Amid pandemic, how will the money-spinning geniuses survive?

As the pandemic hits economy, and social distancing slaughters travel, retail and F&B, India-s bankable digital influencers go back to the why-does-the-world-still-need-me drawing board

According to Divyakshi Gupta-s diary, she was scheduled to be in Tadoba National Park, Chandrapur, last week. A scan of her Instagram handle @divsigupta reveals instead, throwback pictures. The promotion of the grand safari dream and the usual travel trivia has been replaced by ruminations about singing koels and noisy parakeets, swinging on the cable wire outside her widow. She looks closer home when she says in one post, "In my mad rush of globetrotting, I never paused to observe the tiny things that craved for attention silently."

Gupta has decided she won-t endorse the industry that has made her the influencer she is; "it is morally wrong, and it is not what my audience wants to see."

The decision has come at a huge cost. Since travel has taken the biggest hit due to restrictions on movement and transport in light of containing the Coronavirus pandemic, the top tourism brands she was associated with, pulled out of sponsorship deals. The odd few that remain asked for discounts of anywhere between 25 to 40 per cent. One brand even suggested she work for free. "None of it felt right, so I thought of taking a break [from influencing]. In the first month, my productivity took a big hit, because I was still trying to make sense of what was happening around me," she says. But in the last week of April, Gupta launched a video project, called The Lockdown Series, to extend support to people employed in the travel industry, hit by the pandemic. These include, local artisans, drivers and guides. She is making no money, but it-s keeping her happy and occupied.

Travel influencer Divyakshi Gupta aka Quirky Wanderer, while staying close to her area of expertise, has decided to add currency to her content by launching The Lockdown Series, a string of videos that look at those within the travel industry affected by the pandemic including local artisans, drivers and guides. But, it makes her no money 

It-s a sizeable climb down for Gupta and her ilk, who have ruled the marketing game for the last few years, even training traditional forms of brand building and advertising in their favour. According to The India Influence Report 2019 by Zefmo Media, at least 76 per cent marketers and strategists were looking to increase their budget allocation on influencer marketing campaigns in the coming year. The good news is that gaming, OTT platforms and music, continue to thrive on influencer promotions. In fact, more now, because professional content and creatives cannot be produced during the lockdown, says Pulkit Agrawal, co-founder of Trell, a community-based platform that enables lifestyle discovery through user-generated original content in regional Indian languages. But the bad news is truly bad. Travel, fashion, beauty and restaurant influencers, who were in fact, the biggest money-spinners in the market, have been cut off entirely from the demand and supply chain.

In fact, a recent report by marketing-analytics firm Launchmetrics published exclusively in Business Insider stated that sponsored post-activity on Instagram was down by 35 per cent, since the Coronavirus outbreak.

Harshad Chavan, founder & MD, Toast Events

The development isn-t surprising to some. Harshad Chavan, managing director of Toast Events, which works with influencers for Bumble, Gap India, Uniqlo, and Adidas, believes their decline was imminent, and the lockdown only sealed it. "The trend had hit its peak. They were working for one brand on a Monday, and the competition on a Wednesday. Unless, they change their approach, they are on their way out."

Prashant Sharma, chief marketing officer, NOFILTR Social, a social media influencer incubator that has 65 influencers on its roster, and works with nearly 200 brands, including SONY music, Bumble, Cadbury and Amazon, agrees that the lockdown has presented niche influencers with a fait accompli—reinvent or perish. "If you want to survive, you will need to do everything—sing, dance, eat, travel and even do makeup." That-s the only way to outlive this unexpected misfortune, he feels.

Entrepreneur and lifestyle-wellness guru Ranveer Allahbadia or BeerBiceps, has over seven million followers across various social platforms. Some of the brands he was working with on a long-term basis have had to stall their operations due to delivery restrictions during the lockdown. "It is understandable given the situation. They-ve had almost no revenue inflow during this period, hence, as a partner, I suggested we pause the influencer activations for the month, and have offered a contract extension of two months," says Allahbadia, who also runs the bootstrapped company, Monk-E, which manages top digital talent and has executed brand launches and digital marketing campaigns for Nykaa, Edelweiss, Groww, Marico and Tinder. But like Tejal Daftary, founder, Alphabet Media, that collaborates with mommy bloggers and fashion brands, says, "content continues to be king, irrespective of whether it brings money or not".

Lifestyle and wellness influencer Ranveer Allahbadia, famous online as BeerBiceps, says a couple of brands he was working with on a long-term basis have had to pause their operations due to delivery restrictions during the lockdown

This is also why Allahbadia hasn-t stopped posting. In the last few weeks, he has created beneficial content, which includes everything from how to spur lifestyle changes and move towards a happier state of mind and ways to build a sound personality.

@thetinytaster, food and travel content creator Roxanne Bamboat, has been utilising the lockdown to make simple dishes for her followers to replicate since fancy ingredients aren-t available. "Besides," she says, "It [making elaborate meals] doesn-t seem appropriate right now"

Food and travel content creator Roxanne Bamboat, who goes by the Instagram handle @thetinytaster, has been using her time during the lockdown to reinvent herself. She had a trip scheduled to South Africa last Friday, and another to Russia in August, followed by potential trips to London and Kenya. All have been nixed. "As for the food content I put out, no brand really wants to promote anything. In a normal scenario, too, it-s difficult to get a restaurant to pay you for a review, so I don-t expect them to do it now. Marketing is the last thing they are looking at. They have other expenses to take care of," says Bamboat. "The smaller influencers may take a hit, but those with a little skin in the game can think of offering different content to try and build their brand. I think this is the time, when your work should speak for itself." Bamboat has been using the lockdown to brush up her culinary skills, making simple meals like poha, dal, akuri, dosa. She refuses to try anything fancy, because there is little point if her followers can-t step out to access ingredients. "You need to be sensitive."

There are some who have shifted focus completely. Alyssa Chesson, who runs a gourmet ice cream brand with her sister Simone, retailed out of a Kemps Corner shop, in addition to delivering via aggregator apps, has moved focus to her other passion, fitness. The Chesson sisters, who steered clear of traditional advertising and decided to use their own social media following to promote their brand, say they are continuing to work on the business plan for ice cream brand, Bono, for when the lockdown lifts. "Once we re-open, we will offer new flavours and free scoops. But for now, I am using fitness to keep myself and everyone who follows me, motivated," Alyssa tells mid-day.

Alyssa Chesson, who ran Bono, an artisanal ice cream brand with sister Simone in South Mumbai, has launched a  fitness page to promote healthy living. The ice cream business has currently suspended operations

Riaan George, lifestyle and fashion influencer, has gone back to teaching French online. "Income from brands, and social media activity is zero. Also, talking about summer collections and hair products would seem inappropriate right now. People don-t have enough to eat. I have started teaching French. It-s good for me, because it-s paying my bills."

Riaan George, lifestyle and fashion influencer, has gone back to teaching French online; he admits it-s helping him pay the bills

If reinvention is the mother of necessity, Trell latched on to this idea, quite early on. In March, the team noticed that their user base had doubled to 8 million from 4 million in January. The time spent on the platform too, had increased by 30 per cent. In terms of numbers, this was huge. While they noticed, that the high-end influencers using the platform had hit a slump, the smaller fish whom Agrawal describes as influencers in the "zero to one" journey, who weren-t charging exorbitant rates were shining, because brands were willing to spend on them. Another significant trend was surrounding the rise of medical influencers. "In March, we found that a lot of doctors, especially trainees, had started coming on Trell to share Coronavirus related information. And consumers were opting to follow them on a regular basis," says Agrawal. "Once we spotted the trend, we amplified it, reaching out to medical experts, who were not yet on the platform." From zero doctors at the beginning of this year, Trell now has 628, with their content generating a total of 5.2 million views, and seven lakh-plus shares.

Sandeep Bhushan, director & head of India GMS, Facebook

Last year, Instagram, one of the strongest social media platforms for influencer marketing, launched "Branded content ads" on the photo-sharing app. With this, advertisers could promote creators- organic branded content posts as feed and story ads, thereby reaching new audiences and measuring impact. While the average influencer may have taken a hit, Sandeep Bhushan, director and head of India, global marketing solutions for Facebook, says that Instagram-s influencer industry has used this lockdown period wisely, helping inspire and motivate fans. "The lockdown has seen a new way of harnessing this relationship like never before, where brands have used creators in an authentic manner, to both raise awareness around COVID-19 and promote their brands, especially amidst production shoot shut downs."

YouTuber and influencer Scherezade Shroff has been sharing  relatable content, like this post of swabbing her home. Shroff, who otherwise specialises in fashion and lifestyle content,  has been running Quarancharity, where you pay to watch inspirational sessions by experts, which she curated. All proceeds go to charity

Influencer Scherezade Shroff, for instance, has been running Quarancharity, where you pay to watch educational and inspirational sessions, with all proceeds going to charity. "It-s been far more fulfilling to raise funds. This crisis, I think, will bring a sense of responsibility to the social influencer game. Meanwhile, brands have also become conscientious. In the future, they will look back to see who was being responsible and not. If anything, this situation has taught us that less is more."

Independent communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan, formerly National Lead at Social@Ogilvy, thinks that the lockdown is perhaps a good starting point for influencers to reconsider "the kind of value they are creating beyond merely offering social reach or throwing a large number of followers at client brands".

Gautam Raheja, head of marketing, ASICS India Pvt Ltd, a sports footwear and apparel brand, couldn-t agree more. He says that their brands have been rethinking strategies for using influencers. "Many have reduced their prices, and that-s good for us. This is an opportunity to correct the disparity between us and the influencer. I think the future is more about meaningful collaboration, about building a story over a long time, with commercials that suit both sides."

The sun is, however, far from setting on the influencer industry. Sharma, of NOFILTR Social says that they have started working with international gaming brands, which would not have entered the Indian market, if not for the current situation. Influencer marketing expert Harpreet Kaur says that many brands are going all out to use influencers, as are FMCG brands to promote their products.

Karthik Srinivasan, communications consultant; Tejal Daftary, founder, Alphabet Media

And while the lion-s share is being taken by entertainment and OTT platforms, that is also because they are adapting to the changes rather quickly. Rupika Khere, artiste manager with media and entertainment organisation, OML, who works with stand-up comedians, says her artistes are "aware that things need to be digitised at the moment, and that accessibility to users seeking their content, will need to be reconfigured in a way that is most comfortable, for the user as well as the creator".

"There will be a structural change around how they look at their craft, because their [comedians] live performances have taken a hit. Yes, movement is now limited. But that doesn-t mean that it cannot be hacked to their advantage," she says. In the last week of April, OML launched The Circuit Comedy Festival online, which saw more than 40 of India-s top comedians perform in innovative digital formats. "We sold nearly 960 tickets." "Brands have been warm to those who innovate, and spread positive messaging," she adds. And that-s why comedians who are also influencers, have managed to sustain.

Amaira Chhabria, founder of Aspire, an influencer relations and marketing firm, is positive about the future. "I am sure when this is all over, we will continue to do well." For now, she says, they need to prep in order to quickly change gears, when it is finally time.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel @middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!