Dawn of a new 'I' age: Why brands need influencers today

Influencer marketing becomes mainstream with incumbents such as HUL and Marico using them, and not only for brand awareness

Do not believe those who say age is just a number.
 

For people of a certain age, Vaseline would be a familiar name. The skincare brand may have been a fixture in their households. But those of a more recent age profile might relate to it, if they relate to it, in a different way.
 

To address this, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), which owns the Vaseline brand, engaged Shreemayi Reddy, who has 155,000 followers on Instagram, and Aashi Adani, a Mumbai-based blogger with 219,000 Instagram followers, this year.
 

“For me, Vaseline has always come across as a brand trusted for genera­tions, but not something people in their twenties or younger are reaching out for because it seems ‘old’,” says Adani. So, her video for Vaseline carries information about the product and explains its benefits.
 

Using influencers to market a product or service is not new. Beauty, fashion, lifestyle products and gadgets, in addition to food and travel companies, have used them for a while. However, this is the time influencer marketing is becoming mainstream, with entrenched behemoths such as HUL engaging with them in a significant manner. And this is now going hyperlocal and being done in regional languages as well.
 

It helps that influencers can go into the nitty gritty of a brand’s purported virtues and — this is important — seem to have more of a sway than traditional marketing over the younger people, the so-called Gen Z (18 to 23 years) and Millennials (24-37). Not surprisingly, companies are using influencers not just to spread brand awareness but also to maintain brand reputation, increase web traffic, and improve customer satisfaction.


If HUL is entrenched, Marico and Bikanervala are not far behind.

“Influencer marketing has become a critical lever in the content marketing basket,” says Somasree Bose Awasthi, chief marketing officer, Marico, which has a bouquet of health, beauty, and wellness brands. “This change has been driven by influencers’ ability to reach large audiences, build trust, and create authentic content. It has helped us reach consumers in a targeted, personalised manner.”
 

Marico used influencers to reach the target group for Livon — its hair-care brand — with content around a day out with friends and how Livon can play a part in it (read: keep their hair better). The campaign was meant to generate awareness in the Hindi-speaking market with creators choreographing a hook-step on a jingle that went viral, triggering user-generated content.
 

This helped the brand engage with its target group in a fun manner. Brand relevance was driven through the jingle, instead of the conventional physical product inte­gration. This generated 380 million views, and more than 1,000 user-generated videos.

“Influencers talk like you, think like you, look more or less like you and do not seem as distant as the brand endorsers from Bollywood or cricket,” says Harish Bijoor, a business and brand-strategy expert.
 

This appealed to Bikanervala, a traditional Indian restaurant chain, which ventured into influencer marketing five years ago for its brand, Bikano.
 

“By partnering with influencers to share their reviews and personal experiences with Bikano products, the brand builds credibility and taps into the trust the influencers enjoy with their followers,” says Kush Aggarwal, head of marketing, Bikano.
 

With the flexibility to create content and cater to audience preferences, content creators add a narrative element to their promotion, making it educational as well as entertaining. For Saffola, Marico ran a campaign to inspire young Indians to prioritise their health. The brand drafted 40 young achievers, all under 40, to highlight the importance of eating better — a way to use influencers who are not just social media personalities. The company also has campaigns for its Parachute Advansed hair oil.
 

“The authenticity of influencer marketing lies in the fact that it is driven by the users themselves, not dictated by brands,” says Ramya Ramachandran, founder of Whoppl, a content to commerce company. Though content creators may have brand guidelines, she believes their opinions are their own.
 

Reddy, who has, partnered with skincare and beauty brands Cetaphil and Maybelline India, besides Vaseline, says traditional brands are becoming more open to creative freedom when it comes to product campaigns. “They love it when influencers develop original content with unique ideas.”
 

Unlike celebrity endorsers, Reddy believes, influencers give a hyper-local flavour to their products.
 

Adani, who has created content for brands such as Amazon, Colgate, and Garnier India, besides Vaseline, says traditional brands on television create brand awareness that will register with the audience. “But,” she says, “I can explain the importance of the product, the ingredients used, how it is beneficial, and the best ways to use the product — all under 60 seconds in a way that is easy to understand.”
 

But how do influencers maintain the trust factor when it is apparent that they are being paid for their posts? Both Adani and Reddy say most influencers do not promote products they have not tried.
 

“When influencers candidly share their personal experiences and opinions about a product, it resonates with the audience,” Ramachandran says, “unlike generic YouTube advertisements.”
 

This is also in consonance with the government’s department of consumer affairs’ focus on ensuring that influencers follow a code of conduct and their posts do not end up misleading or misinforming people.
 

Dentsu India’s research division released a report in June on the “Impact of Influencer Marketing in India” in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. It said the top industries catering to influencer marketing in India were associated with brands in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, followed by banking, financial services and insurance, and automobiles. The fashion industry ranks fourth.
 

“Influencer marketing has a greater impact on Gen Z and Millennials than traditional brand marketing as they are more digitally inclined and tend to be more interested in trying out trendy products,” the Dentsu report notes.
 

Gen X and Boomers tend to be more receptive to brand marketing as they find it more authentic when the message comes directly from the brand.

Who says age is just a number?