Aggregators can curb instances of brands onboarding duplicate or fake influencers, say top agency leaders

Influencer marketing is a great learning but one needs to be wary of the duplicate or fake influencers which are found today, as per Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India.

He was speaking at one of FICCI Frames 2023 sessions, titled “What is the future of advertising?”, alongside Saurabh Saksena, CEO, VMLY&R India, who shared the opinion that when one thinks about influencers, they are very similar to consumers, and it is a well-documented fact that consumers trust brands but they trust people like themselves much more.

“Influencer marketing is a trend and a cohort that is a great learning for the industry, but what is fascinating is that there are influencers and duplicate or fake influencers, both in today’s day and age,” Barua said.

“What is good about influencer marketing is that when one looks at the overall cohort of communication and uses influencer marketing in its truest form for a certain category where you want to know about certain things in terms of experiences.”

He, however, went on to add that for “communication specialists like us and for clients who want to come to communication agencies or media agencies that are in the world of entertainment, I think we will still stick to the bigger form of ideas, data, technology and platforms and probably do better than influencer marketing.”

“We have a philosophy of making very meaningful brands, which basically means that how are we going to engage with our consumers in ways where we create some meaning which adds value to the consumer. The moment you have a meaningful connection with a client or a person, you’ll start engaging them better,” he stated.

Speaking about the influencer marketing industry, Saksena said, “If I am somebody who wants to buy a lipstick, I would trust somebody who I think is an influencer who knows a little bit more than me about lipsticks and if he/she endorses a brand, the chances are that I am more likely to trust them and that’s the power that influencer marketing has.”

He also emphasised that if influencers give credibility and trust for brands, that’s very valuable and that is something that most agencies go after in today’s times.

“In the world of influencer marketing, you need not go to influencers themselves and rather tie up with the aggregators to ensure that you are harnessing the power of them bringing influencers on board and probably then one will be able to know a lot more about the same,” he stated.