A quirky, fictional take replaces wedding cash with used phones-until Cashify steps in with the smarter, rightful solution.
Cashify, India’s leading platform for buying and selling used smartphones, has launched a playful yet strategic campaign titled ‘Phone Wala Shagun’, reimagining how people view old phones-and turning them into cultural currency.
The campaign taps into a humorous, fictional narrative: instead of gifting cash at weddings, guests offer old smartphones. Set during a vibrant Indian wedding, the dulha arrives decked out in a garland of used phones, and the traditional lifafa is swapped for aging devices. What ensues is chaos, laughter, and ultimately, a simple insight-old phones aren’t junk, they’re uncashed currency.
Resale, Reframed
Launched across Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Meta, the campaign aims to drive first-time resale behavior, spark new user growth, and make phone resale a natural, culturally accepted part of Indian life-just in time for the festive upgrade season.
“India doesn’t have a resale problem. It has a mindset problem,” said Nakul Kumar, co-founder and CMO of Cashify. “People don’t think of old phones as assets. With this campaign, we’re not just flipping a cultural tradition-we’re reframing how people see value. Resale shouldn’t be reactive, it should be reflexive. A default part of the digital ownership journey. This campaign is the first step toward making that shift mainstream.”
A Creative Collab for Culture and Comedy
To authentically bring this cultural twist to life, Cashify partnered with Dhindora Media, a creator-led storytelling studio known for resonating with Gen Z and millennial audiences.
Jai Sahni of Dhindora Media explained the thought process:
“Cracking this idea wasn’t easy. Phone resale doesn’t naturally fit into relatable, everyday narratives. But then we thought-weddings are full of cash exchanges… what if people gifted phones instead? That became the spark. Collaborating with Cashify was a joy from scripting to shoot. It’s always exciting when a brand is ready to have fun while solving a real problem.”
Beyond Resale: A Cultural Movement
With ‘Phone Wala Shagun’, Cashify signals its evolution from a transactional platform to a culturally relevant circular living brand-one that blends trust, convenience, and storytelling. The campaign follows the success of ‘Lie Hard’, Cashify’s earlier satirical content IP, and kicks off a long-term brand play where relevance drives both recall and trust.
In India’s crowded and largely unorganised second-hand tech market, Cashify is differentiating not just on service-fast payments, doorstep pickup, and data safety-but on mindset. The real win? Making resale feel not just easy, but smart, socially acceptable, and even… cool.
