From accidental taps to double charges, this six-episode IP proves one thing: fall for common myths around Mobile Tap to Pay, and ‘Lag Gayi Topi’
Visa has launched a six-episode prank IP series to bust common myths around Mobile Tap to Pay, anchored by Cyrus Broacha in his signature hidden-camera format. Pranks work by catching people in a moment they can’t fake, that split second of genuine confusion before the truth kicks in, and the series uses exactly that moment to clear up assumptions about the technology that most people never actually check.
The series is positioned as an IP rather than a one-off campaign, with each episode bolder and funnier as it uncovers a new myth.
The first episode opens with a simple question: what happens when a POS machine taps a locked phone? The answer, it turns out, is nothing. Tap to Pay only works when three things line up: NFC needs to be enabled, the phone and payment app need to be unlocked, and the phone needs to tap the POS machine at the right spot. Get all three right, and that’s when you can make a successful transaction
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Other myths in the series include whether a phone can be charged twice with a single tap and whether someone can siphon money off an NFC-enabled device just by holding a POS machine near it. Each episode lets unsuspecting participants believe the myth before Cyrus reveals the truth. Anyone who falls for the prank is handed a hat on the spot, a nod to the Hindi phrase “topi lag gayi.”
The series has been conceptualised and executed by Schbang. The idea was to avoid another explainer video that people scroll past, and instead use entertainment to make a functional, sometimes-confusing payments feature easy to understand, remember and share.
“At Visa, we have always believed in creating campaigns that reflect the cultural zeitgeist of their time. You cannot educate someone who is scrolling past you. So, in a world where attention is increasingly hard won, the first step is to create something that genuinely captures it. Humor does that. Nostalgia does that. And Cyrus Broacha, for an entire generation, is both. As ways to pay evolve, something as simple as tapping your card can still feel unfamiliar to some consumers. Visa has spent decades making payments simpler, secure, seamless and more intuitive for consumers, and this campaign brings all these elements together and builds on the Visa legacy in a fresh way, using culture, humour and familiarity to make the functional feel familiar and the confusing feel fun”, said Gaurav Ramdev, Head of Marketing, India & South Asia, Visa.
“We wanted people to actually experience the myth, not just be told it’s wrong. Humour has a way of making things stick, it’s the moment you get caught out on camera that actually stays with you. Cyrus is one of the few people who can catch someone off guard and still leave them laughing about it, that’s exactly the energy this myth needed,” said Puru Agarwal, Creative Director, Schbang.
As the series continues, one thing across all six episodes stays the same: if you fall for the myth, ‘Lag Gayi Topi’.