The study aims to investigate the influence of persuasive metaphorical communication on citizens’ attitude, attachment and adoption of digital services based on the government’s logo and tag line in a campaign to promote digitization. The hierarchy of effects model is used to determine the effectiveness of metaphorical communication for the digitization campaign. Structural equation modelling is used on a sample of 301 Indian citizens. The results show that the hierarchy of effects approach is supported by the data. Emotional attachment has a mediating effect on citizens’ attitude towards the campaign and their intention to adopt the services. The moderating effect of gender is also found to be significant. Further, it is seen that professionals are more involved with the metaphorical campaign than students. Therefore, policymakers may consider the greater use of metaphors in their strategy for publicity of welfare schemes and as a tool for propagating socially and economically relevant messages. The paper contributes to the effectiveness of persuasive communication in emerging economies’ government campaigns.