Influencers in Advertising

Playbook 2025

When it comes to communication, Influencers give what the brands can’t- a friendly and detailed conversation with the products and services

Posted On:

November 3rd, 2025

“When it comes to communication, Influencers give what the brands can’t- a friendly and detailed conversation with the products and services”

Marketing through influencers is not a new idea for advertisers. In the early 2000s, when large conglomerates like HUL, P&G and ITC started making inroads into Rural India, they started many programs to create and engage with rural influencers.

Village Sarpanch, HUL Shakti, Nike + Flagship Shoes (Air Jordans), Meesho with Influencers, Daniel Wellington etc were all the programs where the brand created well-informed evangelists among the core consumers and incentivised them for both education and sales achievement.

However, the history of influencers goes back not a few decades but a few centuries. The first documented influencer marketing campaign was created with no other than English royalty. In 1760, a London Potter Wedgwood created a tea set for King George III’s wife and named each item after the members of the Royal family.*

From then to now, the definition of “Influencer” and the level of engagement with fans metamorphosed to, what we now call the “Creator Economy”.

Earlier Influencers were mostly brand ambassadors and were generally big celebrities such as movie stars or sports icons. They played on their popularity and relied on their endorsers to plan their media presence.

But social media has given the power of creation to the people. From large celebrities to the new college president in our city, they share their life and connect with their fans. In 2009, the US government passed the “Mommy Blogger Law”, formalising the guidelines for the blogging community. Now, the UK, the US, China, and India have laws regarding governance in the creator economy.

*References:

“When it comes to creators, the more, the merrier. From mothers to astrologers, from chartered accountants to gym owners, anyone who has a knack for creating relevant content benefits from the creator economy.”

For Gen Z and Gen Alpha, “being an influencer” is among the top accomplishments on their “what will I do, if I can do anything” list.

Influencer Marketing Spends were estimated at 2400 Cr in FY24 and tentatively estimated at 2800 Cr in FY25. Many brands have carved out a share for “influencers” from both their branding and digital performance budgets.

How should brands think of their influencer strategy:

Just like everything else in life, influencer strategy also needs a purpose. Why should a brand take on an influencer, and what can influencers do that the brand has not done so far?

There are 3 things that influencers bring to the table:

1. Variety:

The way an influencer tells a story is unique to them. From making a video while sitting in a Parent-teacher meeting to giving a step-by-step demo of Diwali Puja, influencers find many interesting ways to express themselves. This way, they are able to create content of a specific scale. For any brand, creating multiple stories is both expensive and confusing. Think about a TV ad by a large brand. We do see 2-3 different renditions, but the call-to-action remains the same. After running the versions for a week or so, all brands keep the winning version and discontinue all others.

“But when the same story is given to influencers, everyone makes their version. And since the versions do not compete with each other for brand media spending, all versions float in the social media and tell their story.”

2. Credibility:

Why do people believe anecdotal stories but question hard facts? Think about all the ads on Shopping channels. Since they used to sell new categories, they relied on testimonials. From the weight loss sauna belt to the most effective diabetes control potion, everything would be sold (and is still sold on many regional channels) using testimonials from others who have used those.

Customer education is required to sell new categories. Educational content is long-form and time-consuming.

A brand message generally captures urgency and builds desire. Influencers not only provide this long-form testimonial kind of educational content but also add interesting personal information to make it more engaging.

3. Access to the right Target audience:

It is not uncommon to say or believe that “all genz” love influencers. Does this mean that the Influencers’ followers are GenZ? Actually, no.

“Though GenZ comprises the majority of the socially engaged audience, Millennials are also equally engaged on social media, but with a few channels (video first) and a certain content type.”

Astrologers, Chefs, DIYers, and now Finance/Stock market experts appeal to a wide audience across metro/non-metro, Gen Y, Gen Z, and most importantly, English and native Indian languages.

Making a business case for Influencers which is beyond just “follower growth” or “engagement rate.”

We have have used influencers across our clients to deliver high-decibel impact.

1. When it comes to influencer networks, Build your own:

It is natural for brands to seek popular influencers who are working for their competitors or with adjacent categories. For example, if you are a motorcycle brand, you will most likely engage with travel and automobile influencers. But think about a Chef (food influencer) going on a spice trail in Kerala on your brand’s motorbike. Will this be interesting content, likely. Will it generate user interest? Certainly. So, brands have to think about adding influencers from different genres to their marketing mix.

2. Not all content created is equal; prioritise quality and formats.

If your audience is college students and Snapchat works best for you, then engage with influencers who are on Snapchat, even if they have a smaller follower base. Because they will generate the right content and will engage in the right media.

3. Be clear about the end goal and Influencer target.

Influencers can generate trials, increase orders, make brand terms trending on X or increase website visits. But they can’t do all of the above at the same time, in the same campaign.

So when deciding on a campaign, be clear about the campaign objective and evaluate the proposals based on the cost of delivering that single objective.

Otherwise, at the end of the campaign, there will be no clear learning or conclusive results to cheer to.

4. Invest in the right tracking mechanism

As marketers we have to constantly choose between one channel and another. Influencer money comes at the cost of other display channels. We have to evaluate and prove efficacy of influencer campaigns compared to other campaigns and efficiency of one influencer vs others. Therefore, robust and relevant tracking is required. These can be Coupon codes, UTM links or Simple periodic correlations to prove cause and effect of the influencer post.

5. Bring an inquisitive mind and active Imagination to work

What an influencer can achieve is limited by our imagination. Therefore, we have to keep an experimentation mindset and keep testing out – new influencers, the efficiency of current influencers, and one kind of messaging vs other and most importantly offer vs no-offer or new offer communication.

6. Select Influencers both on popularity and cost-effectiveness

Often, in influencer marketing, the quantity over power quality. This is the reason why working with Nano influencers (<1000 followers) and micro-influencers (1000-100000 followers) with high consistency gives better results than a sporadic campaign with 3 top celebrity influencers.

“A good influencer plan includes both large and small-scale influencers and delivers results at optimal costs.”

To summarise, Influencers are the future. We can either be future-ready or miss the bus altogether. And no one wants to be a laggard. So, start on time, talk to many influencers, start with a few (with a mix of large and small), define clear goals, and keep fine-tuning the plan.

“In closing, Influencer marketing, from royal endorsements to today’s creators, offers variety, credibility, and targeted reach. Success lies in setting clear objectives and imaginative campaigns that blend creators’ popularity with their niche expertise. Brands should build diverse influencer networks, prioritise quality content, track results, and experiment often.”

Case Study

How Axis Max Life Leveraged Influencers to Deliver Incrementality and Efficiency

Problem Statement:

Finding Newer Avenues to increase Business contribution of Tier 2 & 3 Cities in Southern India.

Insight: Tier 2 & 3 Cities of Southern India registered high volume of searches for life insurance category compared to other Tier 2, 3 Cities.

Our Approach:

Influencer Category Selection: Finance, market updates and Educational content were selected for primary category of influencer based on their ability to handle complex topics
Influencer Selection: Telugu, Kannada and Tamil Vernac influencers were selected based on a scoring model which factored in influencer cost, reach, engagement rate, average view etc.
Content & Script Creation: Scripting was done in a way to make it look like seamless and organic. Brand Content was curated to fit into the influencer content rather than other way around.