Mumbai: Love them or hate them, you can’t ignore them! Yes, we are referring to the ubiquitous Cred bounty ads. Whether you tune into Disney+ Hotstar to catch the day’s play of IPL or switch on your TV, the Cred bounty advertisements are out in full force. This time around, the brand turned the clock back to the 1990s, going on to serve the viewers a ‘bounty’ful of small screen nostalgia in a scene-by-scene recreation of the period’s all-too-familiar advertisements and television shows. There might even be a risk of overkill, with the jarringly repetitive call of "Cred Bounty” playing on a loop, ad nauseam.

Nostalgia done right? Let’s hear what the industry executives and discerning netizens have to say on the latest bounty of Cred ads unleashed on the unsuspecting viewer.

Cred ads have consistently played up the 90s nostalgia factor. Be it their 2020’s ‘Not everyone gets it’ IPL campaign with the decade’s popular film stars, playback singers, musicians who have you jamming to Cred jingles. Or its 2021’s ‘Great for the good’ IPL campaign, that had a staid Jim Sarbh doling out the credit card payment app’s virtues followed by a video of diverse celebs and sports stars from the decade in wholly uncharacteristic avatars. So we had a fuming, ballistic Rahul Dravid, a team of 90’s cricketers featuring in a boy-band and an eclectic Kapil Dev channelling his inner Ranveer Singh to the hilt. There was even a normally reticent, fresh off his Olympic-win Neeraj Chopra showing off his acting chops, though he technically belongs to this era.
These ads were high on entertainment quotient and managed to grab one’s attention without trying too hard. Of course, whether they helped sell the product or not, is another matter entirely.

For this year’s IPL season, the Bengaluru-based fintech brand has notably decided to play it a tad differently for its ‘Play it different’ 2022 IPL campaign, promoting its Cred Bounty feature.

So we have the vintage Nirma Super Detergent ad recreated with Karisma Kapoor starring as the modern-day ‘Deepikaji’ in a near-perfect reproduction of the original ad. Then there was the recreation of the 90’s popular reality TV show Antakshari with its original anchors, Annu Kapoor and Renuka Shahane pumping up the energy levels of their teams ‘Afsane,’ ‘Begane,’ and ‘Tarane’ as well as that of the viewers with their infectious enthusiasm. The latest in the series shows Sharma ji chatting up his neighbour Gupta ji about the prizes in store with Cred bounty, in yet another throwback to the 90s ads. All three of the brand’s latest attempt at rewinding the years are rendered in the definitive technicolour aesthetic of the retro-era that effectively transport one back in time.

While there were several individuals who felt the fintech brand is “revolutionising” the advertising industry with its novel and innovative marketing experiments to grab attention there were the naysayers too, with one user on social media going so far as to declare, “The only reason I am not seeing IPL this season is due to the flurry of irritating ads from Cred.”

“I don't hate the new Cred ads. How can I hate something I don't understand?," posted Schbang creative strategist Devargh Mukherjee on LinkedIn, with several voices from the corporate world chiming in agreement.

Bombay Shaving Company founder and CEO Shantanu Deshpande noted tongue-in-cheek that the quality of the Cred ad is directly proportional to the value of the Cred coin.

Some were scathing in their critique. “Cred I guess you have bought the wrong book of 1000 best marketing ideas or got the wrong agency. Go buy another one or change your agency,” ABC Talkies founder and chief executive officer Shalibhadra Shah held.

The ads are conceptualised and written by the brand’s established team of writers, comprising Tanmay Bhat, Devaiah Bopanna, Puneet Chadha and Deep Joshi, and produced and directed by Early Man Film and Ayappa respectively.

“IPL with Cred is a platform for us to work with iconic celebrities in the most creative and twisted ways possible,” Ayappa had said of the latest 90’s blitzkrieg from the Cred factory.

There were many who lauded the campaign’s production values and attention to detail to reinvent the bygone era’s ads. “Bhai maan gaye, aapki soch and production dono ko,” extolled one netizen.

“What makes both the antakshari and the Karisma Kapoor ads stand out is the authentic recreation of the square-sized video and the then picture and sound quality, in order to hit the nostalgia among the credit card users,” stated SoCheers Film director Jitendra Hirawat to IndianTelevision.com. “For this year’s IPL campaign too, they picked up yet another strong insight that most credit card users in 2022 would have grown up in the 90s. Hence, the use of typical 90s ad templates for the execution,” he said, adding that, despite the execution for the campaign being “a little different from all their other properties," it held up “Cred’s innovative USP."

Independent brand strategist Ambi Parameshwaran had a differing point of view. “Cred advertising is attempting to do just one thing: Brand recall. Their ads featuring old film stars and cricketers were much talked about. Their recent series spoofing old ads is patchy. Some of the ads spoofed were hardly memorable to start with. And their spoofs are missing the zing of the Bappi Lahiri or Rahul Dravid spots,” he lamented.

According to White Rivers Media influencer marketing and video production director Tanish Shah the ad is well shot and packaged too, but slightly more could have been done instead of simply playing repeat. “Perhaps, a lot could have been done to explain the product than just speaking about a particular feature of the product - which is vital. Besides, if I think from that lens, it kind of missed the bus. I’d have to say that the earlier ads were much better, he added.

There were some who praised the creative agency but dissed the product, saying that Cred ads have done really well in using that to hide a “subpar” product.

Some industry executives also lauded the brand for the creative freedom the writers of their ads got, positioning “creative freedom” as the most important thing in marketing.

"Kudos to Cred for giving its agency free rein. However this is also reflective of the dangers of giving agencies free rein,” noted Singapore-based Ambrish Chaudhry on LinkedIn. “Half interesting idea but probably felt more powerful in the boardroom with its advertising and marketing echo chamber than in the real world. Also no consistency with the previous hugely successful campaign and no link to existing brand assets. This could have been an ad for any brand. In my opinion, the recall and link with Cred will be minimal,” he added.

Similar sentiments were echoed by several creatives. “While everyone's talking about Cred, Jar, and Zepto for aptly portraying the 80s and 90s, some of us are still dealing with clients who've rejected similar ideas in the past and will probably show us these brand films tomorrow as a reference,” rued creative strategist Palak Kaur Anand.

Meanwhile, J Walter Thompson creative director Anurag Acharya wrote: I think there should be a 'Cred' category in ad awards for ads that cater to consumers, not to awards, made for products/services, not for a document called brief.

One argument that is consistently made out in favour of these ads are that they are meant to strike a nostalgic chord with their target audience- that’s the growing-up-in-the-90 generation and present day credit card users and payers. Millennials aren't their TG. It's the people in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, who are the majority spenders of their credit cards. It’s the perfect way to hook the 90s kid, felt many.

But is the “90s kid” such a prospective demographic as a customer for the brand? Apparently, yes!

“Well played, Cred, once again! :) Attention-grabbing for those who have grown up with/ seen the older DD ad!,” communications strategy consultant Karthik Srinivasan posted about the campaign.

So, what is it about nostalgia and why do brands latch onto it for marketing?

Cred’s not the first, and far likely to be the last to peddle nostalgia- There’s beverage brand Paperboat, which right from its brand name to its packaging has been invoking nostalgia.

“Nostalgia marketing” is a strategy rooted in psychology, and these processes are incredibly effective. Because nostalgia makes us crave the past, and when used in advertising, it appeals on a sentimental, emotional, and powerful level to the audience.

Well, if the surge in traffic to its app is any indicator, the strategy seems to have paid off for the fintech brand, at least so far. The Cred app saw a spike in traffic to the tune of 10-20 times during the IPL powerplays this season, according to Ganesh Subramanian, who heads architecture at the fintech company.

So, whether it's brickbats or bouquets its ads have been garnering, Cred may well be laughing its way to the bank! How much longer will the “nostalgia economy” work for the brand, however, remains to be seen.