Brands divided on influencers: HUL, Myntra scale creator push; Amul stays old school
Indian consumer brands exhibit contrasting views on the efficacy of influencer marketing for engaging customers. Companies such as Hindustan Unilever and Marico are broadening their creator networks to boost social media presence. Meanwhile, Amul ...
HUL, Marico back influencers as Amul, Perfetti bet on brand storytelling
Mumbai: India’s leading consumer firms are split over the role of influencers in winning customers in the age of Instagram and YouTube. While companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Marico, Myntra and Flipkart are rapidly expanding creator networks to enhance visibility on social media feeds, others including Amul and Perfetti Van Melle say this strategy cannot substitute distinctive brand storytelling.
The contrasting approaches come at a time when social media is emerging as a key channel for product discovery, forcing marketers to rethink the brand playbook. Hindustan Unilever Ltd, India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods company, has doubled down on creator collaborations to fuel its next phase of growth.
“On social and digital platforms, we have built a strong, distinct influencer-led ecosystem. Today, we work with a network of 30,000 creators, which has almost doubled year-on-year. ,” chief executive Priya Nair said on an earnings call.
“The influencer-led ecosystem has resulted in a sharp increase in the volume and diversity of the brand assets we are creating”, Nair said.
Marico Ltd, the maker of Parachute and Saffola oils, is also sharpening its focus on creator collaborations, especially within its direct-to-consumer portfolio, but said the approach must be balanced, according to chief executive Saugata Gupta. The company expects its creator ecosystem, including its digital-first businesses, to cross 7,000 by the end of this financial year. Digital advertising accounted for 45% of its total advertising spending in 2025-26, and the company expects the share the increase to 55% this fiscal.
E-commerce companies and marketplaces are making similar bets. Flipkart’s vice president for growth and marketing Pratik Shetty said creator-led storytelling has become a “strong complement in driving engagement and consideration” among consumers. The company has significantly expanded its network of regional, vernacular and category-focused creators to improve its reach in tier-2 and tier-3 markets.
Myntra has aggressively expanded its creator ecosystem to 500,000 active creators a month, from 100,000 creators a month last year, generating 7 million posts every month. “These creators are not only able to essay latest trends to their audiences, but also opine and educate on how different people can adopt the different trends as per their individual sensibility,” said chief marketing officer Sunder Balasubramanian.
Old-school approach
However, other players believe that while influencer marketing is an important lever for visibility, it cannot replace strong branding and storytelling.
ADVERTISEMENT
“At Amul, we don’t use influencer marketing but we do create our own content on digital media in 16 languages,” said managing director Jayen Mehta. The dairy cooperative publishes content in languages ranging from Tamil and Marathi to Arabic and Sanskrit, and also uses its digital platforms to listen to consumer feedback and identify emerging trends.
Perfetti Van Melle India managing director Nikhil Sharma said while the role of influencer marketing is important, the company still has an “old-school” outlook towards advertising and consumer connections.
“I still believe that there is a lot of value in telling a story properly," he said, “We're still doing it the way we did earlier because, in terms of our media strengths, the best chance of success we have is to tell a relatable story in long form and have that user impression rather than have these short videos.”
While the company uses influencers for certain campaigns, it is “not the mainstay” for the business which is built on low-priced impulse purchases. Instead it continues to focus on long-form story-led campaigns for brands such as Centre Fresh, Centre Fruit, Alpenliebe, Chupa Chups and Mentos.
This shift is also reshaping the creator economy. “For agencies and brands, this is great. For influencers, it’s not the best time to earn what they used to. The first mover advantage is largely gone,” said Ayush Wadhwa, founder, Owled Media.
