NEW DELHI: The National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) has launched its first Indian Premier League campaign ‘Be On-The-Go’ featuring fast-bowler Ishant Sharma. The campaign highlights the many benefits of Rupay ‘On-The-Go’, a contactless payments solutions which is available in various wearable formats such as smartwatches, keychains, mobile stickers, and wristbands.
As part of the high decibel campaign, five ad films have been released on television, OTT, digital, and social media platforms. The brand has also roped in popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle and former Indian cricketer, Virender Sehwag ,to endorse the campaign on Twitter.
The film revolves around the banter between three characters, Sharma, an umpire struggling with payments and a batsman who takes it upon himself to educate the umpire on it.
The umpire gets so distracted by the innovative offerings that the batsman is sharing with him, he doesn’t even notice that Ishant Sharma has bowled, rapped the opener on the pads, and is now screaming ‘Howzat!’, waiting for an out signal from him.
What follows is a ‘match freeze’ where the entire match pauses, as we see Ishant now doing his best to catch the umpire’s attention by shouting ‘Howzat’ in different ways. With the product on the umpire’s mind and his conversation with the non-striker still on, he registers Sharma’s appeal and starts to raise his finger finally shouting ‘Out-standing’ for RuPay.
Conceptualised by DDB Mudra, the campaign has captured Sharma’s dynamic action of “Howzat" to weave together the films. The campaign also features four short films which reinforce the concept in various situations involving payments for international use.
The films underscore the availability and accessibility of its cards. The advertisements highlight that every bank in India is issuing its debit cards and a large number of banks and prepaid/credit card players are also issuing its prepaid and credit cards. Further, the films also create awareness amongst customers to ensure activating their cards for contactless, e-commerce, and international transactions per the regulatory requirements in India.
