MAM
GUEST COLUMN: How to leverage Influencer Marketing for better impact
New Delhi: One of the biggest advantages that influencer marketing enjoys is the level of relatability and relevance it brings forth across all categories. Whether we’re talking about a product and a service offering or messaging for a cause, influencer marketing is versatile, that way, to address all campaign objectives.
Not just that, influencer engagements wonderfully trigger real-time conversions and drive a clear-cut call to action that successfully fulfill the specific brand agendas. Influencer engagements, which serve as a product testimonial by a legitimate, credible source, are undoubtedly more effective and impactful as they involve a humanized, personalized approach that other fields of marketing may not provide.
Influencer marketing is not only hugely instrumental in championing brand-related criteria, but it has been shown to create a positive impact in the social, not-for-profit realms as well. With the second wave of COVID-19 that has gruesomely gripped the entire nation, influencers have actively taken the onus to utilise their mass reach and following to disseminate useful Covid- related information. They took on the responsibility to steer clear of misinformation and go ahead and validate appropriate, authentic sources.
Influencer marketing is quite malleable that way wherein they can address the need of the hour and adapt in accordance with it. For instance, now is the time when people are increasingly spending more time at their homes; influencers display the presence of mind to adjust their content in tandem with that—which increases the relatability quotient substantially.
The simple trick is: influencers act like brand ambassadors without really making it very obvious.
With their massive following and reach, they can command their influence over their audience—which is highly impressionable—in a very relatable fashion. They act as the perfect opinion leaders who are fondly loved and trusted by their audience by seamlessly shaping perspectives in favour of the brands.
Influencer marketing functions like word of mouth on a larger scale where the influencer gives out his friendly review of a product and recommends the audience to purchase it. A lot of times they make the journey of their audience more rewarding by offering different discount codes. At the end of the day, all the stakeholders are equally benefited.
(Ramya is the CEO & founder of Whoppl, Mumbai based influencer marketing agency. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
AD Agencies
WPP Media elevates Dipti Gulati to vp, client growth for APMEA
Singapore-based executive to commercialise AI-powered solutions business across the region
SINGAPORE: WPP Media has promoted Dipti Gulati to vice president, client growth, handing her the mandate to lead the commercialisation of its solutions business across APMEA.
Based in Singapore, Gulati steps up after serving as senior director, client growth, where she drove expansion across APAC spanning programmatic, search, social, CTV, DOOH and cross-channel offerings. Now, she is tasked with translating advanced AI, data and technology ecosystems into scalable growth strategies for global brands across FMCG, luxury, F&B and financial services.
“I commercialise the future of media — at scale, across APMEA,” Gulati said, announcing her appointment. She added that she turns advanced data, AI and technology ecosystems into real commercial outcomes, shifting the conversation “from a pure media play to owning business outcomes”.
Her brief is unapologetically future-facing: addressable, accountable and AI-powered media. She will work with cross-market teams across APMEA, bringing together diverse perspectives and cultures to accelerate growth and build what she calls the “future of media”.
Gulati’s rise caps nearly two years at WPP Media and follows a six-month stint as regional director of growth, APAC, at Mindshare, where she led new business development and expanded capabilities for existing clients. Earlier, as global account director for integrated marketing communications on the Unilever business, she drove communications strategy for multi-million dollar beauty and wellbeing brands across Southeast Asia.
Before that, Gulati spent close to two years as associate director at Warner Bros. Discovery in Singapore. She also served as director, strategic partnerships and market development at TrustSphere, leading go-to-market and growth initiatives across Asia and evangelising relationship analytics to C-level executives. TrustSphere, credited by industry and Harvard Business School case studies as a pioneer in relationship analytics, became a springboard for her deeper engagement with data-driven growth.
Her board and evangelist roles at the Asia Cloud Computing Association and its Asia Analytics Alliance further sharpened her regional policy and analytics credentials. Earlier chapters include marketing consultancy at Blockchain Foundry and a seven-year run at Warner Bros. Discovery in India, where she led ad-sales and business development for HBO and WB across north and east India, delivering record billings. She began her career at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd and Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd..
From ad-sales floors in Delhi and Mumbai to boardrooms in Singapore, Gulati’s arc mirrors the industry’s own shift — from selling spots and slots to engineering outcomes through data and AI. At WPP Media, the brief is clear: scale smarter, move faster and turn algorithms into advantage.
