An Insight
By Anuja Deora Sanctis
The year 2020 is surely a year that is going to go down in the history of mankind. Not only did this year bring along with it the most uncertain of memories but also introduced us to acknowledge the capacity that the digital medium holds. While the entire world was in a lockdown and physical contact had to be maintained, it was digital and social media which kept everyone stay connected and updated with the happenings.
Digital media has played a great role in helping fashion and lifestyle brands create a buzz. Whether it’s the brand-led campaigns highlighting the ongoing sentiments or through influencer collaboration, leading high-end fashion brands have utilized the power of social media and influencer media very smartly. While offline marketing has been severely affected due to the Covid-19 situation, online marketing has come out as a saviour for brands by stabilizing their sales by reaching out to the customers digitally. With a pattern of discount offers available and delivery for the products being easily possible, with contact-less delivery, Influencer Marketing has come as a boon in sustaining businesses.
Fashion and Lifestyle brands have seen an increase in its usage thanks to Celebrity seeding and the rise of nano and micro-influencers. Brands like L’Occitane India, Loreal, Mustela, etc. have been seen using a mix of micro, macro, and nano influencers in an engaging manner, to build momentum before the festive seasons. L’Occitane India has been doing some interesting influencer activity, and they recently conducted a giveaway contest for their best-selling product – Reset Face Serum & Divine Oil. The activity looked very engaging, as they asked followers to use the hashtag #FlowerPower in creating a chain of growth. Such initiatives not only help in organic reach but also excite the audience via giveaways.
Influencer marketing continues to play a major role in evolving customer behaviour. Right from brand awareness to purchase retaining them, influencers affect customers and help them build a correct choice. Influencers not only highlight the product but also teach them how to use the product as per their skin type. This helps in building trust, faith, and brand belief. This is a key reason for influencer marketing becoming a go-to option for lifestyle brands.
With work from home situation, not going anytime soon, influencers and digital content creators too have adopted in terms of creating content. There are no more outdoor shoots, which has led to influencers opting for a more creative aspect of doing so by arranging shoots at home by doing their own hair and makeup. Therefore, giving a new and relatable twist to the content which otherwise would have been managed outside amidst flashy studio lights and colourful drapes which might not be that preferred by some customers/viewers. This new concept brings along with it a breath of fresh content and something that the customers could find more personalised.
With the festive season coming up, and consumers now spending on festive shopping, brands are all going gung-ho in approaching the right celebrity which fits the brand appeal. Brands have also increased their ad-spends keeping in mind gifting for influencers. To have a sense of normalcy, users have now turned towards buying online. Brands are also shifting their marketing budgets to digital advertising. The promotional activities are expected to be more aggressive this year to further sales amid a slowdown across sectors. Around 20%-30% of a brand’s budget is skewed towards influencer marketing this year.
For me, the festive season brings with it a time to gift near and dear ones and luxury products are the best bet this year since we all will be celebrating from home. Gifting the correct product also builds an emotional bond between family members, friends, and peers and creates memories of a lifetime, which thanks to Instagram memories, stay digitally catalogued now. It will be interesting to now see, how content creators come up with styling and skin-care routine, amidst this current
Anuja Deora Sanctis is the Founder and CEO of Filter Coffee Co.a Mumbai based full-service digital agency started by her in 2015.