The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2017–2018
Paytm turns the sweets given as loose change into redeemable digital money
Shopkeepers hand out a branded lolly instead of coins; its wrapper hides a code worth real rupees in the Paytm wallet — candy becomes an acquisition channel.
Paytm
What it had to solve
India is still largely a cash economy — 26% of transactions were still in cash, the ADFEST jury later noted — and small change is chronically short, so shopkeepers hand out lollies when they cannot make the exact amount.
How it works
Paytm, an Indian mobile-payments company, wanted people to move cash into digital wallets. That was a hard sell in a country where 26% of transactions still happened in cash — and where small change was so scarce that shopkeepers routinely handed customers a lolly instead of the coins they were owed.
McCann Worldgroup India's answer, 'Sweet Change', did not argue people out of the ritual. The agency made a lolly of its own and printed a redemption code inside the wrapper. When a shopkeeper gave the Paytm candy in place of loose change, the customer could download the app, enter the code and receive the candy's value as real money in their wallet — the wrapper became the medium, and every corner shop a point of distribution.
The campaign worked as an acquisition channel: in a single month it drove a million app downloads, brought the cost of adding a customer down from under 60 to under 12, and 36% of people who downloaded the app were still active afterwards. It also became one of the most decorated Indian campaigns of its era, winning a Bronze Media Lion at Cannes 2017, the Media Lotus Grande at ADFEST 2018, and a Gold and a Silver in the new Creative eCommerce category at Cannes 2018.
Why it lands
- It met customers inside an ingrained habit — candy instead of change — rather than asking them to abandon the ritual for a new behaviour.
- The product was the media: every wrapper handed over was a Paytm touchpoint that arrived with a built-in reason to install the app.
- The code gave the candy real, claimable value, so redeeming it demonstrated exactly what the wallet promised.
- Because downloads and post-download activity were measured, Paytm could see the mechanic was not just charming but efficient at acquiring users.
What it did
The month-long push logged one million app downloads, cut the cost of acquiring a new customer from under 60 to under 12, and kept 36% of downloaders active afterwards. It also took a Bronze Media Lion at Cannes 2017, the Media Lotus Grande at ADFEST 2018, and a Gold and Silver in Creative eCommerce at Cannes 2018.
What you can take
Instead of advertising against the candy-as-change habit, become the candy: put the brand inside a ritual people already accept, and the exchange itself does the onboarding.
Since then
Sweet Change kept paying off after the month-long run: it won Bronze in Media at Cannes 2017, took the Media Lotus Grande at ADFEST 2018, and returned to Cannes in 2018 to collect both a Gold and a Silver in the freshly launched Creative eCommerce category. The case is archived at D&AD, and for fintech marketers it became a standard example of turning a physical exchange ritual into a digital onboarding moment.
Sources
- “Sweet Change” – This Year’s Media Lotus Grande Winner
- Cannes Lions 2017: McCann Worldgroup bags two Bronze Lions in Media
- Cannes Lions 2018: India scores 5 Lions on Day 3; McCann wins Gold
- Paytm Sweet Change：现金找零不方便？那就用糖果来代替吧
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