While a few industry experts are impressed at the bold attempt, others say something about the ad just doesn’t sit well this time It seems like CRED has become to IPL what Pepsi was once to the cricket world cup. Who doesn’t remember the latter’s ‘Ungli Pe Tingli’ jingle with Harbhajan Singh learning his ‘doosra’ or Shah Rukh Khan disguised as Sachin Tendulkar. This is why people wait for CRED ads as eagerly as they do for IPL.

And much like the past two years, albeit moving away from the storyline of celebs indulging in self-deprecating behaviour, this time too, CRED seems to have hit it out of the park with their first ad this season. Featuring actress Karisma Kapoor, the ad tries to spark nostalgia with a spoof on a vintage Nirma ad and talks about the bounty proposition of the brand. And a major section of the internet approved! Even experts from the ad world are impressed by the creativity of the spot that has been created by team Tanmay Bhat, who have been relentlessly creating out-of-the-box ads for the brand, IPL after IPL. However, they admit the ads might fall short of delivering the brand’s bounty message clearly. Brand Strategist, Coach & Founder - Brand-Building, Ambi Parameswaran is not quite satisfied with the choice of ad and the overall spoof factor. “I saw the CRED ad and it is an interesting attempt to do a spoof of an old ad. A move away from making celebrities do things that they would not do in their real life. But their choice of ad left me cold. The Nirma Super ad is probably remembered by a fraction of old consumers. If they had picked the Nirma Washing Powder ad they may have found better traction. They have bought some insurance by using Karishma Kapoor in the place of ’Sita Devi’. And I made the connection only when someone had tagged the original ad with this one. I suppose they will do many of these spoofs with big film stars (they have the funding to do anything they choose to do), and hopefully, the choice of ad will be better. This kind of spoofing of ads has been done many, many times. Check out the Carling Black Label beer ad that spoofs the famous Levi’s Laundromat ad; an all-time classic. Both. That is the gold standard. Tough to beat with these efforts.” According to Brand-Nomics MD Viren Razdan, CRED has done better work than this, and the choice of ad could be low on appeal as it scratches the memory of very old times. “I think the Cred formula of break-mould platform has moved to break-the-clutter surprise. Spoofing the legendary Surf samajdhari series, however, would scratch the memory of a very old age profile. Seemingly low on appeal. The Karishma-Lataji story is confusing in its drawing a parallel to a ‘sensible to use’ Cred story. This one is soap water in comparison to their earlier reel.” On the other hand, Digital Dogs Content and Media Co-Founder & CEO Ambarish Ray thinks the ad will reach the right target group. “CRED is meant for a higher credit score audience and those with higher disposable income and credit history. These two criteria make up Boomers and audiences who probably know the context being referred to in the meme rip off of old Doordarshan TV ads. So, nostalgia makes sense.” Ray further says, “As far as the sense for the TG is concerned, IPL is an entertainment product. And CRED is punctuating that entertainment with some more entertainment. More than sense, the successful cornering of attention during a heavy-duty tamasha product like the IPL is the core objective, I would say. Everything about the TVC is a meme. And that's what I like. IPL is a wide net cast on all breathing Indians across TV and devices. If the meme is relatable as nostalgia, great. If it isn't, then as a standalone meme, it will either get remembered or not. Just as all memes are. What probably shouldn't be seen as a KPI for the ad is deep connect, explanations and deconstruction. CRED hasn't made an ad. They have made a meme. And logic and memes are never BFFs.”