MAM
GUEST ARTICLE: The future of brand marketing using influencers
Mumbai: ‘Influencer marketing is the future,’ ‘Influencer marketing helps brands reach millions,’ and ‘Influencer marketing has limitless potential.’ We see such statements across articles, news, blogs, etc. As we dissect the relevance and future of influencer marketing, let’s clarify what it is.
Simply put, influencer marketing uses content creators on social media to craft engaging promotional content to drive traffic and conversions, boosting the brand’s growth and revenue. But is it true? Can we assume that brands can turn towards influencer marketing as the marketing industry’s future? And if so, how is this shift getting suitable returns? How is the integration happening across different mediums? How is it a reliable method of generating high ROI? Finally, and most importantly, what is influencer marketing for brands? In this article, we will unravel this boundless strategy.
One strategy – multiple purposes served
Influencer marketing, with its multifaceted benefits, serves more than one purpose. Some of the objectives of brand marketing with influencers can range from:
1. Building brand awareness: Influencers can amp up the brand positioning and visibility for their respective followers, especially if they’re niche-based with a highly engaged audience.
2. Increase reach: Influencers can help brands reach broader and more relevant audiences across cities or countries. This also helps the audience connect strongly with the brand that their favourite influencers associate with.
3. Drive sales/traffic: Influencers can help brands get more qualified leads and traffic with their content.
4. Improve brand image: Influencers are usually considered experts or key leaders in their niche or industry, and their followers highly value their opinions. When an influencer posts something good about or for the brand, this boosts the brand’s credibility and image.
Sass and Sales are on the same side now-
The evolution of digital marketing has taken over people’s digital privacy, so it’s safe to say that most of the expensive advertisements you’re pushing forward to your potential customers are not even reaching them. As a result, people are now paying to stop receiving advertisements. So it’s no surprise that the marketing industry witnessed the rise of influencer marketing as the hero of marketing, helping brands reach their potential customers on social media platforms with quirky, engaging, and relatable promotional content. Leading creators have mastered the subtle and sassy ways of promoting products or services. Be it Bhuvan Bam’s Myntra collaboration, RJ Karishma’s Hotstar collaboration or KYRA’s boAt collaboration, the content doesn’t just reach millions of people, it also helps people connect more with the brand. They feel the urge to buy the products recommended by their favourite influencer, driving high ROI in sales, website traffic, instals, brand visibility, awareness, and so much more.
Pay Less, Earn More? Yes, that’s on the table
Tired of paying for ads and marketing promises that never yield good returns? Influencer marketing has successfully established itself as a cost-effective strategy. How? Here’s an example: Micro-influencers charge as low as Rs 2,000 for content that reaches 50k potential customers. At the same time, macro influencers charge Rs 40,000 or more for content that reaches five million potential customers. Moreover, influencer marketing can be customised to suit your brand’s budget, ensuring your brand spends less and gains more.
Not just that, some influencers even prefer to do barter campaigns, meaning your brand can give some products to the influencer in exchange for a promotional post for the product.
Rule the digital world? Yes, along with customers’ hearts and pockets!
The digital crowd is hooked on their social media platforms throughout the day. Be it Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. However, the digital crowd is smart, so the selling process has to be more innovative. Customers are no longer attracted to advertisements promoting anything and everything. Brand marketing with influencers can be considered the liveliest form of marketing by simultaneously capturing millions across the globe. Let’s check out some of the leading influencer campaigns across different social media platforms to better understand them.
1. YouTube influencer marketing: Youtube influencers specialise in different niches. Collaborating with YouTubers for brand marketing can add value for your target audience while driving higher conversions. Some YouTube brand campaigns with influencers include live-shopping, review videos, and narrative and reaction videos, among others. Case in point, Open Book launched a regional campaign with influencers to familiarise the brand’s new products with its target audience. The content revolved around experts talking about the products and their solutions.
2. Instagram influencer marketing: With Instagram, brand marketing with influencers usually focuses on campaigns that aim to earn brand mentions, product reviews, content sharing, and contests. With the rising popularity of Instagram in the last decade, the creator pool has successfully implemented content curation and creation strategies that boost brand awareness, sales, brand visibility and more. Case in point: Paragon collaborated with mega influencers to target the youth audience and depict the brand as the go-to footwear for all occasions. The content revolved around reviews and product experiences, with a hint of humour.
3. Snapchat influencer marketing: Snapchat marketing with influencers is often considered the ace of social media due to the high rates of conversion, genuine interaction, and two-way content engagement allure it holds. Case in point: In 2020, Dunkin’ Donuts launched the most extensive campaign on Snapchat. To put a smile on its customers’ faces, it launched a campaign on National Donut Day. The brand’s Snapchat channel was taken over by influencers who posted snaps from Dunkin’ Donut outlets. To enhance their customers’ experience, they also devised a “Geofilter” that visitors could access after signing up with the store, driving high outlet visits.
Over the years, we have witnessed brand marketing with influencers on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, etc. It is safe to say that the trend has seen a glorious rise, and the future of brand marketing with influencers is ripe with possibilities and opportunities. Most brands have started adopting and adapting as per the latest trends and updates, staying in-vogue with campaign strategies with the “WOW” factor for the digital crowd, like boAt with its first-ever campaign with virtual influencer KYRA or L’Oreal revamping its influencer marketing strategies in a relatable way. One thing is sure: influencer marketing plays a vital role in the growth trajectory of brands. It won’t be long before most leading brands shift their strategies to adopt influencer marketing as a core strategy.
The author of this article is The Good Creator Co. co-founder Rahul Singh.
MAM
Brands push beyond compliance as trust takes centre stage
ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026 spotlights shift from legal checks to credibility.
MUMBAI: In a world where a disclaimer can be legally sound yet socially suspect, brands are learning that compliance may tick boxes but trust wins markets. At the inaugural ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026, a panel on “Beyond Compliance: The New Currency of Trust” unpacked a growing industry reality: the gap between what the law permits and what consumers accept is widening and fast.
Moderated by Meenakshi Ramkumar of National Law School of India University, the discussion brought together leaders across law, marketing and academia to examine how brands must evolve in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by scrutiny, scepticism and speed.
Ramkumar set the tone by highlighting a critical shift, advertising today operates in the same digital space that fuels misinformation, scams and fake news, making credibility harder to establish. “The challenge is not just about what brands do, but the broader context of low institutional trust,” she noted, adding that when violations go unchecked, trust erodes not just in brands but in the regulatory system itself.
This vacuum, she said, has given rise to consumer activism from boycotts to social media backlash as a parallel accountability mechanism.
For Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer at Marico, the distinction was clear, legal compliance is non negotiable, but insufficient. “Compliance is the minimum threshold. The real challenge is staying aligned with changing consumer expectations,” he said.
He pointed to how advertising narratives have evolved from traditional depictions of gender roles to more shared responsibilities reflecting a broader societal shift. “Earlier, it was fine to show one person doing the household work. Today, that may not land well. Consumers expect brands to reflect reality,” Bhasin observed.
He also highlighted internal debates where campaigns that may be legally permissible are still rejected for being culturally insensitive, noting that responsible advertising often requires asking uncomfortable questions before the public does.
If compliance is the baseline, reputation is the battlefield.
Bhasin noted that reputational risk has become a far greater concern than legal exposure, particularly in an era where campaigns can be dissected within hours online. “Earlier, a controversial ad might invite a newspaper editorial. Today, within hours, you’re at the centre of a storm,” he said.
Brands, he added, now evaluate campaigns through a dual lens legal viability and reputational vulnerability with the latter often proving more decisive.
From a healthcare perspective, Satish Sahoo of Cipla Health underscored the complexity of operating within fragmented yet stringent regulatory frameworks, spanning drugs, food, cosmetics and Ayush. “Anything under a drug licence is the most tightly regulated,” he said, adding that this necessitates proactive, not reactive, compliance.
He shared an example from the oral rehydration salts (ORS) category, where Cipla resisted the temptation to position products aggressively despite competitive pressure. “Our product is WHO compliant, and our communication reflects that. We chose not to blur the lines, even if others did,” he noted.
The long term payoff, he suggested, lies in credibility built over consistency, not quick wins.
Yet, as Harsha N of National Law School of India University pointed out, even perfect compliance does not guarantee trust. Drawing from historical and modern examples from exaggerated product claims in the 1800s to contemporary environmental and health advertising, he argued that legal frameworks often lag behind consumer expectations. “A brand can be fully compliant and still be perceived as misleading,” he said, citing instances where fine print disclosures fail to reach or convince the average consumer. He added that larger companies carry a disproportionate responsibility to set ethical benchmarks, even in areas where the law remains silent.
The conversation also turned to digital advertising, where the challenge extends beyond content to how ads are experienced. From algorithmic targeting to personalised messaging, brands now operate in an environment where regulation struggles to keep pace with technology.
Sahoo noted that social media has amplified awareness, with influencers and consumers increasingly scrutinising product claims and calling out inconsistencies. “Awareness has gone up dramatically. People are questioning what goes into products and what brands are saying,” he said.
The role of self regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Council of India also came under the spotlight.
Harsha acknowledged that while SROs play a crucial role, they are not immune to criticism, particularly around perceived conflicts of interest and enforcement gaps. “SROs have a higher threshold of responsibility not just to interpret the law, but to anticipate societal expectations,” he said.
He added that failures in self regulation often push the burden back onto government intervention, underscoring the need for stronger, more proactive oversight.
One of the more nuanced debates centred on whether building trust comes at a cost. While Sahoo acknowledged that quality and compliance can increase costs, he argued that companies must absorb them as part of their long term strategy.
Bhasin, however, framed the challenge differently not as cost, but as competitiveness in a market where not all players play by the same rules. “The real tension is when others cut corners and you choose not to,” he said.
The panel concluded with a call to embed trust into business metrics.
Sahoo suggested that organisations must go beyond revenue targets to include consumer equity and trust based KPIs, ensuring that ethical considerations are not sidelined in the pursuit of growth. “Trust sounds abstract, but it can translate into measurable consumer equity,” he said.
As the discussion wrapped up, one message stood out: the rules of advertising are being rewritten not just by regulators, but by consumers themselves. In an ecosystem where attention is fleeting and scepticism is high, brands that merely comply may survive, but those that build trust are the ones that endure.
