paytm’s tone consistently balances financial utility with social savvy.

Paytm’s Instagram page with 4 million followers operates at the intersection of edutainment and everyday relatability. The brand uses a mix of short-form reels, carousels, and memes to Paytm’s Instagram page operates at the intersection of edutainment and everyday relatability. The brand uses a mix of short-form reels, carousels, and memes to explain complex financial topics like UPI limits, KYC, QR frauds, or FASTag services.

The brand rides pop culture waves from Bollywood references to cricket memes.

For example, around the time of Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, Paytm posted a reel with SRK

Paytm's X handle is one of the most active and culturally tuned-in fintech brand accounts in India. With over 1.3 million followers, it serves as a mix of witty one-liners on trending topics, meme responses to pop culture, cricket, politics, and Bollywood.

The fintech brand has 593K subscribers on YouTube and uses the platform for hosting its large campaign videos (e.g. Soundbox films, IPL ads, service explainers), merchant and customer testimonials, ‘How to use’ tutorials for services like wallet top-ups, FASTag, and Paytm Postpaid, etc.

The tone here is more instructional and helpful, with voiceovers in multiple Indian languages.

By tailoring its tone to each platform's strengths, Paytm simplifies complex financial concepts and resonates with a wide audience across India.

In a country where cash ruled, and trust in online payments was shaky, Paytm steadily built bridges, starting with prepaid recharges, expanding into wallets, QR code acceptance for street vendors, and finally becoming a full-fledged financial ecosystem offering everything from UPI payments to ticket bookings, insurance, and credit products.

Today, with a user base of over 300 million customers, it no longer needs to shout its presence; the chime of ‘Paytm pe…prapt hue’ ringing across India does it for the brand.

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