Creating Enriching Experiences For Influencers To Make Innovative Content: Chiragh Cherian of Perfect Relations
By Rachit Juneja
March 18, 2021
"Brands need to create an enriching experience for influencers to make innovative content and indulge in experiential storytelling.” - Chiragh Cherian, Director, Perfect Relations, Online and Below the Line Initiatives
Chiragh Cherian studied Advertising and Marketing to explore his interest in the field of Advertising, Media, and Digital. Chiragh is a driven professional with a creative bent of mind whose mantra is to create new solutions for existing challenges. During his 11 years stint at Perfect Relations, Chiragh has been instrumental in bringing numerous brands onto the digital space by our Agency being the first to have a specialized Digital PR practice to the platform to now spearheading campaigns that have won National and International accolades.
When did influencer/content become an important part of your journey and campaigns?
“We started using influencers about 7-8 years ago. The reason why we started using the medium of influencer marketing was that the brands required a larger push, in terms of reach and recognition. Our main purpose was to create intellectual properties for companies for influencer programs. One of our projects for Vivo was called Himalayan Escapades. Vivo mobiles are known for their camera and sound quality. We wanted to go beyond the mainstream media, so we incorporated fashion and food bloggers into this, apart from the cliche usage of tech bloggers, and visited places like Himachal Pradesh and Andaman Nicobar Islands for the same. This was an award-winning campaign for Vivo because of the experience we created for bloggers to further create content, and it resulted in massive reach for the brand as well.”
How often is influencer/content a part of campaign planning? What kind of marketing objectives does it work for / doesn’t work for?
“Influencer Marketing has now become an integral part of our brand offerings for any sort of briefs. Especially when it comes to brand/product launches, the outcomes of Influencer Marketing create a bigger universe for them. Brands have a certain set of audiences on their own platforms, but in order to reach out to audiences beyond that, influencers play a pivotal role.
Apart from the above, objectives of the same also include creating fun, interactivity and engagement for the brand and their audience.”
How do you decide on how much budget to allocate for an influencer activity?
“One way is to work backwards - on the basis of the budget the brand has allocated to Influencer Activity, we decide on the number and kind of influencers to get on board. Secondly, in other scenarios, a budget can be proposed to brands on the basis of market observations, and the reach and engagement of influencers to be brought onboard. Ultimately, for me, engagement equals ROI.”
What is a recent trend in influencer marketing that you think is here to stay?
“There’s going to be a splurge of new influencers entering the industry. For instance, when TikTok was at its peak, we saw a completely new set of influencers making a mark while making short video content. Also, short video content is another trend that is here to stay as it challenges the attention span of users.”
We often see similar types of content being created by brands, which have specific influencers for their category such as food brands - recipe influencers, cosmetics - beauty influencers. How can these brands innovate & stand out?
“Brands need to create an enriching experience for influencers to make innovative content and indulge in experiential storytelling. There is no point in calling in influencers for a Press Conference for a product launch, when a celebrity is present at the same because that limits their scope of storytelling. However, if we create an experience of an activity that excites them, it will result in getting three times the story because we have created three times the opportunity. Like, in the case of our campaign for Vivo, we provided influencers the opportunity to engage with the brand and experience the product - the same is required for brands to innovate and stand out.”
How do you see the importance of influencer marketing growing vis a vis overall content marketing?
“I believe growth is parallel between the two. Both the concepts go hand in hand and are mutually compatible with one another. As and when there is growth in Influencer Marketing, Content Marketing grows as well as that is what holds ground for the former.”
What do you think is more important - campaign idea or choice of influencers? Why?
“Campaign ideas are the most important, because that is what will determine the choice of influencers and how much influencers can do in order to engage and have fun. If the campaign idea is not up to the mark, influencers will also participate in it for the sake of it, with no prior excitement, and that will be seen visibly. Therefore, if the campaign idea is exciting, it will definitely create excitement in the influencers as well prospective audiences, and will turn out to be much more impactful.”
Tell us about the process of shortlisting/finalizing influencers?
“A thorough study of the influencers’ social media activities and the kind of content they create is one of the parameters. Apart from that, the kind of other brands they have associated with in the past, along with engagement rates and reach.”
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