Upstox aims to promote financial inclusion by targeting millennials: Kavitha Subramanian

Upstox is the first broking firm that has partnered with IPL ever since the cricket league was launched in 2008. The company currently has over 9 million customers and aims to reach users living in remote corners of the country. The Upstox platform’s user-friendly interface makes investing simple and their educational content further empowers users to make informed investment decisions. Powered by advanced technology, Upstox enables customers to gather an astute understanding of the financial market and assists them in taking control of their investments. Just like IPL has redefined cricket, Upstox aims to redefine investments for its customers. The company has grown 3X year-on-year and expects a similar growth trajectory this year as well.

Talking to Adgully for their column Talking insights, Kavitha Subramanian, Co-Founder, Upstox, speaks about their latest campaign, “Own Your Future”, which is aimed at driving a culture of equity investment in India and also to encourage and motivate more Indian investors to take control of their financial future.

What is the objective of these two films? What are you trying to communicate through these films for the brand?

The objective of the campaign is to promote financial inclusion in the country and that’s exactly what the ad films intend to convey. These lighthearted films explain how to “Make your favourite companies work for you” by purchasing the company’s shares, becoming a shareholder, and finally improving your returns as the company grows.

With these films, the campaign aims to encourage young Indians to invest wisely, own assets that will grow over time, and take charge of their financial futures.

While making these films, was there any particular strategy you had in mind in terms of accomplishing your marketing goals for Upstox?

IPL is a highly popular cricketing event in the country and has a strong follower base, especially among the millennials. Through our campaign, “Own Your Future”, we aim to promote financial inclusion in India by encouraging young Indians to invest wisely in the stock market, own assets that will grow over time, and take charge of their future.

When marketing ourselves during the IPL season, we come with the belief that IPL fans won’t mind taking a moment to consider how easy it is to invest through the Upstox platform, and some might even take the first step towards investing. IPL has a massively diverse viewership base and that makes this partnership ideal to our future aspirations and broader mission of financial inclusion in India. 

Who is your target audience for Upstox platform? Could you elaborate and profile the audience whom you are planning to reach?

IPL is a unique property that connects a diverse range of audiences and has unparalleled reach in deep India. Our intent is to target young Indians, salaried individuals, and entrepreneurs who yearn for a better quality of life and are eager to learn where and how they should invest their money. 

You were highly visible during the last IPL. What is your media strategy to leverage these two films to create an impact in the market?

Our previous campaign, “Start Karke Dekho”, encouraged people to open demat accounts and begin trading. Last time, we urged viewers to “try” investing in the stock market, thereby increasing our brand exposure on a large scale.

With our latest campaign, “Own Your Future”, we are emphasising on the advantages of investing in stocks and how it can help people to own their future and participate in India’s progress by becoming shareholders in companies. The campaign is a series of lighthearted ads explaining how to “Make your favourite companies work for you” by purchasing its stocks, becoming a shareholder, and having the company and its management work to improve your return!

The multimedia marketing campaign includes commercials on television, digital, and social media platforms. While digital has been employed to reach out to the target segments in the metros and big cities, television will be dominating the media mix for Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. 

The market is volatile and retail investors are sceptical about investing. Do you advise and guide the potential investors on how to go about investing?

We educate customers and help them make the right decisions by delivering financial education, news, insights and edutainment at scale. We have one of the largest social followerships in our industry, we work with hundreds of subject matter experts, ‘finfluencers’, thought leaders to bring out the best insights in an easy to understand format that is also actionable.

Also, we always advise our customers to invest for the long term, focus on the right fundamentals and build the right financial habits (for example, SIPs) to build wealth in the long run. When you understand the power of compounding, short time volatility becomes less of a concern. 

How do you plan to evaluate the effectiveness of your new campaign? What expectations have you set on the outcome of these two films?

The effectiveness is measured by both top-funnel brand metrics and bottom-funnel customer metrics. On brand metrics, we measure salience (total awareness, spontaneous awareness, etc.) and movement in key imagery metrics. On bottom-funnel metrics, we focus on growing customers and activities.