A dummy’s guide to magicpin – the company spoofing CRED ads, offering cashbacks

magicpin’s latest ads have been garnering a lot of attention, but the question remains – what is the app all about?

magicpin has been in the news recently for spoofing an ad that caught everyone’s imagination. CRED’s latest Indian Premier League (IPL) ads have been in the limelight for showcasing celebrities in er… unique positions. The ads all have a preface by brand ambassador and actor Jim Sarbh, followed by a piece with the celebrities.

magicpin's latest ads have gone viral for taking CRED’s campaign head-on. magicpin’s ads feature actor Vijay Raaz and take on CRED’s much-touted rewards program. It awards 'CRED coins' on paying credit card bills via CRED. The magicpin team mentions that the insight that drove the ad was that most CRED users have lakhs of points, but don't seem to know how, or where to redeem them.

To many users, viewing the ad gave rise to the question – what is magicpin? Well, it is a platform that allows the users and merchants in a particular locality to discover, interact and transact with each other. The users can come on the platform to find trendy fashion boutiques, inexpensive hair salons, discounts at grocery stores and more.

In the ads that spoof CRED, magicpin has played on the ‘CRED coins’ insight and contrasted it against its own rewards program. magicpin says its program has a wider range of options for the users to expend points - food (including dining out and home delivery), fashion, grocery, and e-commerce platforms.

magicpin gives its users access to vouchers and discount coupons for e-commerce platforms, like Flipkart and Amazon, as well as local grocery stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, petrol pumps, spas and more. magicpin also offers users the options to avail these vouchers and coupons on the delivery of food, groceries and medicines.

The users can earn magicPoints every time they upload a photo of a bill. Every rupee spent amounts to one magicPoint earned. A user can earn free cashback (magicPoints) on all shopping and use the magicPoints to get further discounts through coupon codes and vouchers for online and local shopping. The user is required to click and upload a photo of the bill on the app to get up to 100 per cent cashback through magicPoints.

magicpin follows a fairly simple approach to how points are valued: one point is always equivalent to Re 1. The magicpin team mentions that from a consumer insight standpoint, there is an instinctive equivalence between the points and real money, which increases the "delight" users feel every time they earn points.

To take the idea of a “straight-talking no-nonsense app” further, magicpin collaborated with Raaz, known for his roles in films like Monsoon Wedding, Delhi Belly and Gully Boy. The ad contrasts Raaz's plainspoken persona with the fancy tone and tenor of the CRED ad led by Sarbh. With this ad, magicpin is positioning itself as the "asli savings" option for the customers.

magicpin also offers an easy rewards program. With this program, the users can earn scratch cards for every transaction they do on their cards. The users have to give the app access to their bank SMSes to avail scratch cards on transactions.

So far, there have two spoofs of CRED’s ads. ‘Bread’, the parodied version of CRED, is accused of distracting customers with its ‘quirky’ brand communication.

In the second ad, Raaz questions the use of all the points which one is offered daily for random and diverse stuff. Debit card points, airline points, loyalty points… Raaz, instead, urges people to use magicpin and enjoy real savings.

The ad’s YouTube description says, “Don't get distracted by celebrities.” It is nothing, but a dig at CRED, whose IPL campaigns, both last year and this year, featured celebrities.

At the end, Raaz says, “Point pae aa gaya aur mujhe gussa bhi nahi aaya.” It is a clear dig at CRED’s first ad of its IPL 2021 campaign, where former cricketer Rahul Dravid shocked the nation by losing his cool and trying to pick up a fight, while being stuck in traffic jam.