The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has unveiled its first Indian Premier League (IPL) advertisement campaign ‘RuPay. Be On-The-Go’ that features the Indian fast bowler, Ishant Sharma. The campaign highlights the many perks of RuPay ON-THE-GO on cards and other efficient form factors such as smartwatches, keychains, mobile stickers, and wristbands. Five clutter-breaking advertisement films are unveiled on television, OTT, digital, and social media platforms as part of the high decibel campaign. Harsha Bhogle and Virender Sehwag have also promoted the campaign on Twitter.
The film is based on the banter of three characters which includes an umpire who is struggling with payments, a batsman who knows how amazing RuPay is and takes all this on himself to guide the umpire, and an aggressive pacer, Ishant Sharma.
The umpire is so preoccupied with the batsman’s incredible and ingenious RuPay offerings that he doesn’t realise that Ishant has hit the batsman on the pads, and is now screaming ‘Howzzaaaatt!’, waiting for a reaction from the umpire.
What unfolds is a ‘match delay,’ in which the entire match is paused as Ishant tries to catch the umpire’s attention by shouting ‘Howzzatt’ in different hilarious ways. With RuPay on his mind and his conversation with the non-striker still going on, the umpire registers Ishant’s appeal and begins to raise his finger, eventually shouting ‘OUT-STANDING’ for RuPay.
The new campaign which is created by DDB Mudra has brilliantly and humorously captured Ishant’s vibrant acts of “Howzat” to connect all the films. The campaign included four short films that bolster the concept in various situations involving international payments, the convenience of paying using a RuPay ON-THE-GO enabled watch (at a grocery store) and keychain (at a drive-thru), and bus/metro travel. The films not only raised awareness about RuPay ON-THE-GO, but also demonstrated how customers can make payments that are quick, safe, easy, and hassle-free.
The films emphasised the RuPay cards’ availability and accessibility. According to the advertisements, every bank in India issues RuPay Debit cards, and a considerable number and prepaid/credit card players also issue RuPay Prepaid and Credit cards. Besides that, the films raised customer awareness about the importance of activating their cards for contactless, e-commerce, and international transactions following Indian regulatory requirements.
RuPay ON-THE-GO enables customers to make small and large value transactions at RuPay contactless-enabled PoS using everyday accessories and their RuPay cards at RuPay contactless-enabled PoS. True to its tagline, ‘RuPay. ‘BE ON-THE-GO,’ is re-shaping contactless payments and allowing instant on-the-go payments.