Q] InCred’s 50% revenue growth is extremely impressive. How has marketing contributed to this, and which channels or strategies have delivered the strongest results?
I’d say strong business performance comes from multiple factors. We run a tight ship across departments, and that’s what drives results. There’s also a strong focus on risk, so it wouldn’t be fair to credit marketing alone. At InCred Finance, our business is largely driven through channel partners, including our distribution network and direct sales agents. Our marketing strategies are tailored to appeal to them, focused on channel engagement, effective communication, in-branch visibility, and building brand recall. As a diversified NBFC with education, personal, and MSME loans, the needs of each customer segment are very different. From a marketing standpoint, it’s important to align deliverables accordingly and also ensure we stand out in a competitive ecosystem.
Q] With the IPO approaching, has the brand messaging evolved to also speak to investors, or does the focus still remain on your core customer base?
I’ve always believed that as marketers, we have to speak to all stakeholders. And when I say stakeholders, I mean not just customers, but also employees, industry peers, partners and investors. Even from a marketing standpoint, all the brand initiatives and communications we work on are always with the intention of staying connected with all of them. That’s what makes what we do so exciting, because this kind of consistent engagement with every stakeholder isn’t something that can be built overnight.
Q] Shreyas Iyer was featured in a recent campaign. What was the thought behind choosing him, and what kind of impact have you seen, brand awareness or engagement?
Sports has always been a big part of our brand DNA since day one. In fact, we had some big shoes to fill with the legendary Rahul Dravid, our first brand ambassador at InCred. Shreyas Iyer turned out to be a very natural choice, especially given his current form. When he’s on the pitch, he brings a fearless mindset, unwavering determination, and is a solid team player. All of this complements our brand ethos really well. The core emotion we stand for is confidence. Our tagline is ‘Borrow with Confidence’, and Shreyas’s persona aligns perfectly with that. He embodies the spirit of enabling people to move forward fearlessly, just like we aim to do for our customers as they pursue their financial goals.
Q] Financial services often rely on logic and trust, but you’ve also tapped into emotional storytelling. How do you strike that balance between brand-building and performance marketing?
Storytelling has gained a lot of importance recently, and influencers have really helped shift our perspective on it. In fact, it’s even more relevant in finance, which is otherwise considered a dry and complex subject. Most people feel overwhelmed by the terminology and concepts. So, it becomes essential to use storytelling to humanise finance and highlight its softer side. At InCred Finance, whenever we lend money to a customer, we’re ultimately helping them achieve a life goal or facilitate a significant life event. We try to bring out these stories through video testimonials or slice-of-life content on social media. The kind of engagement this content receives is incredible, and it only reinforces our belief in continuing this approach. Our campaign ‘Ask InCred’ is a great example of how we’re integrating emotional storytelling into brand building, while still supporting performance goals.
Q] As you just mentioned ‘Ask InCred’, could you tell us more about it? How does it fit into your larger marketing strategy?
This idea came while we were working on long-term brand positioning for InCred. Although this focuses on InCred Finance, the group has multiple businesses, giving us access to senior finance professionals from diverse domains who are not only thought leaders and domain experts but also effective communicators. Today’s customers actively seek digital content, even in finance. We brought these two elements together to launch ‘Ask InCred’, a platform where our internal experts simplify complex financial topics. This initiative builds trust, credibility, and aligns with our core brand emotion confidence, because knowledge fosters confidence. ‘Ask InCred’ includes a YouTube channel, blog posts, and customer education content aimed at making finance more accessible for Indians.
Q] How are you measuring the success of the Ask InCred campaign?
One clear indicator of success is that we gained over 60,000 subscribers on our YouTube channel within the first three months of launch, which shows that we chose the right platform and timing. Additionally, our website has seen a noticeable uptick in visitors and enquiries, and the videos have collectively received over 15 million impressions. These numbers have been very encouraging, and we’re continuing to release new videos regularly. We’re also inviting customers to suggest topics they want us to cover, making the initiative more interactive rather than just one-way communication.
Q] In the finance sector, trust is crucial. How are you using influencer marketing or partnerships to build credibility with customers?
We’re always on the lookout for the right opportunities, especially those that align with business needs. A key area has been education loans for postgraduate study abroad, where we’ve collaborated with hyperlocal influencers in specific cities and regions to deliver targeted messaging. We also ran a campaign with Soha Ali Khan around this offering. When the fit is right, we actively work with influencers.
Q] Financial literacy has long been a barrier in India and continues to be. Is there a particular demographic or regional segment you’re targeting with the Ask InCred initiative?
I recently came across a statistic that said only about 40% of adult Indians are moderately financially literate. With that, it becomes clear that we cannot limit our focus to just one demographic or age group. Financial knowledge is essential across life stages, from starting your first job to planning for retirement. So, our content is intentionally universal. We aim to cater to everyone, whether it’s a first-time borrower, a new investor, or even a sophisticated UHNI (Ultra High Net-worth Individual). The goal is to break myths, simplify complex concepts, and democratise financial knowledge.
PROFILE
Radhika Zingade serves as the Group Head for Marketing & Corporate Communications at InCred, a new-age diversified financial service group operating across Lending, Wealth & Asset management, Investment banking & Capital Markets. She brings over 2 decades of experience in Marketing & Customer Segment Management in the BFSI space, having worked at two top-notch Asian banks previously, namely OCBC Bank in Singapore and HDFC Bank in India. She holds an MBA degree from NUS Business School in Singapore and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Mumbai.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Founded in 2016 by Bhupinder Singh, InCred, is a new-age diversified financial services group that comprises three distinct businesses - ‘InCred Finance’ which is a new-age lending-focused NBFC; ‘InCred Capital’ which is an integrated wealth & institutional platform and ‘InCred Money’ the retail wealth-tech investment distribution vertical.
FACTS
Digital Agency: Transformics, In-house
PR Agency: Concept PR
Creative Agency: Irani Movietone, Bug Bharat, Xebec
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