MUMBAI: April Fools’ Day just got upgraded from pranks to plane tickets. While brands scrambled to pull legs, ixigo pulled wallets—but in the best way possible. The travel platform turned its cheeky April Full Refund Sale into a straight-up jackpot for 100 lucky flyers. Yes, you read that right.
Free.
Flights.
On 1 April 2025, between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m., ixigo dropped a deal that had the internet scratching its head. Was it a scam? A spoof? A sly social stunt? Nope. It was as real as the 100 per cent flight refunds it dished out. Every hour, 10 travellers who booked domestic or international flights on the app were randomly chosen to get their full ticket value back as ixigo money. The reward? Fully redeemable within 90 days.
The buzz began on 31 March with a loony little teaser starring ixigo co-founders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar in comically outlandish avatars. The video leaned into the absurd, but the payoff was dead serious: a campaign that blended chaos with cashback.
Winners were revealed via hourly Instagram Reels, building suspense and fuelling travel envy across social feeds. Some folks nearly cried at the generosity. Others just booked another trip.
Take Zubair, who flew from Bangalore to Singapore and bagged a Rs 39,950 refund. Or Jitendra, who got Rs 13,622 back for flying from Muscat to Ayodhya. Aishwarya’s refund for Mumbai to Kolkata? A neat Rs 8,325. One traveller even scored Rs 18,483 back for a Dubai-Mumbai flight. Not too shabby for a ‘joke’.
“What started as an April Fool’s prank turned into a real treat for travel lovers – proving that sometimes, the joke can be on scepticism!” said the campaign team. This year, ixigo didn’t just flirt with fun—it made 1 April an actual day of reward, pushing the envelope for interactive and meaningful marketing.
If this is what fooling looks like, more brands should take notes. Or better yet, take off.
Mumbai: The Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2024 presented valuable insights and strategic discussions, attracting industry giants, visionary entrepreneurs, and thought leaders from across the country. Held at ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru, the conclave, themed “Persist | Reset | Rebuild,” captured the essence of resilience and innovation needed to navigate today’s challenging startup landscape.
The event was organised to spotlight the transformative growth of India’s startup ecosystem. As innovation and entrepreneurship reach new heights, the conclave provided a crucial platform for key stakeholders to engage in meaningful dialogue. By facilitating the exchange of ideas and the formation of strategic partnerships, the event played a pivotal role in shaping the future trajectory of startups in India, underscoring the nation’s role as a global hub for entrepreneurial excellence.
To give a boost on the rise of the startup eco-system in Bengaluru, minister of electronics, IT & BT and rural development & panchayat raj, government of Karnataka – Priyank Kharge highlighted the state’s role in supporting the startup ecosystem, stating, “Karnataka continues to be at the forefront of innovation, and our government is committed to supporting startups with progressive policies and world-class infrastructure.”
India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant underscored the importance of startups in driving economic growth. “The future of India’s economy lies in the success of our startups. Their innovation and job creation capabilities are key to our nation’s progress,” Kant emphasised.
The day featured dynamic panel discussions with prominent entrepreneurs such as Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha; Swiggy co-founder and group CEO Sriharsha Majety; Sorin Investments founder and chairman Sanjay Nayar; Delhivery co-founder and CEO Sahil Barua; PhonePe co-founder and CEO Sameer Nigam; Curefoods founder and CEO Ankit Nagori; Groww co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre; Ixigo co-founder and group CEO Aloke Bajpai and SoftBank Investment Advisers managing partner Sumer Juneja. Topics ranged from quick commerce and workspace evolution to fintech innovations and the future of AI in startups. These sessions provided a wealth of knowledge, highlighting the achievements of industry leaders and offering a glimpse into the future of business in India.
Narayana Health founder and chairman Dr. Devi Shetty discussed the pivotal role of startups in healthcare. “Startups are revolutionizing healthcare, making it more accessible and affordable. Their contributions in the next decade will be groundbreaking,” Shetty observed.
SoftBank Investment Advisers managing partner Sumer Juneja highlighted the significant impact of their investments in India. “India has been an exceptional market for us, both in terms of investments and exits. Our focus now is on identifying the next wave of visionary leaders who can drive the future of innovation.”
Swiggy co-founder and group CEO Sriharsha Majety emphasised the unique dynamics of quick commerce in India, stating, “As the sector grows, we expect a significant reconfiguration in the supply chain, likely impacting traditional retail. A substantial portion of our revenue now comes from D2C brands, and as we prepare for our IPO, our focus remains on clear communication and long-term growth.”
The Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2024 successfully created a platform for meaningful dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders. The event witnessed several in-person attendees, with many others joining via livestream.
Moneycontrol expresses its gratitude to all the distinguished speakers, esteemed guests, and partners, including IDFC FIRST Bank – Always You First (banking partner), DTDC (exclusive logistics partner), Peak XV (VC partner), IndiQube (workplace partner), and associate partners Games24x7, Share.Market, Adobe, Tally, Reliance India Ltd, KITS (state partner), Da Milano Italia (Luxury Partner), and Townhall (event technology partner). The participation of these partners and media personnel contributed significantly to the success of the Startup Conclave 2024. The event stands as a testament to the resilience, innovation, and determination of the Indian startup community.
Mumbai: ixigo, India’s leading travel platform, has launched a new travel cleanliness campaign ‘Jaisa Ghar Waisa Desh’ to address the growing concern around lack of hygiene and cleanliness at tourist destinations. The campaign, in the form of a counter-intuitive video, aims to sensitize travellers on the impact of littering and how it transforms beautiful tourist destinations into unpleasant spots.
Conceptualised and produced in-house, the campaign sheds light on the double standards that citizens have when it comes to maintaining cleanliness at home and in public places. The short video shows a family dirtying their house making it unlivable. The concept draws a parallel between maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in all public places as one would do in their homes.
Recent reports revealed that over 10 lakh tourists left behind 2,000 tonnes of waste during their visit to Manali in May and June this year. Overtourism in high traffic destinations like Goa, Shimla, Varanasi & Srinagar has also led to an increase in solid waste and littering.
Speaking on the campaign, ixigo’s Co-founder & CEO , Aloke Bajpai said, “As one of the leading travel players in the country we want to massify the government's Swachh Bharat Mission by encouraging travellers to participate in keeping tourist places clean. It is important that we, as responsible citizens realise that the whole country is our home and keep it clean in order to be truly sustainable.”
Commenting on cleanliness etiquette of travellers, Rajnish Kumar, Co-founder & CTO said, “Reckless behaviour like leaving graffiti on heritage sites, monument vandalism and littering coastal areas is damaging our country’s natural beauty. While we continue to make innovations in the travel space, we also need to focus on adopting innovative ideas to reduce our ecological footprint.”
ixigo is launching its travel cleanliness campaign starting 2nd October, 2019 which commemorates Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.
MUMBAI: Leading travel marketplace ixigo has launched new brand campaign, with the slogan #FullPaisaVasool across media.
The campaign empathizes with travelers who receive a lot of cash-back money in their travel app wallets but then feel short-changed when they are not allowed to use most of it on their next transactions.
On ixigo, travellers booking flights cannot only earn ‘ixigo money’ on flight bookings but also spend 100 per cent of their ixigo money balance on their next booking.
Travelers have become disillusioned with gimmicky offers being run by many travel apps. Though a lot of cash-back money is promised, once credited, it cannot be used in totality on subsequent transactions. It also comes with several conditions attached to it. While many people now consider it as the new normal, ixigo’s campaign metaphorically highlights real life situations where the same behavior would be totally unacceptable!
The central theme of the ads is Indian weddings. One situation for instance shows a newly married couple receiving a loaded shagun envelope, only to have most of the cash taken away from them immediately after the on stage photo-shoot. The situations used, then ask viewers the pressing question “Bura Laga?” to reflect upon how people feel when they can only use a small amount of the money from their travel app wallets.
ixigo CEO and co-founder Aloke Bajpai adds, “Gimmicky travel cashback programs should not exist because they hurt the credibility of the entire industry. At ixigo, we believe in transparency as one of our core values, so it was natural for us to be disrupting how loyalty and cash-back works in our industry! We want every traveler to get 100 per cent value for their money by being able to use all the cash-back that they earn on their next flight booking, irrespective of which travel seller they choose to book the ticket from, on our app.”
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Launched in 2007, ixigo is India’s leading travel marketplace, with a user base of over 100 million travellers. ixigo allows you to compare and book from 120+ travel suppliers and OTAs across flights, hotels, trains, cabs and destinations. The company’s investors include Sequoia Capital India, Fosun RZ Capital, SAIF Partners, MakeMyTrip and Micromax.
MUMBAI: Travel marketplace ixigo has partnered with IRCTC to exclusively power hotel bookings for IRCTC users.
Through this partnership, ixigo’s wide range of accommodation offerings from its domestic and international hotel partners and OTAs will be available on IRCTC’s web and mobile platforms.
Railway travellers can now go to IRCTC hotels and compare budget and luxury hotels across prices, ratings, reviews and amenities through this new hotel search and booking platform. ixigo searches and compares over 40,000 hotels from all leading travel websites and allows travellers to filter by offerings such as ‘pay at hotel’ and ‘free cancellation’.
IRCTC CMD Mahendra Pratap Mall says, “Our partnership with ixigo is a part of our efforts of enhancing service offerings to railway customers. The smart and personalised hotel booking options aggregated from multiple online travel sites will help IRCTC deliver affordable accommodation to users through ixigo’s simple and innovative hotel platform.”
ixigo CEO and co-founder Aloke Bajpai adds, “We are delighted to power hotels for IRCTC and extend our offerings for their large base of rail customers. As a company, we have a decade-long commitment towards understanding the pain points of train travellers and solving them. Through this partnership with IRCTC, ixigo’s hotels meta-search technology will be made available to fulfil the government’s vision of providing more convenience and services to rail travellers.”
IRCTC’s website and app witnesses over seven lakh train bookings a day and through this exclusive partnership with ixigo, it aims to fulfill the hotel booking requirement for thousands of travellers every day. Rail travellers will benefit from exclusive deals and discounts as ixigo will aggregate and compare prices across branded budget hotel aggregators and OTAs on IRCTC.
Launched in 2007, ixigo is India’s leading travel marketplace, with a user base of over 100 million travellers. ixigo allows you to compare and book from 120+ travel suppliers and OTAs across flights, hotels, trains, cabs and destinations.
MUMBAI: At a time when the entire nation has been struck by cricket fever, leading travel marketplace ixigo has come out with an all-new brand campaign that urges people to take a break from their TV screens and travel! The campaign features off-screen friend duo – Gaurav Kapur and Cyrus Sahukar, who humorously debate over their love for cricket and travel. The ad series also includes quirky lines that tie in to the campaign theme of “Koi Match Dekhega, Koi Duniya.”
Conceptualised and conceived by the Delhi office of Lowe Lintas, the idea was to use the agency’s extensive experience with e-commerce brands and startups to break away from the clutter of conventional category advertising.
Commenting on the campaign launch and agency on board, ixigo CEO and co-founder, Aloke Bajpai says, “ixigo has been at the forefront of innovation for online travel in India over the last decade. Our campaign is directed towards building wider brand awareness amongst travellers, enabling us to provide a larger customer base with the best travel planning solutions. We’re looking forward to engaging with a broader audience, who will witness wanderlust Cyrus encourage cricket-lover Gaurav to ditch the couch and plan his next trip. We are happy to be associating with Lowe Lintas and both these talented actors to launch this campaign.”
Lowe Lintas COO Naveen Gaur adds, “We’re extremely excited about the possibilities that the shared vision of ixigo and Lowe Lintas will unfold. We have used a short format film approach to inspire people to travel and showcase the seamless travel planning experience that ixigo offers.”
Launched in 2007, ixigo is India’s leading travel marketplace, with a user base of over 100 million travellers. ixigo allows you to compare and book from 120+ travel suppliers and OTAs across flights, hotels, trains, cabs and destinations.
MUMBAI: ixigo.com, a travel planning and search engine, has kicked off its first ever integrated marketing campaign across television, OOH, radio and social media.
Speaking about the campaign, ixigo co-founder and CEO Aloke Bajpai said, “Since ixigo’s inception in 2006, it has been our goal to become the most trusted travel planning and research website in India. We strive to make travel an enjoyable and informed experience for our users with our apps, in-depth content and smart comparison of the best deals across travel sites. We are optimistic that our first ever marketing campaign will help us reach out to many more travellers across geographies and strengthen our positioning of being the most trusted travel website in India.”
The campaign, in line with the brand essence of “know & go”, aims to position the portal as the ‘go to’ destination for travel information and planning. This has been rendered in the form of a TVC which is the backbone of the campaign and highlights the pitfalls of unplanned travel.
In addition to the TVC, ixigo has partnered with leading radio channels to engage listeners ‘on the go’ through contests and trivia based activities. Innovative ixigo branding using TVC motifs will also be seen across major airports and OOH media. Along with a strong offline campaign, ixigo will also be promoting interesting ‘know & go’ facts, videos and contests across social media and online channels.
Added, vice president marketing and product strategy Saurabh Srivastava, “Our marketing campaign is clearly aligned with our core brand message of “know & go”. With our first marketing campaign, we are confident that ixigo will find resonance and preference amongst users across the spectrum and through our innovative mobile apps and responsive website, we will be able to help people travel in the know.”
The creative idea dramatises the pitfalls of travelling without knowing. The execution is built around one of the most famous travel destinations of the world – The Taj Mahal. It isdirected by E Suresh from Eeksaurus films and conceptualised by ixigo’s creative AOR From Here On.
From Here On founder and MD Rajesh Aggarwal said, “In the crowded space of travel advertising, our cue was simple – demonstrate the peril of traveling without knowing, in a quirky manner, which breaks the clutter and creates a memorable and sticky visual metaphor for the brand.”
