How CashKaro's new ad spoofed 'India's Got Latent' and took a jab at CRED

India's Got Latent may have been unceremoniously discontinued following a maelstrom of controversies, but its cultural footprint remains firmly imprinted on the digital landscape. Fan edits continue to proliferate across social media; nostalgic viewers persistently share clips of memorable performances, and now, the talent show phenomenon has found new life in the advertising world. CashKaro, the cashback platform, has deftly tapped into this controversial afterglow with a satirical advertising campaign that's as clever as it is topical—proving that even in cancellation, Latent's influence persists.The cashback platform's latest creative volley in its "#CoinsVSCashback" campaign features a remarkably familiar set design, complete with panellists donning goat masks—an unmistakable nod to the viral talent show that exited the stage amidst a storm of controversy. The advert's contestant, adding another layer of cheek, sports a shirt emblazoned with "Shred"—a not-so-subtle dig at fintech giant Cred.A campaign out of controversyThe conceptualisation of this campaign emerged from a rather mundane origin—a casual team brainstorming session. As Ishan Agarwal, director of brand and creative at CashKaro, reveals, "One day, we were just randomly sitting, and we stumbled upon a couple of posts on LinkedIn where people were talking about how the value of coins they felt was useless. And that sort of gave us a thought because of us being a real cashback company, and others giving you coins in the name of cashback. We figured out that bringing out the whole proposition of real cash back versus coin would really actually be interesting to people."This serendipitous encounter with consumer frustration sparked the idea to highlight the distinction between CashKaro's "real cashback" and the coin-based rewards systems that dominate the industry. With perfect timing, the team noticed how the controversial talent show was capturing national attention."Latent was trending at that moment, with all the fiasco surrounding Samay Raina. We decided latent is something that people are pretty close to. In fact, right from the millennials to Gen Z, everybody was watching latent, and it was something very relatable," Agarwal explains. The controversial nature of the show only added to its appeal as marketing fodder. "In a time of controversy, I think that's the best time to do any kind of advertising and pickup because it gives you eyeballs, and it gives you organic reach. And it hits the right relatability spot of the audience."This attention-grabbing campaign was developed entirely in-house. "It's all in-house," confirms Agarwal, with a mere "two weeks" from concept to execution. Targeting the digital shopper: From teens to septuagenariansWhile the campaign's humorous approach might suggest a narrow demographic focus, CashKaro is casting a noticeably wide net. "We're targeting anybody who's 18 plus, who's earning money, and who's shopping. That could be anybody, from a 17-year-old kid to an adult, to even a 70-year-old person who's also shopping online"-Ishan Agarwal, CashKaroNevertheless, he acknowledges that their core focus remains specific: "The bullseye audience still remains the young corporates." There is also a strategic focus on tier two and tier three cities, where digital shopping is experiencing exponential growth, as per Agarwal. The format, he believes, worked perfectly for their demographic: "Most of our TG is tier two, or tier three, and so people will relate automatically to it, and they'll see the ad.""Shred" vs CRED: The battle of the rewards systemsPerhaps the most audacious element of the campaign is its unabashed swipe at CRED, whose logo and branding are mimicked under the thinly veiled pseudonym "Shred". When questioned about this pointed reference, Agarwal is pretty direct."Cred is definitely a great brand. It's got a great product. It's got a great UI. I myself am a CRED user," he acknowledges. "But, with no hard feelings, we're just saying that the coins reward system is something that you really don't get to utilise. Whereas, in our ecosystem, you don't get coins; you get actual cash back."The campaign's core message crystallises around a straightforward value proposition: while competitors offer digital tokens of questionable utility, CashKaro delivers "real money" that customers can transfer directly to their bank accounts. It's a message encapsulated in the campaign's blunt tagline: "Coins Voins are all bakwaas, real cashback is with CashKaro.""In terms of CashKaro, you don't need to accumulate. You shop, you get cash back and you take it into your bank account. It's that easy," Agarwal explains. Digital focus during IPLIn an advertising landscape currently dominated by the Indian Premier League, CashKaro has made the deliberate decision to focus exclusively on digital channels, eschewing traditional media like television and limiting out-of-home advertising to barter arrangements."The media strategy is mostly digital," Agarwal explains. "We are not planning to go into TV. We're not planning to go heavily into out-of-home, although you will see a little bit of it on a barter basis. And most of the out-of-home that you see now are all being done so they can get picked up on the digital. So ultimately, the platform is digital, and that's what we are aiming at."When asked about IPL advertising, Agarwal says, "IPL is already cluttered. To break that clutter requires a lot of money, so we are definitely not looking at IPL.”The brand is taking an organic route for the campaign instead of promoting the ad film. "We've not run ads for this ad. We've not sponsored our post, nothing," Agarwal confirms. "It's all organic, and we want to capitalise on the organic audience; hence these kinds of ideas will keep coming in." Looking forward: A quarter of creative contentThe ‘Latent’ spoof is merely the opening act in what promises to be a sustained creative offensive from CashKaro. "There's no timeline for this campaign. It may stay live throughout this quarter. There's another ad we will be launching sometime this week. And you will see shorter videos that may also be spoofs. Or maybe something absolutely different. But it will all be informative and humorous," Agarwal reveals.With a user base of 24 million and plans to expand partnerships with D2C brands beyond their existing portfolio of 1,500 merchants, CashKaro seems positioned for growth. "We already have about 1500 brands working with us on CashKaro, including the Amazons, Myntras and Flipkarts of the world. They're all there on our platform. However, the partnership team is also expanding into a lot of D2C brands."

India's Got Latent may have been unceremoniously discontinued following a maelstrom of controversies, but its cultural footprint remains firmly imprinted on the digital landscape. Fan edits continue to proliferate across social media; nostalgic viewers persistently share clips of memorable performances, and now, the talent show phenomenon has found new life in the advertising world. CashKaro, the cashback platform, has deftly tapped into this controversial afterglow with a satirical advertising campaign that's as clever as it is topical—proving that even in cancellation, Latent's influence persists.

The cashback platform's latest creative volley in its " #CoinsVSCashback " campaign features a remarkably familiar set design, complete with panellists donning goat masks—an unmistakable nod to the viral talent show that exited the stage amidst a storm of controversy. The advert's contestant, adding another layer of cheek, sports a shirt emblazoned with "Shred"—a not-so-subtle dig at fintech giant Cred. A campaign out of controversy The conceptualisation of this campaign emerged from a rather mundane origin—a casual team brainstorming session.

As Ishan Agarwal, director of brand and creative at CashKaro, reveals, "One day, we were just randomly sitting, and we stumbled upon a couple of posts on LinkedIn where people were talking about how the value of coins they felt was useless. And that sort of gave us a thought because of us being a real cashback company, and others giving you coins in the name of cashback. We figured out that bringing out the whole proposition of real cash back versus coin would really actually be interesting to people.

" This serendipitous encounter with consumer frustration sparked the idea to highlight the distinction between CashKaro's "real cashback" and the coin-based rewards systems that dominate the industry. With perfect timing, the team noticed how the controversial talent show was capturing national attention. "Latent was trending at that moment, with all the fiasco surrounding Samay Raina.

We decided latent is something that people are pretty close to. In fact, right from the millennials to Gen Z, everybody was watching latent, and it was something very relatable," Agarwal explains. The controversial nature of the show only added to its appeal as marketing fodder.

"In a time of controversy, I think that's the best time to do any kind of advertising and pickup because it gives you eyeballs, and it gives you organic reach. And it hits the right relatability spot of the audience." This attention-grabbing campaign was developed entirely in-house.

"It's all in-house," confirms Agarwal, with a mere "two weeks" from concept to execution. Targeting the digital shopper: From teens to septuagenarians While the campaign's humorous approach might suggest a narrow demographic focus, CashKaro is casting a noticeably wide net. "We're targeting anybody who's 18 plus, who's earning money, and who's shopping.

That could be anybody, from a 17-year-old kid to an adult, to even a 70-year-old person who's also shopping online" -Ishan Agarwal, CashKaro Nevertheless, he acknowledges that their core focus remains specific: "The bullseye audience still remains the young corporates." There is also a strategic focus on tier two and tier three cities, where digital shopping is experiencing exponential growth, as per Agarwal. The format, he believes, worked perfectly for their demographic: "Most of our TG is tier two, or tier three, and so people will relate automatically to it, and they'll see the ad.

" "Shred" vs CRED: The battle of the rewards systems Perhaps the most audacious element of the campaign is its unabashed swipe at CRED, whose logo and branding are mimicked under the thinly veiled pseudonym "Shred". When questioned about this pointed reference, Agarwal is pretty direct. "Cred is definitely a great brand.

It's got a great product. It's got a great UI. I myself am a CRED user," he acknowledges.

"But, with no hard feelings, we're just saying that the coins reward system is something that you really don't get to utilise. Whereas, in our ecosystem, you don't get coins; you get actual cash back." The campaign's core message crystallises around a straightforward value proposition: while competitors offer digital tokens of questionable utility, CashKaro delivers "real money" that customers can transfer directly to their bank accounts.

It's a message encapsulated in the campaign's blunt tagline: "Coins Voins are all bakwaas, real cashback is with CashKaro." "In terms of CashKaro, you don't need to accumulate. You shop, you get cash back and you take it into your bank account.

It's that easy," Agarwal explains. Digital focus during IPL In an advertising landscape currently dominated by the Indian Premier League, CashKaro has made the deliberate decision to focus exclusively on digital channels, eschewing traditional media like television and limiting out-of-home advertising to barter arrangements. "The media strategy is mostly digital," Agarwal explains.

"We are not planning to go into TV. We're not planning to go heavily into out-of-home, although you will see a little bit of it on a barter basis. And most of the out-of-home that you see now are all being done so they can get picked up on the digital.

So ultimately, the platform is digital, and that's what we are aiming at." When asked about IPL advertising, Agarwal says, "IPL is already cluttered. To break that clutter requires a lot of money, so we are definitely not looking at IPL.

” The brand is taking an organic route for the campaign instead of promoting the ad film. "We've not run ads for this ad. We've not sponsored our post, nothing," Agarwal confirms.

"It's all organic, and we want to capitalise on the organic audience; hence these kinds of ideas will keep coming in." Looking forward: A quarter of creative content The ‘Latent’ spoof is merely the opening act in what promises to be a sustained creative offensive from CashKaro. "There's no timeline for this campaign.

It may stay live throughout this quarter. There's another ad we will be launching sometime this week. And you will see shorter videos that may also be spoofs.

Or maybe something absolutely different. But it will all be informative and humorous," Agarwal reveals. With a user base of 24 million and plans to expand partnerships with D2C brands beyond their existing portfolio of 1,500 merchants, CashKaro seems positioned for growth.

"We already have about 1500 brands working with us on CashKaro, including the Amazons, Myntras and Flipkarts of the world. They're all there on our platform. However, the partnership team is also expanding into a lot of D2C brands.

".