Context
In 2020, Razorpay — one of India’s fastest-growing fintech startups — completed 2020 days since its inception. From a two-person team in Jaipur (the Pink City) to becoming a Y Combinator alum, a full-stack financial platform, and a name trusted by thousands of Indian businesses, it had been quite a ride.
Effective branding ensures that the product is top-of-mind when consumers think of a particular need or category thus increasing the likelihood of user retention.
Overview
The team wanted to mark this milestone not with numbers, but with narrative. Instead of a static infographic or founder note, they envisioned a fun, animated campaign to celebrate the highs, struggles, and quirks of their journey — while also expressing gratitude to users, partners, and team members who’d been part of it.
Task
To bridge this gap, Samsung wanted to create:
- Celebrate Razorpay’s journey of 2020 days in an emotional yet humorous way
- Highlight key moments (Pink City beginnings, Y Combinator acceptance, midnight servers crashing, building culture, product launches)
- Resonate with startups, developers, and finance leaders alike
- Create a content piece that sparks empathy, pride, and shareability
Action
To achieve these goals, I took the following steps:
Concept Development & Scriptwriting
- Crafted a timeline script blending real startup struggles with moments of triumph
- Tone: Witty, honest, playful — but grounded
Design Execution:
- Developed a clean, minimalistic UI in line with Samsung’s One UI design language.
- Designed a personalized dashboard for users to track financing, EMIs, and payments.
- Integrated real-time financing offers based on the user’s product selection.
- Implemented push notifications & reminders for payment due dates.
Animation & Storyboarding
- Developed a bold, minimalist visual style aligned with Razorpay’s brand palette (blues, whites, accent greens)
- Illustrated stylized characters, office scenes, cityscape, product UIs, and key cultural moments
Storyboard
Animation
Results
The animated campaign hit the right emotional notes, especially with Razorpay’s audience of startups, product folks, and finance teams, many of whom had shared similar journeys:
- Brand Impact
Reinforced Razorpay’s image as not just a payment solution, but a startup that understands startups
Humanized the brand with storytelling — not just success metrics, but milestones people could relate to
Became a conversation starter in the Indian startup ecosystem for a whole week