Brands divided on influencers: HUL, Myntra scale creator push; Amul stays old school
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 FMCG company, has doubled down on creative collaborations to fuel its next phase of growth.
“We have built a strong, diverse, influencer-led ecosystem across social and digital platforms. Today, we work with a network of 30,000 creators, which has nearly doubled from the previous year,” Chief Executive Priya Nair said in an earnings call. he said.
“The influencer-led ecosystem has resulted in a sharp increase in the volume and diversity of brand assets we create,” Nair said.
Marico Ltd, maker of Parachute and Saffola oils, is sharpening its focus on creative collaborations, particularly across its direct-to-consumer portfolio, but the approach must be balanced, according to CEO Saugata Gupta. The company expects its creator ecosystem, which includes digital-first businesses, to exceed 7,000 by the end of this financial year. Digital advertising accounted for 45% of total ad spend in 2025-26 and the company expects this share to rise to 55% this fiscal.
Also Read: Influencer boom masks growing advertising fatigue as brands chase clicks for the sake of brand building: Kantar
Ecomm bets on creators
E-commerce companies and marketplaces are making similar bets. Pratik Shetty, Flipkart’s vice president of growth and marketing, said creator-led storytelling has become “a powerful complement in driving engagement and consideration” among consumers. The company has significantly expanded its network of regional, local and category-focused creators to improve its reach in tier 2 and tier 3 markets.
Myntra has aggressively expanded its creator ecosystem, growing from 100,000 creators per month to 500,000 active creators per month last year and generating 7 million posts every month. “These creators not only tell their audiences about the latest trends, but also provide insight and education on how different people can adopt different trends based on their individual sensibilities,” said chief marketing officer Sunder Balasubramanian.
old school approach
But other players believe that while influencer marketing is an important lever for visibility, it cannot replace strong branding and storytelling.
“At Amul, we do not use influencer marketing but create our own content across digital media in 16 languages,” said managing director Jayen Mehta. The dairy cooperative publishes content in a variety of languages, from Tamil and Marathi to Arabic and Sanskrit, and also uses its digital platforms to listen to consumers’ feedback and identify emerging trends.
Perfetti Van Melle India managing director Nikhil Sharma said that although the role of influencer marketing is important, the company still has an “old-school” view of advertising and consumer engagement.
Also Read: India’s influencer marketing industry to reach Rs 5,000 Crore by 2027 as creative economy becomes official: Kofluence report
“I still believe there is a lot of value in telling a story properly,” he said, “We still do it the same way we did before because in terms of the strengths of the medium, the best chance of success we have is telling a relatable story in a long form and creating that user impression rather than having these short videos.”
While the company uses influencers for certain campaigns, it’s “not a mainstay” for the business, which is built on low-priced impulse buys. Instead, it continues to focus on long story-driven campaigns for brands like Center Fresh, Center Fruit, Alpenliebe, Chupa Chups and Mentos.
This change is also reshaping the creative economy. “For agencies and brands, this is great. For influencers, this is not the best time to earn what they used to earn. The first mover advantage has largely disappeared,” said Ayush Wadhwa, founder of Owled Media.
