Mullen Lintas urges consumers to spend with 'Rupaiyyah Hai Pahiya' campaign

The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown dealt a harsh blow of India’s already weak economy. As per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CIME), "India’s real GDP declined y-o-y by 23.9 per cent in the quarter ended June 2020, reversing the economy back to its 2014 quarterly level of less than Rs 27 trillion."

Pessimism has seeped inside the Indian mind and therefore he or she has curtailed expenditures unless necessary. But, this reduction in spending will only hurt the economy. When there is no demand for goods, there is no incentive for companies to make and supply them, the cycle of demand and supply comes to a standstill and drives a death blow to the Indian economy.

Mullen Lintas has conceived an initiative ‘‘Rupaiyyah Hai Pahiya’ (Wheels of the Economy)’ to encourage consumers to start spending and to create liquidity in the market and help boost the country’s economy. The message will be amplified on the back of the extensive network provided by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS).

We spoke to Garima Khandelwal, chief creative officer, Mullen Lintas about the brainstorming sessions they had before initiative took birth. She told us (afaqs!), they (Mullen Lintas) had a couple of ideas about a campaign that would help the economy start again… Money needs to travel and the more it does, the better it is for the economy and it will only happen if “people start spending again.” We were talking about the travel of money and that’s when Azaz (Azazul Haque, CCO, Mullen Lintas) said that it’s like a “paiyaa”. Once he said that everything else fell into place.

Speaking about the art, she credited the bright Shashank in their team who made the beautiful and simple logo and said they wanted the campaign to be a simple one. It’s really a circular motion we’re talking about (the money you spend will return to you). The language, of course, was written to be understood. “We wanted to be cautious that we’re not talking about extravagant spends but it’s about the different things we need to spend on.” It won’t work out if people are not going to spend money… for small businesses to do well and it will come back.

As per a press note, Amer Jaleel, Group CCO & Chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group said: “There’s a training inside Lintas to think scale and to think mass. We involve ourselves with brands yes, with marketing yes, but beyond that our embrace is towards our culture and our economy. Lintas cannot ignore what’s happening to demand and to consumerism as a fallout of the Covid Lockdown.

Too much of our work depends on consumer sentiment and to reigniting consumer sentiment becomes not just necessary to our work and survival but it’s a calling, it’s a duty. Very early we recognised that this turn of the cycle will not revive on its own and the wheel of the country’s economy will need everyone to push. Spending with confidence is probably the only people-linked initiative that can bring about this momentum, and so we stuck our shoulder to the task and hope that the country gives it a heave too.”

About this campaign, Azazul Haque and Garima Khandelwal, Chief Creative Officers, Mullen Lintas said: “We’re happy and proud to have been able to do this campaign for the Nation. Since consumer confidence and discretionary spending is down, our attempt has been to humbly nudge the consumer to not hold back and that Every Rupee Spent is a Rupee Earned for the Nation. That’s how the idea “Rupaiah Hai Pahiya’ was born to encourage consumers to keep the wheels of the economy turning.”

IPG Mediabrands forged this collaboration with Indian Newspaper Society to provide the necessary reach. Talking about the collaboration, Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands said: “This pandemic has proved that if we can survive together, we can revive together. It is this collective that can help in crafting the ‘India Revival’ story.

The series of unlockdowns announced by the government via print media is playing its part to spread the word. Consumers are closely linked to print media and the campaign message amplification is best suited for a message such as this. The campaign by Mullen Lintas, with a massive reach supported by INS, is a call to spend in order to save.”

Shailesh Gupta, President, Indian Newspaper Society added, “Newspapers are the lifeline of the people and have been responsible to bring about national upheavals. Even though a lot of people migrated to online versions, the readership remained like a rock. It plays a strong connection with the people joining them with the mainstream and bringing them up to speed. A reach such as this can be harnessed for a national initiative like Rupaiyyah Hai Pahiya and help to turn the wheels of the economy. INS proudly supports this campaign.”