JSW Paints, part of the US JSW Group, has launched its product campaign focusing on the Halo Aquaglo range. JSW Paints Aquaglo is India’s first water-based paints for wood & metal surfaces with Germ Block Zn2+ion technology.
The Aquaglo campaign brings the focus back on consumers’ overall health and well-being through the Bollywood star and JSW Paints brand ambassador, Alia Bhatt, as she urges consumers to #PaintKaGKBadhao. The campaign also includes well-known artist and stand-up comedian Atul Khatri and brings to life the mass hysteria related to any new idea.
According to Anuradha Bose, Chief Marketing Officer of JSW Paints: “Following the successful disruption of our Any Colour One Price initiative, we are now delighted to launch our thoughtful product innovation, Aquaglo. It aims to change yet another convention in paints of using only ‘oil paint’ for wood & metal. Our new campaign draws consumers’ attention to the clear benefit of adopting a water-based Aquaglo range of paints for painting wooden doors, metal grills and other such surfaces in their homes. Paint Ka GK badhao is a clear call to action to make India sit up and choose wellness and comfort.”
Speaking about the Aquaglo campaign’s attempt to change Indian paint consumers’ expectations, Govind Pandey, CEO, TBWA\India said, “Paint category has been dominated by the same market leaders for decades without any real challenger. JSW Paints is the disruptor that is questioning the status quo prevailing in the industry. It is also encouraging the end consumers to get more involved because only then they will discover the best solutions for themselves.”
Finolex Cables Limited, the manufacturer of electrical and telecommunication cables, has introduced Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani as its brand ambassadors while announcing a brand refresh with the launch of a new 360-degree campaign – ‘No Stress. Finolex’. The new campaign will showcase the diverse product range of ceiling fans, LED lights along with electric cables and wires in three TVCs featuring the two actors.
Talking on the brand refresh, Deepak Chhabria, Executive Chairman, Finolex Cables said: “Driven by a set of timeless values and a contemporary vision, Finolex Cables has always provided quality products to its customers, which we will continue to do with our refreshed brand mantra of ‘Xceeds Xpectations’. Our growth in the FMEG segment is a testimony of our unparalleled understanding of the discerning needs of the customer. With a diverse product portfolio range and a robust distribution network, we aim to carry forward our cables and wires legacy and become the number one destination for all FMEG products in the country.”
Lendingkart, the fintech platform, announced Rajkumar Rao as its first brand ambassador. This is to engage with MSMEs in India to expand their ventures.
The campaign has been conceptualized by WPP’s Contract Advertising, where the thought is pegged in the insight based on the idea that for many things in life, there are conflicting choices and can put oneself in a dilemma. But for a few things, the choice is clear, such as business loans equal only Lendingkart.
Commenting on the campaign, Harshvardhan Lunia, Founder & CEO & at Lendingkart said: “We are delighted to have Rajkummar on board for our first-ever integrated brand campaign. Rajkummar has started his journey from grassroots and made a mark in the film industry. He is the perfect ambassador for us in our journey to simplify MSME financing. We clicked well together right in the first meeting we had. As the digital economy grows, it is imperative to spread awareness about digital business loans being available at fingertips. Lendingkart is playing a major role in bridging the credit gap that MSME sector faces. It is great that we have a friend in Rajkummar now”
Bikano, the snack and packaged food manufacturing company, has launched a new TVC about Indians who reside away from home and crave wholesome homemade Indian food.
Said Manish Aggarwal, Director, Bikano, Bikanervala Foods Pvt Ltd: “For Indians, Maa ke haath ka khana is always the best, no matter where we go. And on all special occasions, all that we want is to taste that wholesome goodness of homemade Indian fare. Since that’s not easy for people living abroad, Bikano has decided to bring to them ‘Maa ka Pyaar, Ma ka Dulaar’ wrapped in frozen packs of Bikano Punjabi Samosa, Bikano Shahi Paneer, Bikano Garlic Tandoori Naan and Bikano Paneer Pakoda. All they have to do is warm or fry them, as required, and suddenly the aromas wafting from your dining table will remind you of your mother’s kitchen no matter where you may live. We are glad that with this new TVC we have been able to touch the hearts of several Indians living far away from their mothers and hope they now know that they can count on Bikano’s frozen food range to satiate the craving for quality homemade Indian food.”
Johnson Controls- Hitachi Air conditioning India Ltd. has launched a multi-city OOH campaign across South India at the beginning of summer season. The campaign has been executed by Connect OOH in formats like hoardings, BQS, unipoles, etc at vantage points across the cities of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
Said Nilesh Shah, Sr. Vice President, Marketing & Business Planning, Johnson Controls- Hitachi Air Conditioning India Ltd.: “We are very excited to launch Hitachi AC campaign with innovative and smart features that can cater to the need of customers from having fresh air with our innovative FrostWash technology to a smart wi-fi enabled airCloud Home. With our unique “air Technology”, Hitachi’s Inverter split air conditioner can provide silent, odour- free, clean, fresh & surround air and thus offers most convenient and comfortable environment to our customers.”
Added Anjum Tanwar, Executive Vice President and National Head, Connect OOH: “This campaign suggests the consumer first approach taken by Hitachi and it can be intelligently delivered on traditional outdoor properties when combined with the right operational expertise”.
Goibibo, the online travel booking brand, has unveiled a new campaign Full Vasool League. the campaign will help viewers ‘monetize moments of not-watching ads’ with travel deals and offers. To kick start the campaign, the company has partnered with some of the leading cricket platforms.
Speaking on the occasion, Sunil Suresh, Group CMO of Goibibo, said: “Commercials are lifeline for a marketer including myself. Having said that, we wanted to take a contrarian view with a quirky activation and engage with the youth. We are confident that our audience will love to play while they sit idle during commercial breaks.”
Brooke Bond 3 Roses tea brand launched its new TVC Idhu Namma Tea(m), where it has partnered with the IPL team ‘Chennai Super Kings’ for its 15th edition. The campaign highlights the message of ‘Idhu Namma Tea, Idhu Namma Team’ (It’s our Tea, It’s our Team) to connect with the audience by accepting and trusting the new members of CSK.
Said Shiva Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Tea & Foods (HUL): “Brooke Bond 3 Roses is South India’s most loved tea brand and an icon of Tamil Nadu. Being Tamil Nadu’s favourite tea, we are happy to partner with Tamil Nadu’s favourite tea(m), Chennai Super Kings, during this year’s IPL. Our Idhu Namma tea(m) campaign celebrates Tamilians’ love for 3 Roses tea and for CSK with lots of warmth and affection.”
Added Ajay Mehta, Senior Vice President, Mindshare: “With the IPL season, we took this golden opportunity to associate with Chennai Super Kings, a team that unifies entire Tamil Nadu and resonates well with the brand’s philosophy of togetherness. The films capture this in a light-hearted manner and that too over a cup of tea.”
Cred, the fintech company, has unveiled another offbeat brand ad film. This time it features Ravi Shastri. Shastri has been a cricketer, coach and commentator and with this new ad film the former Indian all-rounder shows us that he is not only the life of the party, but the party follows him wherever he goes!
The film was produced by EarlyMan Films and Karan Malhotra composed the music for the film.
Said Kunal Shah, Founder Cred: “At Cred, we are constantly working to enhance members’ experience to make it more engaging, frictionless and rewarding. With new design philosophy, gamified rewards constructs, best offers and high value jackpots, we are consolidating our message of rewarding the right financial decisions and the privileges that come by being a member of the Cred community.”
Platinum Outdoor, a unit of Madison World, launches an out-of-home hyperlocal campaign for Vi or Vodafone Idea Limited to highlight their enhanced 4G experience and strong indoor coverage. With this campaign going live, Vi has reached every corner of Delhi/NCR with strong indoor network coverage.
Said Arvinder Sachdev, Operations Director, North, Vi: “We invite all pre-paid and post-paid mobile phone users in New Delhi & NCR to experience a superior, upgraded indoor 4G experience on the Vi network. Over the past year, we have undertaken numerous initiatives to improve our 4G coverage in the circle as well as to strengthen our indoor coverage even in congested areas in the National Capital. Customers can choose from a variety of plans that allow everyone in the family to do more and get more with Vi’s 4G network. Throughout our efforts to achieve 5G readiness, we remain focused on providing the best technologies, products, and services to keep delighting our customers.”
Added Dipankar Sanyal, CEO, Platinum Outdoor and MRP: “Vi checks all the boxes for a stellar outdoor campaign. It has been an exciting experience for our teams to plan and execute such a large campaign. The campaign has already had a tremendous impact on the brand.”
Lendingkart, the fintech platform, has released its first brand campaign with Rajkummar Rao as its brand ambassador. The campaign ‘Business Loans Bole Toh Sirf Lendingkart’ is conceptualised by Contract Advertising.
Said Harshvardhan Lunia, Founder and CEO & at Lendingkart: “We are delighted to have Rajkummar on board for our first-ever integrated brand campaign. Rajkummar has started his journey from grassroots and made a mark in the film industry. He is the perfect ambassador for us in our journey to simplify MSME financing. We clicked well together right in the first meeting we had. As the digital economy grows, it is imperative to spread awareness about digital business loans being available at fingertips. Lendingkart is playing a major role in bridging the credit gap that MSME sector faces. It is great that we have a friend in Rajkummar now.”
Added Sagar Mahabaleshwarkar, Chief Creative Officer, at Contract: “We wanted to introduce Lendingkart in a simple relatable manner to the millions of MSMEs in India. What Lendingkart offers is far ahead of what the world has been used to, in terms of availing business loans. The idea was to connect through the stories of business owners who are gearing up to expand their business, but in serious need of financing. And through ‘Business Loans Bole Toh Sirf Lendingkart’, the campaign highlights that for modern day businesses, there is only one partner for business loans – Lendingkart.”
Jigsaw Brand Consultants has been mandated to create extension brands for the Prega News Portfolio by Mankind Pharma. This will include the strategic direction for the brand architecture, identity and packaging for the new brands.
Rutu Mody Kamdar
Said Rutu Mody Kamdar, Founder, Jigsaw Brand Consultants: “We are very happy to partner with Prega News for these new and exciting innovations in this category. We are bringing in our deep consumer insight skills that are being translated to identity and packaging design for this portfolio.”
Added Joy Chatterjee, General Manager, Sales & Marketing, Mankind Pharma: “The team at Jigsaw Brand Consultants brings with them an ocean of experience in this space. They understand the consumer as well as the science of design and communication: especially one that is as intimate as ours. I am delighted to have found partners in them and look forward to the value they bring to the Prega News table.”
Cred, the Bengaluru-based fintech company (Dreamplug Technologies) for Credit card payment promises its nine million-plus members points that can be redeemed against rewards. In a way, the customer not only earn rewards while buying things on a Credit card, but also when making Credit Card payment through Cred.
I have commented on Cred’s strategically quirky ads and clutter breaker creative devices. Personally, I was never a huge fan of Cred advertising and found it crazy. It did not really make sense, with hardly a real call for action and flogging the same message for too long.
With time, the advertising started making some sense. Cred advertising is impressive enough on focussed consistency. The message format has changed yet it has retained its basic flow and quirkiness. I can now appreciate the structure and the advertising a bit better, but am simply stumped with the scale and need.
Cred advertising is still about the rewards on Credit card payments. Other features like Expose Hidden Charges. Track Spends. Clear Bills, Free Credit reports and scores, referral programmes, Get Rewarded, Peer-to-peer lending or pay Rent are not promoted.
Cred – BOWLS OVER WITH RAVI SHASTRI
With the Ravi Shastri Cred ad, Cred seemed to have bridged a gap. The ad is all about the performer’s perception and image. Coming in towards the last leg of IPL, the timing is right. Being a country that focusses a lot on cricket, viewers relate to the act as Ravi Shastri and his passion for drinks is a joke shared too often.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vLHpfulLcUE
The ad is humorous. It exploits the media image of Ravi Shastri. It has dialogues that one may find crazy and cheesy, but they are on the dot. And then Cred promising more fun than what Shastri is having. That is the week link.
‘Sattar minute for happy hours’, ‘I used to be a batsman, but for you, I can be a keeper’, ‘Waste mat karo yaar’ are spot-on. The timing perfect. Add to them my favourite: the poker-faced answer at the press conference, ‘Hate Talking to sports journalists’.
The Cred Ravi Shastri ad, like any other Cred quirky ad, is gaining views on YouTube. The small write-up under the ad on the Cred YouTube channel is equally interesting. Here it is.
As Ravi Shastri, I want to make it very clear that all my parties are invite-only. But I admire our youth and their potential, so if you’re able to do all of the following, you’re automatically on the guest list: (1) Open beer bottles with a bat. If you ask how, you’re already out. (2) Analyse footage from the party to see where drinks were wasted (3) Bartend 24×7(4) Carry an extra case of cough syrup at all times (5) Parallel park the bar-counter
If you make the cut, congratulations. You’re never going to remember another night in your life again. But if you don’t, cheer up: you can find an equally rewarding experience on Cred. All for paying your credit card bills. Believe me, I know what’s fun. To join me as a member, download the app.
What Next With Cred Ads
If Cred remains true to its advertising SOP, we can expect a series of ads in the format where the Celebrity may project their unwarranted images. Maybe Shashi Tharoor, Kangana, Chetan Bhagat, and Salman Khan could be good extensions to the series. Maybe the next series can pick trends with social media influencers. Hope it remains away from the region, religion, sex and politics – the four pointers that tilt the Smear Index for any communication.
Cred Clutter Breaking Communication Recipe.
Something must be right. Cred claims ( as of Oct 2021) a 700% increase in app downloads after the 2020 audition campaign featuring Madhuri Dixit, Govinda, Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan, Bappi Lahiri, and Anil Kapoor. And I was questioning – what the hell Cred was doing?
The next lot of communication has celebrities portraying images that you don’t associate with. The series featured Rahul Dravid, Jackie Shroff, Kumar Sanu, Venkatesh Prasad, Neeraj Chopra, and Kapil Dev. These were fun, and everyone had their favourite, with the Dravid ad being the most loved.
Then came the old era imagery with Karishma Kapoor in Nirma ad, Zee Antakshari with Renuka Shahane and Annu Kapoor, Sharma Ji-Gupta Ji, Shaan-Sonu Nigam song. I thought Cred was becoming too constrained with its own format and boundaries. And then it surprised us with Ravi Shastri ad that pushed me to rethink. The Ravi Shastri ad is fresh and one of the most enjoyable- but if it does anything to the business is a question mark. I will any day have the fun Ravi is having then go for the Fun of earning rewards by making Credit card payment on Cred.
Too Much Of Advertising!
That’s too many films in the last two-three years with not much to show in revenue other than valuation. So many celebrities and four format mutations. I may be bowled over with Cred Ravi Shastri for its timing and content. Still, I am stumped at the need and purpose of this considerable advertising.
Thanks to the advertising and some positive word of mouth, the brand enjoys a high recall and decent usage among Credit card users. However, the ad never made me want to check out or download the app. Maybe and hopefully, I am a minority. And perhaps the advertising is more cantered for VC, Investments and valuation.
Cred Not-so-Cred-ible Performance!
It is different when it comes to financials. Cred marketing spends outscore its revenue by huge multiples. It became a Unicorn within two years of launch, and the current expected valuation is around $6 Billion! And it behaved like one burning at a high rate.
Reports tell that Cred had a 95 cr total income and 88.6 revenue from operations in FY 21 (against 18.1 cr and 0.5 cr in FY 20), with total expenses at 619.4 cr and a loss of 523 cr in FY 21 (( against the expense of 3979 Cr and a loss of 361 cr in FY20)! Additionally, the marketing expenses themselves are pegged at 418 cr in FY21.
The brand seems to have launched or substantially grown products, including Cred Max, Cred Cash and Cred Travel which were not pushed aggressively with advertising.
One would here like to believe the founder Kunal Shah, statement: “At Cred, we are constantly working to enhance members’ experience to make it more engaging, frictionless and rewarding. With new design philosophy, gamified rewards constructs, best offers and high value jackpots, we are consolidating our message of rewarding the right financial decisions and the privileges that come by being a member of the Cred community.”
Will Cred Credibility get stronger in the future? We will have to wait and watch? Being Bowled by advertising is bad enough but getting stumped with financials is worse.
Cred, the Bengaluru-based fintech company (Dreamplug Technologies) for Credit card payment promises its nine million-plus members points that can be redeemed against rewards. In a way, the customer not only earn rewards while buying things on a Credit card, but also when making Credit Card payment through Cred.