CRED’s most recent ad campaign for Bidblast that mimicked newspaper classified ads took the internet by storm. Devoid of any brand logo or tagline, these barely looked like ads except the fact that each listing mentions CRED. The unique tone and funny descriptions garnered netizen interest making it viral as more people shared it across social media platforms and via messaging apps like WhatsApp. The creative marketing campaign by CRED is to promote BidBlast, a bidding game at the CRED store wherein you bid through CRED coins, and if your bid is the lowest and unique, you win.
The ad was created by a three-year old meme marketing agency called Youngun. Known for its humour led campaigns, the 30-people strong agency has also worked with Netflix, Myntra and Spotify.
In a conversation with Storyboard18, Saksham Jadon, founder of Youngun talks about the brief behind the campaign, planned virality and why creating hype works for brands in the digital age. Could this be the beginning of the age of hypevertising?
Edited excerpts:
What was the brief of the CRED campaign?
For CRED, while our base was a newspaper ad the intent was to get the ad circulated and spark conversations across social platforms. Second step was to create an ad which does not look like a typical e-commerce or digital company campaign. We played with the classified section’s type form and then use exaggeration to bring out the humour. The claims made by people in each ad was over-the-top and random hence it became funny. We used the names of real Bidblast winners with their consent.
We also used certain elements in each ad that were kept intentionally so that they could be highlighted and discussed on social platforms. For instance, the bike instructor ad has a reference to Gemini zodiac. This was intentional because apparently the zodiac Gemini gets mocked a lot for being problematic on social media.
I would say that 30 percent of the push on social media platforms came from us. We seeded these ads online through meme channels but the rest of the conversations was all organic. One of the ads was also picked up by a popular Western meme page called TrollFootball on Twitter, with 2.6 million followers, just because it had a reference to Ronaldo and Messi.
Apology notice pic.twitter.com/PW4qneQDG5
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) December 28, 2022
In terms of response, our initial estimate is that on a minimum the campaign has generated 60 to 70 million impressions across social media platforms. CRED’s marketing also got a lot of coverage so not only the product Bidblast was promoted but the company also got talked about.
Subversive or anti-advertising has become a popular trend. Why is it picking up big time?
Around 6-7 years back, there wasn’t much content on social media. Hence, brands did not have to put in so much to stand out as compared to now. Honestly, brands that follow traditional route of advertising have no chance of getting noticed online. I believe that the iconic Fevicol ad became so popular because there wasn’t much content at that time. Therefore, this is a natural shift for brands. Users do not wish to see brand initiated content as well. It’s boring. If the same newspaper classified campaign came from CRED’s own Instagram account it wouldn’t have become so viral.
GenZ consumers are interested in things which are hyped be it negative or positive. Hype creates conversation which leads to FOMO (fear of missing out) that is followed by the consumption of product/service in question.
Read More: CRED takes subversive advertising mainstream. But there’s a flipside to the rise of Credvertising
What are the cons of such advertising?
At times, consumer trust can get eroded if the brand is not cautious with its advertising strategy. For example, Vim can be called out if it creates a similar Vim Black campaign. A good strategy would have been Vim reacting to a viral video which is showing a product like Vim Black. This would have been less risky proposition for the brand because it is never came from brand’s own account. Brands need to safeguard themselves while launching such campaigns. There has to be a planned virality in which every stage of user reaction is estimated and counter actions are already planned if there’s a backlash. That’s where agencies like us come in picture because we understand internet really well. Once an event/campaign becomes a meme then no one takes it seriously and the chances of backlash is less. Brands gets visibility the minute memes start to surface; it also superimpose any negative chatter.
There has to be a planned virality in which every stage of user reaction is estimated and counter actions are already planned if there’s a backlash. That’s where agencies like us come in picture because we understand internet really well.
I have also realised that some negative chatter also comes from advertising industry because they know how things work. All the gurus on LinkedIn or ad executives get a mind orgasm by decoding the strategy behind such campaigns. But it has no effect on the brand because it gets the eyeballs of the users. If the marketing is gimmicky, then it should be planned in a way that the brand involved cannot be questioned directly.
What are things you keep in mind while creating campaigns for GenZ?
GenZ consumers are interested in things which are hyped be it negative or positive. Hype creates conversation which leads to FOMO (fear of missing out) that is followed by the consumption of product/service in question. For example, we are seeing the sneaker culture because it has such a hype around it. Same is the case with brands. The consumption of the digital first generation is driven by hype. People are flaunting their association with a brand that has gone viral. It is one of the strong reasons that is driving consumption among GenZ consumers.
Users do not wish to see brand initiated content as well. It’s boring. If the same newspaper classified campaign came from CRED’s own Instagram account it wouldn’t have become so viral.
For instance, a lot of Netflix consumption is driven by the conversations on the internet around certain shows. People started watching Shark Tank only after it started getting talked about on the internet. It’s all about garnering audiences and creating hype whilst playing safe so that brand is not harmed in the process.
Read More: Viral CRED Ad: Masked as whacky classified newspaper ads, CRED’s new campaign goes viral
What kind of brands do you wish to work with in 2023?
We have worked with digital first brands and have done campaigns for Pepsi, Nokia and Subway. We would love to introduce our kind of advertising to FMCG market because they are still stuck in five-year old strategy of rolling out two campaign a year with barely any conversation online.
Negative chatter also comes from advertising industry because they know how things work. All the gurus on LinkedIn or ad executives get a mind orgasm by decoding the strategy behind such campaigns. But it has no effect on the brand because it gets the eyeballs of the users.
What are your 2023 targets?
We plan to scale and extend our services. The idea is to focus on creating more campaigns such as CRED’s Bidblast and Myntra’s Vanshika campaign. We aim to make such services our USP in the advertising industry. Our aim is to also get into brand film writing, creating digital assets and writing scripts for YouTube channels.