After its iconic ‘Download CRED baby, download CRED’ ads last year, the Kunal Shah-led fintech startup has once again struck gold with a Rahul Dravid piece. The cricketer is seen traffic raging — something we’ve all wanted to do in Bengaluru — and declare that he’s the “gunda” of Indiranagar.
Hurling his coffee cup at a car and using his bat to break another car’s side-view mirror were just some ways Rahul ‘The Wall’ Dravid vented his frustration caused by the city’s endless traffic and poor road laws.
His “Indiranagar ka Gunda hoon main,” is a reference to the famous Bengaluru neighbourhood, where Dravid spent his childhood, as well as where CRED’s office, is located.
“Hi, this is Rahul Dravid writing the description for this video. Sorry, I lost my temper there. I am meditating these days,” the caption under ad on CRED’s YouTube page reads.
“Also, if an ‘Ajay’ from the red SUV who overtook me at the signal on 8th April 2021 is reading this, meet me there again in a week’s time. I’ll be waiting,” it adds.
Of course, the ad broke Twitter, and it went viral within hours of various prominent individuals retweeting it.
The startup ecosystem lauded the ads the most.
Memes rolled out instantly too. Unitus Ventures tweeted Dravid’s “Indiranagar ka Gunda hoon main” line with a caption that read, “When Indian startups become a unicorn,” in a hat tip to the unicorn frenzy we saw this week as six companies — PharmEasy, Groww, Meesho, Gupshup, Mohalla Tech, and CRED — hit $1 billion+ valuations.
The ad was produced by Early Man Film and written by standup comedian Tanmay Bhat, ex-AIB member Devaiah Bopanna, Puneet Chadha, and others.
In what seems to be turning into an annual trend for the startup during the IPL season, CRED will launch six more such ads as part of the campaign. Its ad films last year featured 90’s Bollywood actors and singers ridiculing themselves, auditioning for a CRED commercial.
