upGrad's latest ad seeks to shake working professionals out of their career inertia and position itself as a viable option

• upGrad commits to ‘fast-forward your career’ in its latest Ad film; Launches its biggest campaign to date.
• Inspired by the real-life testimonials from upGrad learners, the campaign has been conceptualised by The Womb, directed by celebrated ad and feature filmmaker Vinil Mathew of Breathless Films.

Taking ahead the brand's mission of driving meaningful career outcomes for its learners, upGrad, Asia’s higher Edtech leader, unveils its new campaign, ‘Fast Forward Your Career with online courses from upGrad’.

Conceptualised in partnership with The Womb, the campaign is inspired by numerous emails and messages the brand has received from its alumni who have successfully received double promotions, higher pay grades, and job placements at 1000+ companies and MNCs across the globe after pursuing their online courses. upGrad has helped its learners skip many rungs on the career ladder, thereby speeding up the growth process. The commercial dramatises a similar career journey which will re-ignite viewers’ ambition of achieving meaningful professional growth.



Commenting on the launch of the new campaign, Arjun Mohan, CEO-India, upGrad said, “At upGrad, our core belief has been to offer the working professional community best-in-class opportunities with regards to universities, faculty, and placements since both career growth & success depend on these tenets. The campaign aims to bring out this differentiated positioning of the brand in the higher EdTech industry. While our past campaigns have helped us create significant awareness and establish upGrad as an online higher education leader, we now wish to push the envelope further and build preference for the brand, especially among a large set of ambitious working professionals who are looking for meaningful career growth, faster.”

Navin Talreja, Co-founder, The Womb, further added, “After landing a job, many working professionals find themselves stuck in the same job role without any growth and not much of a salary hike. While the want to study is present, their fear of losing regular income, and the insecurity of perhaps not landing a good job makes them believe that a linear growth cycle in sub-optimal positions or organisations is their only option. This campaign seeks to shake these working professionals out of their career inertia and position upGrad as a viable option that facilitates strong career outcomes in a contemporary, relatable, and engaging manner.”

“The films have a relatable, slice-of-life quality with an interesting blend of tongue-in-cheek humor and the fuzzy warmth of friendship. It was an absolute joyride to collaborate with the super creative team at The Womb and a progressive client like upGrad.”, said Vinil Mathew, the director of the film. With over two decades of experience and 250 commercials later, Vinil stepped into Bollywood to direct the critically acclaimed romantic comedy, Hasee Toh Phasee and his latest crime thriller, Haseen Dillruba, which was recently released on Netflix.

After a break of almost 2 years from ad commercials, he is back with the endearing campaign for upGrad – which is the brand’s biggest campaign to date. Launching with VIVO IPL 2021, the campaign will be heavily promoted across TV and Digital. The brand has partnered with a host of content creators and influencers who will be joining its war cry of fast forwarding careers in the competitive world of today. Furthermore, adding a more regional flavor to the campaign, the ad films will also run across media channels in several Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali and Kannada alongside English to connect with the regional audience.