Over the years, the Marketing community has been constantly striving to address the questions of effective content, approach and vehicles of communication to reach the target audience and to design effective marketing campaigns to help yield maximum results. Success of a marketing campaign is directly related to the understanding of the consumer behaviour. Consumer behaviour, in turn, is a complex manifestation of the effect of various internal and external factors that unabatedly influencesthe minds of the consumers. The advent of social media has brought an explosion of information which has resulted in informed purchase decision making and a more informed set of consumers. The prevalence of information society has created plethora of openings for dissemination of knowledge. The multiple sources of knowledge has created both opportunities and challenges for brands and has given rise to a new set of dynamics in marketing and brand sphere.

Marketers are, hence, confronted with some queries:
a) What makes the consumer more confident about a brand?
b) What is currently influencing the buying decision of the consumers?
c) How do we break through the clutter of distrust and dilemma among the consumers?
d) How do we influence the consumers to buy the product?
e) What are the multiple layers that the influencers are operating in?
f) Who are the influencers who exert a strong influence on credibility?

To address these issues, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the 14th July, 2018 organised the 9th Edition of the Marketing and Brand Conclave: Buzzword at The Lalit Great Eastern Hotel. The centre of focus of the conclave this year was Influencer Marketing.

While Mr. Indrajit Sen, President Designate of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry delivered the formal welcome address, Mr.AnoopHoon – Chairperson, Marketing & Brand Committee of The Chamber set the tone for the day’s proceedings, speaking on how Influencer Marketing has seeped into multiple sectors of brand communication.

Mr. Rohit Ohri, Group Chairman and CEO FCB - India, made a presentation of “ IPG New Realities”, a global consumer survey that began in 2009. The aim of the survey was to showcase consumer purchasing attitudes and habits. In the global survey, India has emerged as the country with highest trust in celebrity recommendations. The purchasing behaviour in India also entailed a habit of consulting blogs and advocating for brands as a part of consumer purchasing behaviour. The survey showed that information about brands has made individuals more confident about brand choices and increased satisfaction with brands. Mr Ohri’s presentation also highlighted on dilemma a consumer faces on trusting various sources of information and emerging power of influencers in validating the brand communication. The presentation also highlighted on the fall in the level of trust globally, attributed majorly to prevalence of fake news, political bias, inadequate fact checking and focus on money vs trust.

The survey showed that most of the trusted sources of information were influencers and content posted by other consumers. In both developing and mature markets, word of mouth is most influential throughout the consumer decision journey. An influencer can be described to be anyone who can advance the brand story. In India, a friend or relative connected online or a well known expert has stronger influence on credibility.

To further enrich the outcomes of the presentation, a Panel Discussion on Influencer Marketing was organised which was moderated by Abhijit Roy, MD & CEO, Berger Paints along with illustrious panellists like Mr.Sumit Roy, Director Univbrands, Mr.Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, Domestic Textiles, Aditya Birla Group and Mr.SujitGanguli, Head- Brand and Corporate Communications, ICICI Bank. Mr.SujitGanguli cited the examples of how social influencers helped ICICI Bank to communicate brand messages effectively among the target group and how influencers campaign to create the emotional connect among the consumers. Mr.Sumit Roy, through his presentation on “Influenza Marketing”, highlighted upon the role of “prosumers” in Influencer Marketing. He also stated that 21st century influencer marketing has been built into product, pricing, packaging, placement, purchase experience, promotion, prosumer policy and profit policy. He emphasized on the use of common sense, curiosity and empathy for co creation of brands. According to him, by listening, befriending, solving, it is possible to create prosumers. Mr.Satyaki Ghosh highlighted how Influencer Marketing works differently for women and men, based on his experiences with renowned brands like “ Loreal” & “Linen Club”. The panel provided the client side story of influencer marketing.

The lunch was followed by an innovative performance by Mr.Raouf M Ganjee on The Lighter side of Influencer Marketing. The session was followed by an session by Mr.ShreyashSigtia, Head of Consumer Packaged goods, Google India. He highlighted on the usage of Youtube as a tool for Influencer Marketing. He spoke about evolution of creator ecosystem. He focussed on creating an engaging audience and building an award winning channel for Influencers.

The closing session by Mr.NagarjanSrinivasan, CEO, Spiral Content, brought about a new perspective in the closing session with his address on traditional modes of communication versus influencer marketing which is marked by authenticity. He also highlighted the role of prosumers in knowledge dissemination. They are typically in search of good content, have limited reach but extremely powerful opinions, need not be a product user, but can be found in every category and segment.The authenticity of information shared by prosumers help brands evoke trust in the minds of the target group. In this context, he also touched upon the aspect of fake news and how it proves to be detrimental in generating faith in case of consumers. To get into the minds of consumers, therefore brands are increasing their spend on Influencer Marketing. Influencers can be categorized as Everyday Influencers, Brand Advocates, Micro Influencers, Professional Influencers, Macro Influencers and Celebrities. According to brand needs, required category can be approached. Benefits of Influencer Marketing include inbound links, content visibility, audience building & leads, collaborative content.

While the program was hosted by Mr.Sidhartha Roy, CEO, Response India Limited and Special Invitee – Marketing & Brand Committee, The Bengal Chamber, Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, Vice President, The Bengal Chamber delivering the vote of thanks.