Digital Agencies
Brandie to focus on brand loyalty and community building in India
MUMBAI: Taking the trend of influencer marketing one step further by introducing real brand loyalists and customers in the paradigm, the world’s first crowd marketing platform, Brandie recently entered India after creating a lot of buzz in Sweden and the US.
Indiantelevision.com took the opportunity to interact with Brandie founders Pranav Kosuri and Douglas Andersson to understand what Brandie is all about and how it can prove useful in attracting a larger consumer base to partner brands. The duo shared insights into a number of aspect related to the company including their strategies, plans, and the basic business module.
Speaking about the idea behind Brandie, Kosuri and Andersson revealed, “Brandie was created after testing and analysing the brand’s main source of revenue and what actually affects the bulk number of sales.”
They elaborated, “We believe that every voice has a value no matter the size of social following. In fact, the most powerful way to influence people's purchasing decisions is through friends and family. We reckon that people already are actively sharing their positive experiences with the brands they love and thought that they deserve to be acknowledged by the brands for that.”
“Thus, playing on this concept of word-of-mouth marketing we decided to provide a powerful tool where brands’ loyal fans can be rewarded by opting into a social media loyalty program where they earn points depending on the content they create and share to social media. When we then introduced the Brandie tool the brands could see a consistent increase in sales with a decreased media spend in traditional media channels. Our mission is to democratise marketing and help brands that are loved by their customers, grow and get the exposure they deserve," the pair added.
On being asked what are their expectations from the Indian market, given it is quite different from their past two ventures, the duo said, “We see a great product-market fit for Brandie in India; both from the brands point of view and user point of view. Our market test in the Indian souk has proven to us that we can expect great traction here for the Brandie tool.”
Highlighting their strategy to win over the Indian market, Kosuri and Andersson noted that brand loyalty and community building are currently high up on the agenda. "We also see that for consumers the behaviour of wanting to be associated with the brands they love is closely linked to the social media behaviour of the Indian youth today. We are growing our operations in a controlled and orderly fashion tuning the Brandie tool to meet our initial partner's needs before we expand; we also want to make sure that the users get the best experience possible before scaling. Brandie is the platform and tool for brands to engage and reward their loyal customers and fans, not for discount hunters and the masses.”
Brandie has entered India with a very impressive portfolio of 11 highly stylish and popular brands, including Anand Ahuja’s Bhaane, Pipa Bella, Le15 Patisserie by Pooja Dhingra, and Godrej Nature’s Basket among others. But what made the two to zero in on these names?
To this Kosuri and Andersson replied, “The brands are carefully selected by our team. They have been identified as trendsetters and market leaders within their respective verticals. In the process of selecting these companies, we have looked for partners that have a strong digital strategy, a strong brand and who we believe will be able to grow their presence on social media.”
On being quipped what other brands can one see entering this lavish portfolio the duo asserted, that currently, no new brands are being added to the Brandie platform since the primary focus is on launching partners' success. However, the response from brands since we went live here in India has been tremendous and the inbound traffic of other brands requesting to join has been overwhelming. Since Brandie is an exclusive platform we have a pipeline and evaluation phase for brands that have requested to join and our team is gauging and assessing their profiles basis which we will incorporate them into the programme.”
India is a market of interest for a lot of brands that Brandie has worked with in Europe and the US, some already having a presence in the Indian market. "You will be seeing a lot of international brands from Europe and the US joining Brandie in the near future,” they added.
How does Brandie stack up against today's influence marketing model? To this, Kosuri and Andersson had an interesting perception to share. They said, “Definitely, traditional influencer marketing is a powerful tool when used in the correct way. However, the effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) can be debated. We see that integrating a real consumer in the marketing efforts makes all the difference; by having genuine customers as an integral part of your strategy building and growing, the brand resonates better with the early majority/majority on the bell curve of marketing.”
Not only does Brandie help one get mass adoption of the product, it also gives insight into how the actual customers are communicating around the brand to their friends and family. "This is something that, today, is lost on brands since the majority of social media accounts for regular people, meaning not public figures, are private accounts and brands don't see the content being shared by them. With Brandie, the brands are now able to see this content and with our photo recognition tools and machine learning products, we are able to provide invaluable insights on how to adapt their marketing strategies,” the duo contended.
Kosuri and Andersson went on to conclude, “Brandie is a tool digitising the concept of word-of-mouth and we think that our tool is the most cost-effective and powerful one. Therefore, we put our ‘money where our mouths are’, meaning that in the coming months, when we decide to start communicating about Brandie outside our partners' existing communities, our primary tool to help brands reach a larger audience is through our own tool, Brandie.”
BENGALURU: For years, creative teams have learned to live with ambiguity. Vague comments, last-minute changes, feedback that arrives without context, clarity, or conviction. It became part of the job – something teams worked around rather than getting it solved.
But as we head into 2026, that tolerance is wearing thin.
Creative work today moves faster, scales wider, and involves more stakeholders than before. Teams are producing more content across more formats, often with distributed collaborators and tighter timelines. In this environment, guesswork is no longer a harmless inconvenience. It’s a cost – to time, to budgets, and to creative mindspace.
The real problem isn’t feedback, it’s how it’s given
Most creative professionals you see today will tell you they’re not against feedback. In fact, they rely on it. Good feedback sharpens ideas, strengthens execution, and pushes work forward. The problem is ‘unclear’ feedback. When someone says “this doesn’t feel right” without context, they aren’t just revising – they’re basically decoding. They’re guessing what the problem might be, trying different directions, and burning time in the process. Multiply that by a few stakeholders and a few rounds, and suddenly days disappear.
In 2026, when teams are expected to deliver faster without compromising quality, interpretation is a luxury most can’t afford.
Scale has changed rverything
Creative projects used to be smaller and simpler. A designer, a manager, maybe one client contact. Feedback loops were short, even if they weren’t perfect.
Today, the same project might involve internal marketing teams, agencies, freelancers, brand reviewers, and regional teams. Everyone has a say. Everyone leaves comments. And often, those comments don’t agree. More people reviewing work means alignment matters more than ever. Clear feedback isn’t just about being nice to creative teams, it’s about keeping projects moving when complexity increases.
Guesswork quietly wears teams down
One of the less talked-about impacts of unclear feedback is what it does to people.
When feedback is vague or contradictory, creatives second-guess their decisions. They hesitate. They overwork. They keep extra time buffers “just in case.” Over time, confidence drops. Ownership fades. Work becomes safer, not stronger. Creative energy gets spent on managing uncertainty instead of pushing ideas forward. And in an industry already grappling with burnout, unclear feedback adds unnecessary mental load.
Actionable feedback is a shared skill
Clear feedback doesn’t mean controlling creative decisions or dictating every detail. It means being specific enough that someone knows what to do next.
Actionable feedback answers three basic questions:
What exactly needs attention?
Why does it matter?
What outcome are we aiming for?
This applies whether you’re reviewing a video frame, a design layout, or a copy draft. The clearer the feedback, the fewer follow-ups it creates. In 2026, teams that treat feedback as a skill and not an afterthought, will move faster with less friction.
Tools shape behaviour (whether we admit it or not)
The way feedback is delivered is often dictated by the tools teams use. Comments buried in long email threads, messages split across chat apps, or notes detached from the actual work all contribute to confusion.
When feedback lives outside the work, context often gets lost. When it’s disconnected from versions and timelines, decisions get questioned. When it’s scattered, accountability disappears. More teams are starting to realise that feedback problems aren’t just communication issues, they’re workflow issues. How work moves between people matters just as much as the work itself.
From Opinions To Alignment
One of the biggest shifts happening in creative teams is a move away from purely opinion-driven feedback. Instead of “I like this” or “I don’t,” teams are asking better questions:
● Does this meet the brief?
● Does this solve the problem?
● Does this align with the goal?
This change reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and helps feedback feel less personal and more productive. It also makes decisions easier to explain and defend. As creative work becomes more strategic, feedback has to support that shift.
2026 Is About Fewer Loops, Not Faster Loops
There’s a misconception that speed means moving through feedback cycles faster. In reality, the most creative teams aren’t just accelerating loops, they’re reducing them. Clear, actionable feedback upfront leads to fewer revisions later. Clear approval stages prevent last-minute surprises. Clear decisions stop work from circling endlessly.
In 2026, efficiency won’t come from working harder or longer. It will come from designing workflows that respect creative time and attention.
Ending guesswork is a mindset change
Ultimately, ending creative guesswork isn’t just about better tools or processes. It’s about mindset. It’s about recognising that clarity is an act of respect – for the work, for the people doing it, for the time invested and for the mindspace used. It’s about moving from “figure it out” to “here’s what we’re aiming for.”
Creative teams that embrace this shift will find themselves not only delivering faster, but also enjoying the process more. And in an industry built on imagination, that might be the most valuable outcome of all.
