CRED’s lengthy Twitter thread not only educated us on Foreign Direct Investment but offered a sweet prize as well...

Unless you’re interested in economics and finance, a Twitter thread on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is not something you’d invest your time reading.

And so it came as a surprise when CRED, the credit card bill payment rewards app, tweeted about FDI. It was a 10-tweet thread that spoke about India’s FDI post-1991, how the government tweaks the rules in response to present circumstances, and about the legality of transactions. Yes, it was educational but not many would have read all the tweets from one to 10.

The ones who did were in for a sweet surprise. CRED in the last tweet said, “Congratulations, you’ve reached the end. That’s pretty reward-worthy in our opinion. And since you love to read so much, how does a free one-month subscription to The Economist sound? Be the first one to RT this and we’ll give it to you.”

It’s interesting because a topic such as FDI is not something everyone will like to read. But, there's a solid thought behind this move. In a story on CRED’s IPL campaign, Ayappa KM, the campaign's director told us, “…Shah (CRED’s founder) was clear that CRED isn’t a ‘massy’ product and had a particular target audience in mind.”

So, a clever way to incite curiosity (Why is CRED tweeting this?) but the well-read target audience (read CRED’s customers) will read the entire thread and adding to this, even the readers of The Economist are well-read and aware of the happenings of the financial world. It's a win-win move.

The app’s IPL campaign was a success because it was built on the premise of ‘Not everyone gets it’. We saw celebrities making fun of themselves and even the brand itself. CRED's attempt to build mystique about itself while keeping entry barriers high (only those with a credit score of over 750 can join CRED) seems to be working.

In an earlier conversation with afaqs!, Kunal Shah said, “CRED members comprise the mass affluent- urban individuals, who typically drive the majority of consumption in the country. This consumer cohort is also one that was least affected by the (COVID) pandemic and lockdown.”

On October 10, CRED tweeted, “Guess what song @imVkohli works out to. If yours is the first tweet he likes, we’ll send you AirPods.”

It’s raining prizes at CRED.