Rapping up Gold’s Plan: C Krishnaiah Chetty’s money is on the young racehorse

Age-old values and customs don’t interest Gen Z. There is always a clash in ideas and worldview. While the older generation sets store in saving money in banks and jewellery for a secure future, Gen Z believes in living life to the fullest with the money in hand because, “who has seen tomorrow”? To bridge the gap, C Krishnaiah Chetty Group Of Jewellers came up with an ad campaign that talks directly to the youth about the benefits of investing in gold — through the innovation of rap.

The company roped in Anup KR, the man behind the viral “Corona Go” rap remix. Set up in one of their stores, the campaign, called Gold’s Plan, shows the young rapper in conversation with the jeweller (played by himself too) in August 2019. The rap is catchy and talks at length about how investing your savings in gold is a great way of planning for assured returns and how you can put in a small amount of money for 11 months in gold, in the street-smart language of the younger generation. Added perks of birthday gifts and anniversary bonuses, protection from the fluctuating rates and keeping faith in the jewellers form the foundation. In the end, the customer is the one who wins.

The timeframe then shifts to July 2020, 11 months later, when the rapper walks in again and is now told about the benefits that he can reap from his investment. He has the option of buying jewellery against the gold, or invest in the paper gold plan, where you can buy the yellow metal from the comfort of your homes (because Covid is here). The campaign wonderfully captures different life-stages of a consumer through the subtle transformation in the appearance- it graduates from a more carefree young lad look to a more sober formally-dressed man later shown with a female partner. The youth centric campaign drives home the point- you need to start saving in gold early in life.

The campaign connects with the youth and bridges the gap between tradition and the modern. The goal is not to stop people from investing in other options but include jewellery to the existing ones. The young want to get rich faster and look for plans accordingly. The company took the theme of coronavirus and turned it around to give out a message — that money needs to be invested wisely and can now be done from the comfort of home.

“If these unprecedented times have taught us anything, it’s that we need to invest our money wisely. No other investment has proven to perform as well as gold and we want more people to benefit from our plans during the recent gold price hike. As a generation, we need to stop looking for instant gratification and go back to basics,” said Chaitanya V Cotha, executive director of C Krishniah Chetty Group.

So, what gave them the idea for a rap song? “I have always felt that the industry needs to push boundaries and break stereotypes. We need to make jewellery ‘cool’ and relevant, and what better way to do that than through music?” he added.

Cotha feels that the beauty of music catches the attention of all ages. What the campaign aims to do is generate dining table conversations between different generations and break boundaries, so there is an exchange of ideas. “We will be creating more content that appeals to all generations. This way, we will cover a larger base,” said Cotha.

It worked, because the campaign became popular immediately after its release on Instagram. Most reactions came from people who could not believe that a 150-year-old brand could do something innovative like this. “A success story was when a young man, who had never shopped with us before, became a client as he was amazed that we offered a concept such as paper gold — which is the exact purpose of this campaign,” said Cotha.

With Covid putting all our plans in disarray, the jewellery sector has suffered a lot in terms of sales. Cotha said this was a contributing factor to the campaign.

If the young, the fresh earners, start investing in jewellery, it stands to be beneficial for the sector. The campaign puts a beautiful twist on new ideas and reaches out to the young in a language they understand. Because as they say, C Krishnaian Chetty Jewellers “will be your wingman” because they “got your back, bro.”

Courtesy: As published in The Retail Jeweller India magazine