CRED Marketing Strategy Explained: How CRED Built a Premium Brand in Fintech

CRED, founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah, is a fintech startup that has revolutionized credit card payments in India. Operating in the personal finance world, CRED has been growing like wildfire, with a monthly active user base of approximately 13 million. 

So, what's its secret sauce? 

It's all about making bill-paying feel exclusive and, dare we say, fun. From quirky ads that'll make you chuckle to teaming up with big-name brands, CRED's marketing game is strong. Stick around as we unpack how this company's unique approach is shaking things up in the crowded fintech scene.

CRED - Target Audience
CRED - Marketing Mix
Unique Marketing Strategies of CRED
CRED - Marketing Campaigns
CRED - The Road Ahead

CRED - Target Audience

CRED's target audience primarily consists of affluent, creditworthy individuals in India. Specifically, CRED focuses on people with high credit scores, typically those with scores above 750. These are often urban professionals, high-income earners, and financially savvy individuals looking for exclusive benefits and a premium experience managing their credit card payments and personal finances.

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CRED - Marketing Mix

CRED has disrupted India's credit card payment landscape with its unique approach to the marketing mix and made a name for itself among credit-savvy urban Indians. It’s done this by mixing a few key ingredients: coming up with innovative products, pricing them cleverly, making everything easily accessible online, and promoting to just the right audience. It's all added up to position them as a go-to premium brand in the market. Let's delve into the key components of CRED's marketing strategy.

Product

At its core, CRED's product is a mobile application that revolutionizes credit card payments by gamifying the experience. The app offers not just bill payment services, but also rewards for timely payments, exclusive deals, credit score monitoring, and additional financial services like rent payments and personal loans.

Price

CRED uses a freemium model. The basic app is free to use, which lowers the entry barrier for potential users. The startup generates revenue via commissions from partner brands, fees from financial products, and a premium subscription tier. This model allows CRED to offer high perceived value to users while maintaining a steady income stream.

Place

CRED's place strategy is predominantly digital, with the app available on major mobile platforms and the web. Interestingly, CRED creates exclusivity by limiting access to users with credit scores above 750, focusing primarily on affluent, urban customers in India's major cities. 

Promotion

The promotion strategy is where CRED truly shines. The company runs humorous advertising campaigns that feature celebrities, sponsors major events like the IPL cricket tournament, and partners with influencers. 

Referral programs, content marketing, and exclusive member events further drive engagement and acquisition. This approach helps create buzz, reinforces the brand's premium positioning, and fosters a sense of community among users.

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Unique Marketing Strategies of CRED

CRED’s distinctive marketing strategies have helped it stand out in a competitive market.

Exclusive membership

CRED positions itself as an exclusive club for individuals with high credit scores - it typically requires a credit score of 750 or above for membership. This creates a sense of prestige and aspiration.The brand started out as this super exclusive club where you needed an invite just to join. Pretty fancy, right? But it didn't stop there. It’s now rolled out something called "CRED Select" for the crème de la crème members. It's like VIP treatment for the VIPs, offering extra perks and goodies. So even within this already exclusive group, there's now a special inner circle. Talk about taking exclusivity to the next level!

Quirky, high-production value advertisements 

CRED's ads often feature celebrity cameos and absurdist humor, making them highly memorable and shareable. 

One of CRED's most notable and widely discussed advertising campaigns was the "CRED: Great for the Good" series launched during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season in 2020. The ad features legendary Indian cricketer, Rahul Dravid, known for his calm and composed demeanor, in a completely unexpected light, experiencing “road rage”. 

The ad escalates quickly. Dravid is shown smashing his rearview mirror with a coffee cup, standing through his car's sunroof shouting "Indiranagar ka gunda hoon main!" (I'm the goon of Indiranagar), and even destroying vehicles around him with a cricket bat. The ad ends with the tagline "Not everyone gets it," implying that CRED, like Dravid's bizarre behavior, is not for everyone. 

Rewards-driven model

CRED incentivizes credit card bill payments by offering rewards and cashbacks, essentially gamifying financial responsibility.

CRED incentivizes timely credit card payments through its app by awarding users with CRED coins. These coins serve multiple purposes, including redemption for various rewards or discounts. The platform often provides cashback on bill payments, sometimes offering a percentage of the total bill amount.

Within the app, users can access the CRED Store, where they can utilize their accumulated coins to purchase products at discounted rates. To add an element of engagement, CRED periodically introduces "mystery boxes" that users can unlock using their coins. These boxes contain surprise rewards, effectively transforming the routine bill payment process into a more engaging experience. 

Partnerships with premium brands

To reinforce the app's premium positioning, CRED collaborates with luxury brands like The Taj Group of Hotels, offering CRED members exclusive discounts, upgrades, or special packages at Taj properties. Members might receive complimentary room upgrades, special booking rates, or access to exclusive Taj experiences.

The brand’s partnership with Cure.fit provides CRED users with special offers on Cure.fit's services. This could include discounted subscriptions to Cure.fit's digital fitness classes, meal plans, or access to their offline gyms and fitness centers.

CRED also partners with other luxury and premium brands across various categories. For example, access to exclusive Jimmy Choo collections, premium test drives or chef’s table experiences at high-end restaurants.   

Experiential marketing

While other fintechs showcased their technology using AI/ML, CRED distributed free beer at the recent Global Fintech Fest 2024 to engage attendees in a fun, interactive activity. Attendees needed 50,000 CRED coins to scan the code, access the CRED bar and redeem the coins for beer. 

The disruptive idea reinforced their image as a fintech company that is different, enjoyable, and lifestyle-oriented, rather than just focused on financial transactions.

Word-of-mouth referral program

The company encourages member referrals, leveraging word-of-mouth marketing, social proof and network effects. As more users join through referrals, the value of the platform potentially increases for all users. This could lead to more partnerships, better deals, or enhanced features as the user base grows. While encouraging referrals, CRED maintains its focus on creditworthy individuals by applying its credit score criteria to all new sign-ups.

CRED - Marketing Campaigns

Not Everyone Gets It (2020-2021)

CRED's IPL campaigns have been particularly noteworthy. The "Not Everyone Gets It" series, launched during IPL 2020 and continued in 2021, featured celebrities like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kapoor, and Madhuri Dixit in unexpected avatars.

The most viral ad from this campaign showed the normally calm Rahul Dravid in an uncharacteristic "angry" persona stuck in Bangalore traffic. Playing on CRED's exclusivity, it implied that not everyone would understand the app's benefits. 

CRED Jackpot (2021)

During IPL 2021, CRED launched the "CRED Jackpot" campaign. This initiative offered members a chance to win prizes by paying their credit card bills through the app. The campaign featured cricketer Neeraj Chopra and actor Jim Sarbh in quirky advertisements.

The Jackpot campaign was successful in driving user activity on the app. CRED reported a significant increase in credit card bill payments during the IPL season.

CRED Mega Jackpot (2022)

Building on the success of the previous year, CRED introduced the "Mega Jackpot" campaign during IPL 2022. This campaign featured a star-studded cast including Kamal Haasan, Vijay Deverakonda, and Kapil Dev in a series of eccentric commercials.

The Mega Jackpot offered even larger prizes, including luxury cars and all-expenses-paid trips. This further incentivized users to engage with the app during the cricket season.

CRED Pay (2023)

To promote its new payment feature, CRED launched the CRED Pay campaign in 2023. The ads featured Ayushmann Khurrana and were designed to showcase how CRED Pay simplifies online transactions. The campaign emphasized how CRED makes payments seamless and encouraged users to adopt the feature. 

CRED - The Road Ahead

CRED's innovative approach to marketing has undeniably disrupted India's digital finance sector. The company has not only carved out a significant market share but also redefined customer engagement in fintech. As the company continues to evolve, its impact on the industry is likely to deepen. Competitors will need to adapt as part of an evolving creative and customer-centric fintech landscape. While challenges lie ahead, including maintaining growth and navigating regulatory changes, CRED's success story offers valuable lessons for startups and established players to follow. 

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FAQs

What is CRED company?

CRED allows credit card users to pay their bills through its platform and extends rewards for each transaction. The fintech platform also lets the users make their house rent payments, and also avail all the benefits of the short-term credit lines that the app now offers.

Who is CRED founder and CEO?

Kunal Shah is the founder and CEO of CRED.

CRED started in which year?

Kunal Shah founded CRED in 2018.