Activating its 2021 sponsorship, IPL payments partner CRED rolled out a set of comic commercials featuring actor Jim Sarbh and a team of cricketer/entertainer endorsers.
Territory: India
Agency: DDB, All India Bakchod
Other organisations: EarlyMan Films (production)
Objectives
Under its three-year deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, running from 2020 to 2022, CRED has a suite of IPL-related assets including the ‘CRED Player/Payer of the Match Award’, the ‘CRED Power Play’ and alliances with GiveIndia and a sports coaching charity.
For the 2021 tournament, CRED briefed its agency teams to develop an integrated activation targeting its community of first-generation affluent, high-trust, credit card holders – one that continued to reinforce the narrative that ‘credit cards are better with CRED’, drive messages around financial and credit literacy, and offer match-related experiences and rewards while promoting member benefits such as cashback, product/service/reward partnerships and causes.
Activation
The spearhead, through-the-line campaign at the heart of CRED’s 2021 IPL activation was built around a series of six ambassador-fronted, tongue-in-cheek cricket-themed commercials that ran across TV and online platforms through the entire tournament from its start in April through to its final match in October.
It was designed around the idea that while many viewers would find the ads ‘surprising’ and ‘outrageous’, CRED members won’t because they are so used to the extravagant rewards they earn for paying their credit card bills on time.
Each video featured an introduction by Sarbh before scenes starring famous former Indian cricketers, athletes and actors, with a CTA pushing viewers online to find out how they could become CRED members.
‘Great for the Good’ kicked off in early April with a launch spot starring Indian cricket legend Rahul Dravid and ended in mid-October with a film fronted by fellow Indian cricket icon Kapil Dev.
Outcome
As well as enabling the brand to reach the IPL 2021’s 400+ million India television audience, the creative generated more than 50 million video views across brand and ambassador social media channels (led by 38 million views on the brand’s own YouTube channel and 10 million on its Twitter feed).