Brands look at content creators to connect with audience amid low-key festive celebrations

The festive season presents a great opportunity to creators to connect and engage with India’s fast-growing digital population. Leveraging the power of creators, brands are also actively looking forward to marketing with creators and influencers. Many brands are trying it for the first time while experienced ones are scaling up campaigns.

While there is no dearth of content, the Covid-19 pandemic made people realise the importance of relatable and sensible content.

The increased demand for content creators might have affected the cost of collaboration but the pandemic induced mental rut and could have had a negative impact on creativity.

BuzzInContent.com finds out whether or not creators would be able to provide brands with quality content this festive season. And with higher expectations, what kind of ROI would they bring to brands.

Mike Melli

At a macro level, the primary impact of Covid-19 is that digital content and creators/influencers are going to be "The" primary ways for brands to connect with their target audience this year, more than any other year until now, said Mike Melli, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, MissMalini Entertainment. 

Ever since the lockdown began, MissMalini has seen increased interest from brands and agencies for creator/influencer marketing. And Melli believes it is going to be a larger part of the marketing mix this year.

“With regard to creativity, if a creator/influencer is working with a good partner that manages brand campaign, they should have a lot more flexibility this year to be creative. More often than not, brand guidelines and comfort levels tend to win creative arguments. Brands that want to stand out will be best served by leaning into creative impulses of the talent they chose to work with,” he added.

This year, with many more brands turning to influencers and digital formats to maximise Q3/Q4 sales, the need to stand out from the clutter is much more. Everyone can't do the same format or else it will all look the same for consumers.

Shahid Javed Ansari

When it comes to content, creators are experimenting more than ever and are seeing a better reach, said Shahid Javed Ansari, Founder and CEO, RVCJ Digital Media.

Also, consumption and demand for content has increased as people are spending more time on screen.

Thus, the content for this festive season will be according to our current life situation and how this year’s celebrations will be different from previous years, he said.

Anuj Gosalia

Echoing the view, Anuj Gosalia, Co-Founder and CEO at Terribly Tiny Tales, added, “This year's festive season will be rooted in today's reality. Good creators will create content keeping the new normal in mind. Distanced celebrations, joyous home stories and innovative ways to connect will be the dominant themes. Reach and impact is a function of timing and content and so every story will fight the high volume of content on social media during these times. Keeping it sharp and interesting will be the key.”

Mayank Yadav

Mayank Yadav, Co-founder and CEO, Rusk Media, too, pointed out that relatability with the content this year will be very different as a lot of people will have a different Diwali, with smaller groups of people while maintaining social distancing.

“So in order to help them fill this void, digital platforms need to present more riveting and gripping content that can help people connect with the new normal and add a new set of fans,” he said. 

Vinay Singhal

Vinay Singhal, Co-founder and CEO, STAGE and Nukkad by Stage, said people are looking for useful and sensible content.

“We believe that this year, creativity will take over and we will get to see brands exploring newer avenues with content and digital marketing,” he said. 

While celebrations might be low key, spirits will be high and so irrelevant and pushy communication will not have the same impact.

Scope of branded content and impact on cost:

In terms of pricing, Melli said, the cost of talent has increased this year. However, the cost of quality engagements and other performance metrics have stayed flat or gone down.

Due to the pandemic, brands have become wary of spending too much on marketing but as things are going back to normal, they have gradually started reaching out to their target audience.

During this time, to ensure ROI, promotions will not be regular passive placements but hyperactive integrations that are more relatable and original. This is a great opportunity for those who believe in strong storylines inspired by real scenarios, said Singhal.

During the initial period of lockdown, brand partnerships decreased drastically but slowly, brands got to know that sitting idle isn’t the solution and many started experimenting with social media content.

“Slowly, the situation is getting better and what’s different this year is that we are seeing new brands showing interest in partnering with us and focusing more on digital marketing,” Ansari said.

Even Rusk Media has seen a growth in their collaboration with a newer set of brands during this time, thereby opening new growth opportunities in the future.

While the most common challenges during Covid were production and logistics, many creators are without regular teams and crews.

At times, the frantic barrage of briefs and inquiries, and the timeline set by brands and agencies, are a challenge. And that is why Melli cautioned brands to try to be more understanding of these challenges and allow as much flexibility as they can.

He said due to the increase in demand, many creators and influencers are having record months and quarters in terms of personal earnings.

“Income for creators and influencers in 2020 is higher than most of them thought at the start of the year,” he said.

Singhal feels this also is a great opportunity for content creators to spread happiness and positivity amid the pandemic.

More opportunities for creators as they contribute some positivity amid muted celebrations:

There is no doubt that positive content and personal interactions can have a significant positive impact on mental health, wellness and happiness and so Melli believes the creator/influencer community will bring a lot of joy in people's lives this festive season.

Melli said the biggest need for creators and influencers is to try to stand out. “Influencers who can increase their engagement, genuinely, will stand the most to gain as industry spends continue to grow. It's a great time and environment for creators and influencers to collaborate more with each other, to spend more time on fan/community development, and to experiment with new formats and platforms that are coming into the market,” he added.

While Ansari feels content on social media platforms has the power to change the mood of people, Gosalia suggested the creators that bring their own unique niches will see growth.

Yadav said creators will have a chance to contribute amid this year’s muted festival celebrations as the content will resonate with the viewer's emotions. 

In short, content platforms believe creators are certainly well placed to contribute some positivity this year.