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<ul><li><keyword id="501707" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PV-Sindhu">PV Sindhu</keyword> and her agency Baseline Ventures is taking over 20 brands to court for using her image and name for moment-marketing, without her consent or proper permissions.</li><li>The agency is seeking damages of Rs 5 crore from each of the brands.</li><li>In wake of the incident, we speak to experts to understand how brands can be careful and avoid such legal complications when using <keyword id="6813822" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Moment-Marketing">moment marketing</keyword> as a strategy.</li></ul>Last week, ace shuttler made the country proud by becoming the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals. The country came together to congratulate her on her historic achievement and brands joined in, as much to congratulate her as to ride on the trend that Sindhu had created with her win. However, Sindhu is now said to be exploring legal options to take a lot of these brands to court, for using her name and image for their marketing purposes without proper authorization. In the past few years, we have seen many brands build their social presence with the help of moment marketing. We have seen brands jump in on topical conversations with their own take on something that is trending. In doing so, they have many-a-times, used individuals and their names to make the most of the trending moment. The benefits are obvious, while coming up with content that many relate with, they are also able to become a part of the conversation, making it easier for them to grab eyeballs and become a part of the conversation. However, with Sindhu taking an objection to the way her name has been used by brand, there is a chance that brands will become more careful about how they use a public personality's image or name in their content. Sindhu, who is managed by sports marketing agency Baseline Ventures, is reportedly seeking damages worth Rs 5 crore from brands that have used her name and images without her consent. Speaking on what is wrong with the way these brands have handled things, Yashwanth Biyyala, Director - Talent and Partnerships, Baseline Ventures said, “The fact that these brands used PV Sindhu’s images and name on their posts is a clear infringement on the player’s privacy. Moreover, they are also clearly flouting the norms of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that has put together clear guidelines around advertising during the tournament. In fact there was a blackout period between July 13 (when the Olympic Village opens) and August 10 (two days after the Closing Ceremony) when even brands that sponsor the player are not allowed to post about them. Only IOC and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) partners are allowed to post about the players.” In total, Baseline Ventures is taking close to 20 brands to court for flouting the rules, out of which legal notices have already been sent to 15. The brands that have already been sent notices include Happydent (Perfetti Van Melle), Pan Bahar, Eureka Forbes, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Vodafone Idea, MG Motor, UCO Bank, Punjab National Bank, <keyword id="6354731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="state-bank-of-india">State Bank of India</keyword>, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Fino Payments Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Indian Bank and <keyword id="5998660" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wipro-Lighting">Wipro Lighting</keyword>. Over the years, we have seen many brands build a huge social media following on the back of moment marketing. In fact, Amul is one brand that has garnered immense love for their take on almost everything topical. Amongst new-age brands, we have seen the likes of Dunzo and Zomato churn out relatable, topical content time and again. So following this incident, will agencies need to be doubly careful about how they go about communicating on topical issues, when using the names and images of individuals? Sharing his view on the development, <keyword id="244384" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lloyd-Mathias">Lloyd Mathias</keyword>, Business Strategist and former Marketing Head of HP Asia, Motorola and PepsiCo India said, “Moment marketing is fantastic in itself and brands that have their own take on topical issues do get consumers attention. However, when a brand uses a specific individual and his/her achievements to gain commercial mileage without prior permission or getting into a contract with that individual, then it is unfair. Brands should display more maturity and seek permission from athletes or their agents before using them overtly or covertly.Most Indian sportspersons outside cricket could benefit from a brand association that may provide them support – that could be monetary, or in terms of exposure or facilities.” To ensure brands do not infringe upon the privacy of celebrities, the <keyword id="120108" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Advertising-Standards-Council-of-India">Advertising Standards Council of India</keyword> (ASCI) already has a code in place. The code says "Advertisements shall not, without permission from the person, firm or institution under reference, contain any reference to such person, which confers and unjustified advantage on the product advertised or tends to bring the person, firm or institute into ridicule or disrepute. If and when required to do so by ASCI, the advertiser and the advertising agency shall produce explicit permission from the person, firm or institution to which reference is made in the advertisement," and ads that do not comply with this requirement may be in violation of the ASCI Code. On how brands need to tread in situations like the current one, Manisha Kapoor, Secretary-General, ASCI said, “Brands need to be careful and calibrated about everything that goes into an ad, right from the visuals, the words, and the implication of their messaging. Advertisements are made with high involvement of strategic and creative resources, and it goes without saying that they must pay keen attention to aspects that can be challenged.” Moment marketing is all about coming up with relatable posts when something is making news and reaping the benefits of joining the trend. Agencies usually have very less time in which to churn out content that is relatable and shareable, which is possibly why a few miss out on checking on the legal aspects of putting up such posts. However, in the wake of this incident, agencies will need to be doubly careful, said <keyword id="11806503" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajni-Daswani">Rajni Daswani</keyword>, Director – Brand Experience, So Cheers. On how agencies can avoid getting into trouble, Daswani said, “Agencies should definitely educated themselves on what they are and aren’t allowed to do because if they are providing that service to their clients, it is their responsibility to cross checking at their end. Secondly, brands can simply be creative without using individual names, image .You want to be a part of the moment, but you also don't want to get stuck into the legal implications. There are a lot of creative, indirect ways to do it and the internet is full of people who understand such indirect references.” Sharing a similar thought, Manesh Swamy, Sr VP - Creative, Social, PR, Marcom, <keyword id="3900173" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Logicserve-Digital">Logicserve Digital</keyword> said, “The IPLs and the World Cups have stricter copyright laws and hence you don't see pictures of cricketers but victory silhouette poses in branded posts. The Golds and Silvers are still rare for us, so people and brands go a little overboard genuinely to celebrate the Olympic feat. If the brand is just celebrating these small moments of joy without selling anything, I guess it shouldn't be harmful. To ace moment marketing considering the current situation, the best move would be to do surrogate advertising and play with the essence of the moment.” On what could be a simpler way of getting around issues like this while also being a part of the moment, Sushant Vithaldas - Head of Business, Schbang Bengaluru said, "For the larger audience of viewers and consumers, it’s very difficult to distinguish between a direct association and a congratulatory post or show of support by a brand. Significant progress is being made in the way influencers endorse a product with callouts for “#PaidPartnerships” or #Ad. A simple fix like this that carries the words “#MomentMarketing” on such posts is a far more easier way to address the issue and let brands and marketeers celebrate the moment in its true spirit." So can this incident lead to the way moment marketing is done in the future? Sanjay Mehta, Joint CEO of Mirum India said, “For the time being, since ASCI has come down heavily on brands that used these stars without permission, other brands will be sensitive to this idea, and won't use any names if they don't have the rights. Just like brands have got tuned to not abuse the IPL property and the cricketers' rights and privileges. Considering that these non-cricket sports and the sportspeople do not get much visibility ordinarily, these controls will unfortunately, make them even less visible, and brands will not err to the side of caution. They may not even mention a wrestling hero or a woman golfer, for not knowing if they have any other brand engagements and could create conflicts! Moment marketing around events of this kind, will get constrained and may be limited to acknowledging the sport and not the star. These are challenging new areas to tread on, in the digital age, and reforms to these rules, so that guidelines have a reasonable balance, will emerge, ultimately.”

As PV Sindhu takes 20 brands to court for using her name and image without permission, here's how agencies and brands can be careful with moment-marketing in the future

<ul><li>The biggest task for today's marketers is to abolish gender roles and work on an honest <keyword id="1616270" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="portrayal-of-women">portrayal of women</keyword>.</li><li>We reached out to a few leading women from the advertising, marketing and media industry to discuss a few stereotypes they are tired of seeing, how we can change the portrayal of women and making the industries more inclusive.</li></ul>The advertising industry was infamous for perpetuating gender stereotypes -- from a sacrificing mother to a man being the bread-earner, the portrayal of women has remained very shallow for years. How brands depict women and their role in society has evolved today, she is independent, she has a voice and is slowly learning to care less about society’s judgement, but we haven’t taken a big leap yet. She is still a woman who is ‘aesthetically pleasing,’ fair-skinned, doesn’t come from a minority community and is a little far from real. We are limping towards <keyword id="2414535" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="INCLUSIVITY">inclusivity</keyword>. It is only when there’s an equal representation inside Indian advertising agencies and media organisations that we will have diverse voices in a brainstorming session, which ultimately gets reflected in a brand’s communication. Recently, women have faced greater economic hardship through the Covid-19 pandemic, disproportionately losing jobs and income. LinkedIn’s report shows how Covid-19 has disproportionately impacted women’s careers. Our latest Opportunity Index findings show that 85% of women in India have missed out on a raise, promotion because of their gender. Women’s careers are observed to have been more adversely affected despite increasing flexibility at work, as 68% of women and 74% of working mothers in India say it is difficult to balance career and familial responsibilities today. More than 7 in 10 women and working mothers in India also say that household responsibilities often come in their way of career progress. So, it is safe to say that we are far away from building an inclusive environment for employees of all gender spectrum. We reached out to women in leadership across media, brand and advertising industry to understand how we can bridge the gender gap and improve <keyword id="10891888" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="portrayal-of-women-in-advertising">portrayal of women in advertising</keyword>. Here is what they had to say: Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="3" retweetcount="1" status="#iwd2021: @followtheglitch's CEO, @PoojaJauhari talks to us about nurturing an inclusive environment at work and sh… https://t.co/JVNVXS4kO2" createdat="1615008600000" id="1368071342319235075"></div> Malini Agarwal, Founder of MissMalini and Creative Director at Malini's Girl Tribe <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="2" retweetcount="0" status="#IWD2021: @MissMalini's Founder @MaliniAgarwal on how the messaging of beauty ads can damage young girls by forcing… https://t.co/o3o34sMRxV" createdat="1615209968000" id="1368915943628316673"></div> Divya Dixit, SVP, Marketing, Direct Revenue &amp; Analytics: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="11" retweetcount="3" status="#InternationalWomensDay: @ALTBalaji's @dxtdvy's team is made up of 90% women. She shares a few skillsets that women… https://t.co/c2n5SGOZAM" createdat="1615197601000" id="1368864070548520962"></div> Juhi Bhatnagar, Strategy &amp; BD, India, Snap Inc: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="5" retweetcount="0" status="#InternationalWomensDay: @juhibhatnagarr, Strategy &amp; BD, India, @Snap Inc shares how we can make the AdTech industr… https://t.co/JlpD7yIzuE" createdat="1615188600000" id="1368826317010055168"></div> Shradha Agarwal, Co-founder and COO, Grapes Digital: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="#iwd2021: @GrapesDigital's @shrads_agarwal tells us why it is important to have more women in leadership positions.… https://t.co/4HvUb3vL5m" createdat="1614941492000" id="1367789870916063237"></div> Unmisha Bhatt, Chief Strategy Officer &amp; Director - India &amp; MENA region, Tonic Worldwide: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="4" retweetcount="0" status="#InternationalWomensDay: @TonicWorldwide is run by 60% women. Tonic's Chief Strategy Officer &amp; Director - India &amp; M… https://t.co/GJBePGhc5Y" createdat="1615186801000" id="1368818774376247297"></div> Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="4" retweetcount="0" status="#InternationalWomensDay: @TheSoCheers' Director, Rajni Daswani on how portrayal of women needs to change in adverti… https://t.co/PIXba4KRaR" createdat="1615184655000" id="1368809772527480833"></div>

Leading women from the advertising, marketing and media world on making the industry more inclusive

<ul><li>Over the years, the professional networking site <keyword id="28120" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="linkedin" source="Orion">LinkedIn</keyword> has managed to carve a niche for itself in the business-to-business segment.</li><li>This popular marketing tool is also the most expensive digital advertising platform on the internet.</li><li>We speak to digital advertising agencies to find out why it is expensive if it is worth it and how can advertisers make the most of it on a small budget.</li></ul>If you've ever tried running advertisements on the professional networking site LinkedIn, then you probably will have noticed that they generally cost a lot more per click and per 1000 impressions (CPM) than Google Ads and Facebook Ads. It is the most expensive digital advertising platform of them all in India. For example, we tried boosting an article on Facebook and LinkedIn with a similar allocated budget of ₹2,000. Facebook’s average Cost Per Click (CPC) was as low as ₹0.51 but LinkedIn cost us around ₹20. <div type="image" title="Linked vs Facebook" msid="91623702" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Linked vs Facebook advertising cost&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Why is LinkedIn advertising more expensive than other platforms?" text="Why is LinkedIn advertising more expensive than other platforms?">Why is LinkedIn advertising more expensive than other platforms?</cmsannotation> After boosting our articles on both these platforms, we found that Facebook uses demographic and interest-based targeting that directly targets consumers, while LinkedIn focuses more on professional targeting. So, LinkedIn is more suited for B2B commerce and Facebook is generally better for B2C targetting. While the cost and objectives vary from brand to brand, Aashka Mehta, media lead at advertising agency Schbang, says, “The cost to advertise on LinkedIn is almost 15-20X more expensive than on Facebook.” “LinkedIn’s level of targeting is very different from other platforms. It is niche and hence the additional cost for the same,” adds Mehta. LinkedIn makes it easy for a brand to segment its audience and reach one like-minded set of people at a time. It offers rich demographic data points such as job function, seniority, company name, geography, industry, interest-based targeting group membership, skills, etc. Telling us when are LinkedIn ads commonly used by a brand, Shradha Agarwal, ceo and co-founder of digital agency Grapes, says, “LinkedIn Ads campaigns are usually being used for job recruitment ads, service and product sales, lead generation, promoting content, increasing visibility, and reaching for a new company location. And if we have to compare getting relevant traffic to the website, Linkedin is at least 5X of Facebook and 2X of Twitter. However, conversions are way better.” For N Chandramouli, ceo of TRA Research, which is a brand intelligence and data insights company, LinkedIn has become ‘official WhatsApp’ of sorts. He gave us an example of how expensive LinkedIn’s lead generation can be, which is considered to be its most effective form of marketing on the networking site. “Per lead could be a person, a company or anything that I'm seeking. If you were to advertise, this could go up to about ₹1300 per lead, which is a very expensive lead generation point. But if you use the platform intelligently, not wildly spend like Facebook -- from over a few lakhs of rupees, you can get it down to ₹200 per lead. The amount of spends can go from as low as $1,000 or even lesser per month to maybe $10,000 or even higher per month. So, it all depends on how active you really want your campaign to be.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Is LinkedIn gaining more attention from advertisers now?" text="Is LinkedIn gaining more attention from advertisers now?">Is LinkedIn gaining more attention from advertisers now?</cmsannotation> After the advent of social media and the internet, marketing trailblazers have started chasing return on investment (ROI) on their marketing strategies. They have shifted their focus away from monthly reports to taking insight-based decisions. To understand what ROI on LinkedIn means, as an example, let’s say you spent $5,000 on LinkedIn ads and it generated $10,000 in revenue from those ads. Here’s how you can track your ROI: Marketing ROI (%) = [($10,000 - $5,000) / $5,000] * 100 Marketing ROI (%) = 100% While LinkedIn is not a low-cost medium, it is known to yield a positive marketing ROI and marketers say it is worth it. “It has a promising conversion rate of 6-8%! At $5.26, LinkedIn has the highest CPC compared to other social media platforms. However, this doesn’t mean that LinkedIn’s ads are overpriced. Rather, it just shows how highly ‘clicks’ are valued on this platform,” says Shrenik Gandhi co-founder and CEO of digital advertising agency White Rivers Media. For its ability to deliver targetted audience and concrete ROI, Rajni Daswani, director of digital marketing at advertising agency SoCheers, also says expensive advertising on LinkedIn is worth it. “There is no other platform that gives you a direct audience with the educated, working-class, bread earners in the family kind of people. A lot of brands are seeking this data and are willing to pay the expensive rates that come with it.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="LinkedIn’s growth story and what lies ahead" text="LinkedIn’s growth story and what lies ahead">LinkedIn’s growth story and what lies ahead</cmsannotation> LinkedIn has seen massive growth in its users after the pandemic. As per research and analytics platform NapoleonCat, LinkedIn had an audience reach of 89 million people in India in April 2022, which accounted for 6.3% of its entire userbase. On the other hand, <keyword id="6384676" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media-platform" source="Orion">social media platform</keyword> Facebook’s <a href="https://napoleoncat.com/stats/facebook-users-in-india/2022/04/">user </a>base in India in April 2022 was 400 million. Currently, India is the second-largest market for LinkedIn. Around the time when the coronavirus outbreak started blanketing the globe, LinkedIn’s user base in India was recorded at 67 million in April 2020. <div type="image" title="LinkedIn-users" msid="91623756" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;LinkedIn&amp;#39;s user growth&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> With 810 million users worldwide, LinkedIn has become the backbone of the global business community. For any working professional, it is a platform that allows you to make a first impression on your prospective employers, help you build your community and amp up your skills. Advertisers are using LinkedIn to avoid shouting into a void. This professional networking platform gives them targetted B2B audience. So, it is also increasingly taking up more of brands’ budgets. LinkedIn’s ad revenue exceeded <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://c.s-microsoft.com/en-us/CMSFiles/SlidesFY22Q2.pptx?version=4a9117e1-04ff-5143-12a0-1ecfc041aa59">$1 billion in 2021</a> and its overall revenue grew by 37%. Sharing the reason behind the recent influx of B2B advertisers, Sachin Sharma, Director, LinkedIn Enterprise Marketing Solutions India, says, “As we emerge from the pandemic, building a community has never been more important. Our 88 million member strong professional community in India of customers, marketers, advertisers are all turning to LinkedIn at this time to learn, connect, and share information and knowledge — and LinkedIn has been uniquely positioned to foster this community. We are a top 3 player in B2B digital advertising today, and our community is the backbone of this record-breaking growth. With our targeting features, they are better able to reach the right, and highly engaged, professional audience so they can be more precise with the ads they show. We're also making the right investments by training our bidding models to be smarter in how we bid, which is improving ROI for our customers and bringing them more value for their campaign spends and driving more conversions.” <div type="image" title="LinkedIn-users.2" msid="91623773" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Advertising revenue generated by LinkedIn year-on-year&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> According to LinkedIn, f<a href="https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/cx/17/06/advertise-on-linkedin?trk=sem_lms_gaw&amp;src=go-pa&amp;veh=LMS_NAMER_Core_USCA_Search_Google-Brand_DR-PRS_Broad_HeadTerms-Beta_All_English_Core_378907683579__%2Blinkedin%20%2Badvertising_c__aud-925775953436:kwd-23182566377_6458957180&amp;mcid=6612464045041733652&amp;cname=LMS_NAMER_Core_USCA_Search_Google-Brand_DR-PRS_Broad_HeadTerms-Beta_All_English_Core&amp;camid=6458957180&amp;asid=77594820616&amp;targetid=aud-925775953436:kwd-23182566377&amp;crid=378907683579&amp;placement=&amp;dev=c&amp;ends=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwjuqDBhAGEiwAdX2cj2lTVNqgugdLVkw4pjQ_HT9U7ndYyuYl0_1wUsTKKBlHFvOgBieIqxoCsVEQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds">our out of five </a>of its users have the power to impact business decisions. These movers and shakers also have <a href="https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/cx/17/06/advertise-on-linkedin?trk=sem_lms_gaw&amp;src=go-pa&amp;veh=LMS_NAMER_Core_USCA_Search_Google-Brand_DR-PRS_Broad_HeadTerms-Beta_All_English_Core_378907683579__%2Blinkedin%20%2Badvertising_c__aud-925775953436:kwd-23182566377_6458957180&amp;mcid=6612464045041733652&amp;cname=LMS_NAMER_Core_USCA_Search_Google-Brand_DR-PRS_Broad_HeadTerms-Beta_All_English_Core&amp;camid=6458957180&amp;asid=77594820616&amp;targetid=aud-925775953436:kwd-23182566377&amp;crid=378907683579&amp;placement=&amp;dev=c&amp;ends=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwjuqDBhAGEiwAdX2cj2lTVNqgugdLVkw4pjQ_HT9U7ndYyuYl0_1wUsTKKBlHFvOgBieIqxoCsVEQAvD_BwE&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds">2x the buying power</a> of typical online audiences. While Facebook has more users than LinkedIn across the world, some advertisers find LinkedIn more lucrative than other networking platforms. Gandhi explains why LinkedIn gets more preference in the brandverse. “LinkedIn’s competitive advantage is that it is a professional networking site. While Facebook boasts over 2 billion people, LinkedIn has 600+ million professionals - In digital advertising, quality reigns supreme over quantity! Compared to other social media platforms, LinkedIn advertising is more expensive but it is certainly not overpriced for the value it provides.” As per Pranav Ahuja, co-founder and CEO of digital ad agency Xeno, LinkedIn typically allows you to choose from four different kinds of ad formats: sponsored content, sponsored messaging, lead generation forms, and text and dynamic ads. The initial 2-4 weeks of advertising on LinkedIn are typically considered a learning experience for brands and media buyers to figure out what works (or doesn’t). To begin with, LinkedIn recommends a daily budget of at least $100 or a monthly budget of $5,000. To get the most bang for your bucks, make sure you end your LinkedIn ad with a clear call to action (CTA).

LinkedIn is the most expensive digital advertising platform but is it worth it?

<ul><li>Over the last few years, <keyword id="2540701" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencer-marketing">influencer marketing</keyword> has grown exponentially in India.</li><li>The Advertising Council of India has now launched <keyword id="6586390" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-guidelines">new guidelines</keyword> for the <keyword id="11333696" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="influencer-marketing-industry">influencer marketing industry</keyword> to increase transparency.</li><li>We reached out to experts from the influencer marketing ecosystem to understand how it would impact the industry and help shape its growth in the coming years.</li></ul>The Advertising Council of India (ASCI) has launched new guidelines for influencers, brands and talent agencies in a bid to make influencer marketing more transparent for consumers. The lines between influencer’s personal content and paid content have become blurry, almost indistinguishable from regular posts. As per the guidelines, all advertisements published by social media influencers or their representatives, on such influencers’ accounts will be expected to carry a disclosure label that clearly identifies it as an advertisement. Disclosure is required if there is anything of value given to mention or talk about the advertiser’s product or service and it is supposed to be placed in a manner that is hard to miss. Influencer marketing has been witnessing an exponential growth in India in the past few years. According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India's influencer market is estimated at $75-150 million a year, as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion. And the year 2020 pushed businesses of various kinds and sizes to further experiment with digital solutions as all activities from attending concerts and birthday parties to fitness sessions moved from the physical realm to digital. Today, Indian audiences are watching more online videos than ever before. Nielsen studies show that home-bound consumers have led to a 60% increase in the amount of video content watched globally. So, as more and more Indians get connected to the internet, they discover and interact with a multitude of brands on a daily basis. ASCI’s new guidelines, experts said, will help give a structure to the industry, will elevate the level of trust between customers, influencers and brands. We reached out to experts from the influencer ecosystem to understand the implications of the guidelines and how it will impact stakeholders, and here is what they had to say: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Varun Mayya- Digital Content Creator and CEO &amp; Founder of Avalon Meta and Scenes by Avalon:" text="Varun Mayya- Digital Content Creator and CEO &amp; Founder of Avalon Meta and Scenes by Avalon:">Varun Mayya- Digital Content Creator and CEO &amp; Founder of Avalon Meta and Scenes by Avalon: </cmsannotation> The reach of influencers and media is much wider than ever before and thats one of the reason why the digital economy has disrupted the traditional economy. The consumers' mindset has changed massively over the last few years and they're much more sophisticated now. This change calls for changes in the advertisers approach with regards to ethics and openness. Influencers should be mindful of the products and companies they advertise and be upfront about the fact that they're paid to promote them. When you see TV, you know Shah Rukh is paid to do the ad but on Social Media this is mostly absent. You're following a person because you find them genuine and helpful but all of a sudden when they're promoting some fitness or haircare product and you don't know whether it's genuine or not. These guidelines should be able to bridge that gap and I hope that advertisers also take this as seriously as the creators." <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Viraj Sheth- Co-Founder and CEO at Monk Entertainment:" text="Viraj Sheth- Co-Founder and CEO at Monk Entertainment:">Viraj Sheth- Co-Founder and CEO at Monk Entertainment:</cmsannotation> I believe the ASCI Influencer Guidelines are a welcome move within the industry. The influencer marketing industry definitely was in need of regulation considering how size-able it has become and will keep getting in the near future. Influencers and creators have the onus of ensuring complete disclosure with regards to all their endorsements and brand deals in order to make sure their audiences know of the paid partnerships and they can then evaluate their decision about whether or not they wish to still buy the product/service. The introduction of these guidelines is only half the battle won, the latter half would have to focus on correct implementation and enforcement of the same with both brands and creators. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder and COO, ClanConnect:" text="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder and COO, ClanConnect:">Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder and COO, ClanConnect:</cmsannotation> Influencer marketing has been witnessing a steady growth in India in the past few years. As digital media consumption is growing, the distinction between content and promotional advertisements is becoming important. Influencer marketing has now become mainstream. Therefore, consumers have a right to know what content has been paid for by brands and the guidelines intend to bring this transparency to influencer marketing. The guidelines are crucial at this moment considering the rapid growth in branded communications to consumers via social media. Wherein there are guidelines for traditional media advertising, now, with the boom in influencer marketing, these guidelines have become essential. The guidelines seems to have addressed all the necessary angles. These have been finalized after extensive evaluation and consideration of suggestions by industry players. With these guidelines, consumers can expect much more transparency as they navigate through the social media universe. These will not only streamline the space and offer a direction but also ensure that there is an added sense of social responsibility amongst the influencer community. On our part, we are geared up to guide influencers through the intricacies of the newly-launched guidelines, helping them meet all the requirements so they can focus on what they do best – create impactful content. We trust this will regulate &amp; filter out the misleading content, creating a transparent and healthy digital world! These guidelines will align the Indian online advertising industry with international markets. If influencers want to be followed by their audience, it is necessary for them to stay interesting, honest, creative while managing the art of storytelling to keep consumers engaged. While these new guidelines will promote transparency, it will also elevate the level of trust between customers, influencers and brands. So it will be beneficial across the stakeholders in the ecosystem. These guidelines will help the consumers to identify promotional content and also guide digital influencers. Ultimately, it will unlock a wealth of new opportunities for the fast-evolving segment that will result in positive outcomes for the sector in the long run. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Neel Gogia, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media:" text="Neel Gogia, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media:">Neel Gogia, Co-Founder, IPLIX Media: </cmsannotation> The <keyword id="10323570" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="asci-guidelines">ASCI guidelines</keyword> are a welcome step forward in introducing transparency and authenticity across the ecosystem. However, every new initiative will face questions on its practicality. That debate is necessary to create a sustainable solution. Hence, in my opinion, the current recommendations might not be applicable to every influencer or every tool of influencer marketing. The lines are a little blurred. For instance, a non-monetary association under which an influencer shares an unbiased product review will be labeled as an AD, leaving consumers in a tough spot. This will be difficult to implement for a tech or an auto influencer as they cannot buy every product for review as they are of high monetary value, and in fact, not all the reviews are positive as well so they cannot be labeled as an AD. Furthermore, organic and value-added content creation with genuine product integration is being given priority by the brands, agencies as well as influencers at the moment and the current recommendations might not be aligned with this objective. For a YouTube content creator with long-format vlogs labeling the entire integration section as an AD will lead the audience to ignore the content even if it is adding value to them. A mention of 5-10 seconds should suffice rather than a full-length mention. I believe platform labels like ‘Includes paid promotion’ and ‘Paid partnership with’ on YouTube and Instagram respectively, offer that clarity for sponsored posts. This is sufficient to highlight that the integration is paid. However, additionally, the creators can put a supplementary hashtag to make it more visible. So, we will have to wait and watch how this unfolds.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers:" text="Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers:">Rajni Daswani, Director, SoCheers:</cmsannotation> The guidelines are a good guardrail in the industry that has been unregulated so far. The fact that the guidelines are not extremely stringent and do rely on influencers to see that they do justice, leaves room for brands to explore ways to circumvent around it. A lot will depend on how influencers &amp; brands adapt to it. Many brands are averse to the whole #Ad &amp; #Sponsored and may now start drawing parallel compares to paid media, which might see the investment in influencer marketing take a slight hit, after the phenomenal growth year that it has had. These guidelines will be like a double-edged sword for creators as well. While they will get a lot more say in putting out content that will work on their pages, influencers/creators who are doing a lot of branded content might see a hit in their engagement &amp; reach numbers. Quality content will continue to win nonetheless. For brands, would suggest to give influencers a little more freedom in designing the content in a way that will bring out the brand benefits, as well as get content to perform better on their channels. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng:" text="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng:">Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng:</cmsannotation> This was a long time coming. The blurring of the line between ads and simple user-generated content needed to be corrected. Users not only have the right to know the difference between the two, they all but demand it. Disclosure labels are unquestionably a step forward in that direction. Besides helping bolster the trust audiences were increasingly hemorrhaging in content creators, the guidelines will hold brands and marketers more accountable. I am gratified ASCI has moved the needle in organizing a niche where entropy was just about beginning to reign supreme.

How ASCI’s new guidelines will impact influencer marketing industry: Experts share their opinion

<ul><li>From a sacrificing mother to a man being the bread-earner, the portrayal of women in ads has remained very shallow, stereotypical and limiting for years.</li><li>Industry body ASCI is now trying to expand its horizon by launching a gender report to understand the evolution of women representation in advertisements and offer a forward-looking perspective to help brands embrace positive narratives for women in advertising.</li><li>We also speak to a few women from the advertising industry to understand what are some of the concerns that they are expecting ASCI to address.</li></ul>Airbrushed faces, petite figures and fair skinned models in advertisements across the world have made women like me feel uncomfortable in our own skin. We look in the mirror only to notice our flaws and turn to beauty products to fix ourselves because they’ve been feeding on our insecurities and profiting on our vulnerabilities. The portrayal of women has remained very shallow for years. Until early 2020, fairness creams were used as a yardstick to determine a woman’s worth, personally or professionally. The man is usually portrayed as the breadwinner who buys an expensive gift for his wife -- he is smart and successful and the woman is depicted as someone’s wife or mother whose only life purpose is to take care of her kids and husband. While many beauty brands have finally woken up to realise that selling ‘fair skin’ is problematic, even today, we only see thin models, upper-caste and rich women in advertisements and minorities like muslim women, North East Indian women and transwomen aren’t included in mainstream campaigns. They are only given a little attention on Eid or during pride month. The <keyword id="382559" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Advertising-Standard-Council-of-India">Advertising Standard Council of India</keyword> is conducting a research study to understand the damage advertising has done over the years by perpetuating gender stereotypes. Titled ‘GenderNext,’ the report will look back at the representation of women and help Indian brands and advertising agencies shape gender narratives in advertising positively as we move forward. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="81701552" title="ASCI to launch a report to provide actionable insights to shape positive depiction of women in advertising" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> Telling us why ASCI decided to plan a report on gender discourse now, Manisha Kapoor, Secretary General of ASCI, said, “Women have been a matter of debate for many years. From time to time, these are issues which are of interest to both advertisers and society because advertising impacts the gender discourse, and gender discourse impacts advertising. They contribute to how the other develops but advertisers definitely have the responsibility through their brands of making sure that their own depictions are responsible, that they are fair, that they are progressive, and they're very positive.” She told us how it is easy to spot an advertisement that overtly crosses a line. However, there are ads which subtly perpetuate stereotypes and ASCI will concentrate on that. “In the spectrum of what is acceptable, there's so much and there are such subtle kinds of narratives, which are part of advertising. The effort is really to uncover those and create many new starting points for advertisers on how we can even within the broad spectrum of what is acceptable to understand what is better, what is more positive, what is accepted by consumers better, what is seen as less problematic. What is seen as aspirational, what is seen as relatable. If we're able to kind of identify those narratives, we believe this is going to be a study which has many actionable insights for advertisers. It may be useful for them in the long run in their brand messaging. Not to kind of find fault with what is happening or anything of that sort. But it is to create a platform for better with more engaging, more responsible, more positive depictions of gender in the future,” she explained. The study will be mainly divided into five parts: decoding of advertising, consumer immersion, ad agencies/people who create ads, gender policy makers and draw insights from Bharat Darshan, a proprietary study done by Futurebrands over a decade, and across more than 200 towns. Elaborating on the study's methodology, Kapoor said, “Firstly, we're looking at a cultural and semiotic decoding of advertising. We would look at how women are shown in ads, said and unsaid equation in that depiction, what are they wearing, are they a decision maker for that category? Is that a role that is expected of them in a more traditional way? We’ll do that across several regional and national ads across a period of time. Secondly, we are doing a consumer immersion study, where we will be talking to consumers about how their own lived reality of gender is. One is what they see on TV and how they respond to it and we'd compare that with their actual lived experience of gender.” She added, “Third is about people who are creating advertising: What is their framework? What are they getting influenced by? What are their reference points? What do they think when they start to create an ad? The fourth is looking at policymakers, gender specialists, experts who have been in the domain for many, many years and who work with real women across different strata of the population. How do they look at advertising and impact of advertising? How would they see life differently because they have decades of experience. They have worked closely with the legal process, with the legal framework of this country as it relates with depiction of women. Fifth part is Bharat Darshan.” The study will cover multiple categories like personal care, fashion and beauty; hearth, home and health; gadgets and wheels; and money and education. On whether ASCI is planning to include minorities like Muslim women, Dalit women or transwomen, Kapoor said, “We will definitely look at advertising of all sorts. While the focus is on women but I think gender dynamics become a part of the query even if you were to look at just women. So where on the gender spectrum you will fall when we look at advertising which may have shown those kinds of depictions, those are certainly the points that we’ll pick up and analyse. We will try and understand how that contributes and how that moves the narrative ahead. So, those kinds of ads will also be on our radar.” As per ASCI’s press statement, it will provide insights to navigate and embrace positive narratives for women in advertising content. Excitedly, we asked if that would include talking about body positivity and encourage advertisers to show real women in ads and much to our relief, Kapoor agreed that it would be a part of the study. She said, “We are looking at health and fitness as one of the sectors that we will study. What you mentioned (body positivity), that gets covered in the whole decoding of advertising: what are the kind of women we are showing in advertising. And when we show different kinds of women, whether be body shape, skin color, age -- we'll do research on what are they falling back on stereotypes: are older women shown in different ways than younger women and all of those dynamics. This is why it's such a complex, but very fascinating study. But yes, absolutely. We will cover health, fitness and women and their bodies.” We reached out to women in advertising agencies to find out what are some of the concerns that they are hoping this report would address. They seem very excited to know that an industry body has taken upon itself to change the gender narrative and make strides towards inclusivity and have high hopes. <keyword id="652941" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ashwini-Deshpande">Ashwini Deshpande</keyword>, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design is also a Co-founder of the initiative ‘The Collective’ that started after #MeToo. Deshpande and her team has been helping women in the advertising fraternity feel safer at their workplace, talking about equal pay and rights for women. Sharing a list of concerns she expects ASCI to address, she mentioned, “Narrations or humour based on gender, caste, racial features, regional accents: any stereotyping that leads to trivializing or offending specific sections of society - Sexualization/ objectification in a completely unrelated or unnecessary context: products or services that have no connection with display of seduction or women in revealing attires - Stereotyping relationships: especially women being shown as people who "serve" others - What is being directed towards children and whether it is being done responsibly - What is being pushed in the name of festivals - Clarity of message while offering discounts or schemes - Claims being made by remedial/ medicinal products” Ronita Mitra, Founder and Chief Strategist, Brand Eagle Consulting said, "Women are already visible achievers in many fields today be it academics, professional/ career achievements, art and culture and many more. In fact, mindset across generations is evolving among all genders towards the traditional classification of roles and expectations. This includes all stereotypical lenses which create divisive and archaic boundaries, be it caste, gender, colourism, etc. If brands and advertisements are to truly reflect consumer trends, this evolving consumer psyche should in any case be reflected in the narratives and storytelling. While some categories and brands have begun the process of reflecting the evolving realities, certain categories continue to be steeped in the stereotypical role definitions and boundaries. Brands, through their advertisements and storytelling are a powerful influencer in engendering shifts in consumer attitudes and thereby, behaviour at societal level." She added, "ASCI's move to develop a report focusing on the depiction of women in advertising, ought to be lauded as it will provide momentum to the need to shift the archaic and stereotypical depiction of women's role in communication in the yesteryears and in fact, showcase women's roles as is already experienced in many facets of our lives today and in the years to come. In fact, many consumers are already living lives guided by gender neutrality rather than traditional gender-based lives. The Guidelines based on consumer insights from a self-regulated, robust institution such as ASCI will lend a lot of credibility and support to the discussions that marketers will have within their organisations to accomplish organisation-wide buy into progressive brand and creative ideas. However, it would be important to ensure that the guidelines are future-ready and not confined to merely reflect the realities of changes in women's role as of today. In a fast-evolving world, the pace of change of role definitions will also keep changing and the guidelines need to be mindful of the same. To that end, while the first report is a great beginning, hopefully, the insights and the resultant guidelines should ideally be refreshed every few years to ensure that it's continuing relevance for the environment that would take shape in the future as well." Nisha Singhania, Founding Partner, Infectious Advertising said, “There definitely has been a gender stereotyping when it comes to the portrayal of women in advertising. I’m hoping this study will identify some of these biases and help project women in a more progressive and equal manner. Guidelines on depiction which are offensive or regressive will definitely help advertisers have a more responsible portrayal of genders in ads.” Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers said, “Social stigmas like skin colour, size of a woman, her rights and roles in a household or at a workplace should be some of the things the guidelines should definitely cover. We’ve seen a lot of stereotypical ads whenever there are any women protagonists promoting a product/service. What we portray about women through these ads are what future women are going to see and grow into and it's crucial that we get it right and move towards being a more gender-agnostic progressive society who is ready for the world of tomorrow.”

All about ASCI’s latest Gender Next report and what women of the ad world are expecting the industry body to address

<ul><li><keyword id="169284" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ASCI">ASCI</keyword> released <keyword id="8325366" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-draft-guidelines">new draft guidelines</keyword> to help consumers identify promotional content from user-generated content. </li><li>We reached out to brand experts and <keyword id="2540701" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Influencer-marketing">influencer marketing</keyword> agencies to understand what it would mean for the industry.</li></ul>To help consumers understand social media a little better, and in an attempt to make sure they understand what content posted by an influencer is an ad, the <keyword id="120108" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Advertising-Standards-Council-of-India">Advertising Standards Council of India</keyword> (ASCI) has released draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media. Influencer marketing has been witnessing a steady growth in India in the past few years. Today, Indian audiences are watching more online videos than ever before. It was time to take a step forward towards building a transparent advertising ecosystem. <keyword id="6456080" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="nielsen">Nielsen</keyword> studies show that home-bound consumers have led to a 60% increase in the amount of video content watched globally. ASCI, in its statement said that the guidelines for influencers advertising on digital media will be available for all stakeholders, including industry, digital influencers as well as consumers for feedback till March 8, 2021. Based on the feedback and inputs, the final guidelines will be issued by ASCI by 31st March, 2021. This guideline will be applicable to all promotional posts published on or after 15th April 2021. We reached out to experts from the influencer ecosystem to understand the implications of the guidelines and how it will impact stakeholders, and here is what they had to say: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad" text="Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad">Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad</cmsannotation> A much-welcomed move by the ASCI, which has the potential to create a profound long-term impact affecting consumers’ trust in the overall concept of advertising. We realise the influencer marketing sector has seen exponential growth over the past decade and has also become a core of our brand-building efforts at upGrad. We look forward to the newly drafted guidelines which I’m sure will further make influencer marketing more transparent and also bring-forth better opportunities for brands to create responsible advertising for their audience, at large. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder &amp; Director" text="Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder &amp; Director">Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder &amp; Director</cmsannotation><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Wakefit.co" text="Wakefit.co">Wakefit.co</cmsannotation> We believe the new draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media suggested by ASCI is an extremely encouraging move. As more and more Indians get connected to the internet, they discover and interact with a multitude of brands on a daily basis. While these new guidelines will promote transparency, it will also elevate the level of trust between customers, influencers and brands. Given that brands and influencers are required to do a thorough due diligence about aspects like using filters and technical or performance claims made by a brand, it is likely to instil a sense of accountability and provide clarity to customers. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design" text="Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design">Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder &amp; Director, Elephant Design</cmsannotation> An influencer garners a large follower base because of consistent &amp; aligned content for the kind of audience he/ she is aiming for. If the influencers want to continue getting followed by their audience, it is necessary for them to stay interesting and honest. Influencer marketing has reached a critical mass in India and it is the right time to have these clear guidelines from ASCI that protect consumers from being misled. The draft guidelines by ASCI which are open for public discussion for the next few days, have transparency at its core and should be welcomed by the advertising industry. The most important guideline on prominent labelling has been rightfully specified for each social media channel – will help the consumer from getting misguided by influencer advertisements. The guidelines have ensured three prominent things: • Any content where the brand has paid the influencer and has had reasonable control over the content needs to be called out as 'advertisement'. • Influencer must make it obvious that the content is an 'advertisement'. This should be a clear indication to the follower that the content has bias. • If the influencer is making some specific claims, they should be diligently substantiated by the advertiser or brand owner. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect" text="Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect">Kunal Kishore Sinha, Co-founder, ClanConnect</cmsannotation> ASCI’s newly issued guidelines for influencer marketing will unlock a wealth of new opportunities for the fast-evolving segment that will result in positive outcomes for the sector in the long run. When a major industry body such as the ASCI deems that there is a need to introduce guidelines for influencers and the influencer marketing community, it shows how the market has evolved and has assumed a mainstream stature in the larger advertising space. These guidelines will not only streamline the space and offer a direction but also ensure that there is an added sense of social responsibility amongst the influencer community. Needless to say, we welcome this move by the ASCI for the segment as it will act as a guiding light for new and established content creators, who will now be more mindful of the kind of content that they are bringing to their target audiences. An extremely positive move from the ASCI, these guidelines will act as a catalyst for more organized and structured platforms such as ClanConnect to set new benchmarks for the industry as a whole. Platforms such as ours will play a major role in assisting content creators in navigating through the various regulations and conform to them without any inadvertent missteps. With ASCI introducing these guidelines, the influencer marketing segment also joins the league of recognized and celebrated domains of the advertising ecosystem and indicates further growth and evolution for this space. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression" text="Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression">Apaksh Gupta, Founder &amp; CEO, One Impression</cmsannotation> We're elated to have been partners with the entire ecosystem and the regulatory body that is fostering a holistic approach towards digital advertising. Observing the paradigm shift from traditional to digital, it only coherent to have a transparent &amp; clear ecosystem laid out via the proposed ASCI guidelines, that is beneficial to both digital influencers &amp; consumers. We trust this will regulate &amp; filter out the misleading content, which is suggestive of a much healthier digital world out there! <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ankita Chauhan, Group Head Strategy, Tonic Worldwide" text="Ankita Chauhan, Group Head Strategy, Tonic Worldwide">Ankita Chauhan, Group Head Strategy, <keyword id="3671421" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tonic-Worldwide">Tonic Worldwide</keyword></cmsannotation> As the word opinion leader suggests, influencers are leading opinion and influencing purchase decisions, across categories. A lot of time the content is promoted as a part of the larger story and seeded in subtly, making the whole placement look rather organic. However, consumers have full right to know what is paid and what is organic. It’s quite basic. I’ve observed several influencers labelling sponsored content and I think industry bodies making it a mandate only benefits the consumers at large. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Aayush Tiwari - Head of Talent Acquisition, Monk Entertainment" text="Aayush Tiwari - Head of Talent Acquisition, Monk Entertainment">Aayush Tiwari - Head of Talent Acquisition, Monk Entertainment</cmsannotation> I believe that the latest issued ASCI guidelines is a good step to secure the future of now one of the most popular ways of brand promotions - influencer marketing. As the guidelines states, consumers, here disguised as a follower, should have all the rights to know what's being uploaded organically and what's a paid advertisement. This declaration also will motivate the influencer to study about the brand/product and investigate their claims before they go all out publicizing them. Post formulation we'll surely see less cases of misleading advertisements, safeguarding both the consumer spends and influencers getting caught off guard for their claims - <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng" text="Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng">Ankit Agarwal, Founder, Do Your Thng</cmsannotation> USA’s FTC and UK’S ASA both issued regulations years back outlining explicit do’s and don'ts for influencers. It was high time influencer marketing in India followed the same path. The lack of guidelines gave more oxygen to damaging content, and it chipped away the hard-earned trust in creators. When consumers know an ad is an ad or content just that – mere organic content, which is one of the rules in the draft: upfront labelling on ads; the confidence in a creator is not broken. When creators are authentic, including being straightforward about sponsored content, they make more impact and deliver deeper engagement. That’s why I have been vocal about the necessity for the entire niche to abide by advertising rules from day one. With this framework from ASCI, that hopefully comes into play in April, we finally move the needle on streamlining the sector that has been unorganised for far too long. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl" text="Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl">Ramya Ramachandran, Founder &amp; CEO, Whoppl</cmsannotation> In line with the latest regulation imposed by the ASCI, the need for total transparency in the realm of influencer marketing has been rightfully reaffirmed. In today’s time and age, when influencer marketing is growing at an unprecedented pace and almost everybody wants to become an influencer, it is the need of the hour to safeguard a consumer’s right to information and transparency. With major fiascos like the Fyre Festival, it has become urgently crucial to come up with influencer marketing strategies and content that are 100% credible and verified. Here at Whoppl, content is the hero for us and we have always ensured transparency by fully disclosing the influencer’s professional contract with us—by getting the sponsorship tag in place, for instance, wherever required. In fact, we always strive for a strategy wherein we ask the influencers to first try out the product/service, make their opinions and create authentic content as per their tonality, while also ensuring full disclosure of their partnership with the brand. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Jo Broner, WIBA Spokesperson (Paris)" text="Jo Broner, WIBA Spokesperson (Paris)">Jo Broner, WIBA Spokesperson (Paris)</cmsannotation> At the heart of it, ASCI is recognizing the digital influencer space as part of the mainstream industry now, which is very good news for the influencers. It is going to build more trust between the artists and their audience with increased transparency. It also means the marketers have to channelize verifiable information and not unverifiable marketing claims. Influencers connect with curated communities, who listen to them for the credibility they bring, so they have an inherent moral responsibility to not breach the trust of their audience, ASCI is bolstering it with new laws, and that is going to bring in due discipline in the environment, so it's a welcome move. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Divyanshu Damani, Co-founder of TagMango" text="Divyanshu Damani, Co-founder of TagMango">Divyanshu Damani, Co-founder of TagMango</cmsannotation> In this digital-age amid a plethora of marketing platforms, influencer marketing has carved its own niche. However, there was a need for guidelines that further enhances the trust of consumers in influencers. As the influencers also need to understand that when they partner with a brand, they share their own trust in the brand with their communities and audience. So, it becomes highly critical for them to only undertake the partnerships that they believe will positively impact their audience. Therefore, in my opinion, it is an extremely vital move. The guidelines issued will allow them to deeply evaluate the offering and the trust that they’re sharing. Furthermore, it would reduce the overall funnel of their brand partnerships and thus, push them to think about opting for sustainable monetary options which we are building at TagMango. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Pranav Panpalia, Founder, OpraahFx" text="Pranav Panpalia, Founder, OpraahFx">Pranav Panpalia, Founder, OpraahFx</cmsannotation> The ASCI guidelines are simple and easy to adhere to. The guidelines are more or less similar to the west. In the past couple of years, this has been thoroughly implemented by international influencers and I am happy to see India leading in the same direction. This will definitely make the digital ecosystem more responsible and streamlined. I am in complete agreement with all the points of the guidelines, especially with the fact that images and videos should not be altered or beautified by influencers while advertising on social media. Since digital media caters to a much more aware audience set, keeping it real is the only way to connect with them. Looking forward to a more transparent digital world. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers" text="Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers">Rajni Daswani, Director at SoCheers</cmsannotation> Influencer marketing is a $100 million industry in India now, and brands of all kinds - big or small - are benefiting from using influencers &amp; content creators to drive their business objectives. The fact that it’s been unregulated so far, we have seen some brands sneakily get away with things that would not be considered ethical if it were to be shown in a TVC or an OOH. The guidelines will serve as a good guardrail in these cases. However, on the flip side, the popularity of influencer marketing in a brand’s marketing budget is due to the flexibility of communication that allows them to showcase the benefits of their products &amp; services in different ways without it looking very promotional. Digital consumers today are smart enough to understand what is an Advert vs what is organic, and hence brands are willing to pay more to get their promotional material to look as organic as possible. With these guidelines kicking in, we might see the overall engagement and reach with influencers drop and might see it get the same status quo as a paid media ad on digital. I think while these guidelines are necessary, they should not be extremely stringent so as to avoid creating a dent in the overall influencer marketing industry that is growing at a faster pace than ever. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy" text="Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy">Ambika Sharma, Founder &amp; MD, Pulp Strategy</cmsannotation> The influencer industry is growing fast. According to digital marketing agency AdLift, India’s influencer market is estimated at $75-$150 million a year as compared to the global market of $1.75 billion. This is an industry that has become mainstream within the advertising space and is only expected to grow as more and more Indians are going online. It’s no wonder that brands across sectors are associating with influencers to get across their marketing messages. So, much of what influencers post is promotional and a lot of it is not identified as such. Such non-disclosure is a disservice to consumers and is misleading. With the guidelines, ASCI will assist consumers, brands and content creators to ensure all stakeholders’ interests are preserved through a self-regulatory approach. The digital space is huge and promotional content is often indistinguishable from regular posts. Consumers have the right to easily recognise promotional content. These guidelines will help the consumers to identify promotional content and also guide digital influencers. These guidelines will benefit the consumers and the digital influencers. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Gautam Madhavan, Founder &amp; CEO, MAD Influence" text="Gautam Madhavan, Founder &amp; CEO, MAD Influence">Gautam Madhavan, Founder &amp; CEO, MAD Influence</cmsannotation> I'm very happy with the new set of guidelines set by asci. It's good for business and shows Influencer Marketing in India is just going to grow more aggressively. This also helps consumers identify which content is commissioned and which is not , and accordingly their buying decisions is more rationale.

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