Micro and nano influencers emerge as festive season’s biggest growth engine for brands

New Delhi: With brands set to allocate over Rs 700 crore (Qoruz data) on influencer marketing this festive season, India’s playbook is undergoing its biggest reset yet, with micro and nano creators taking centre stage in brand strategies.

Industry leaders say campaigns are shifting from one-off amplification to performance-first storytelling, long-term partnerships and hyperlocal engagement, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.

Sudeep Subash, Co-Founder and CRO of Collective Artists Network and CEO of Big Bang Social, said the biggest trend is a blend of scale and traction.

“Brands are blending macro influencers for reach with micro and nano creators for real traction in smaller towns. The tilt is clearly toward authenticity, i.e. real voices, regional creators, and user-generated content are outperforming polished, scripted ads,” he said.

With “shop now” buttons, affiliate tracking and live selling built into posts, influencer content has now evolved into a “full-funnel sales engine”, Subash added.

While celebrities continue to drive mass awareness, micro and nano creators are no longer fringe players.

“This festive season, smaller influencers are going to play a big role,” Subash said. “Their influence might be niche, but it’s deeply personal and culturally relevant. Celebrities still matter, but micro and nano creators are becoming key to driving engagement, purchase intent, and regional resonance.”

Gurpreet Singh, Co-Founder of One Digital Entertainment, said the shift is not only in “who” gets picked, but also in “how” campaigns are structured.

“Many brands are moving away from one-off posts to long-term, strategic collaborations. Five years ago, we worked on a first-of-its-kind deal between Prajakta Koli (MostlySane) and Gillette Venus. It went beyond X number of posts, building genuine engagement with her community. That partnership is now in its fifth year,” Singh recalled.

He added that briefs are changing: “It’s not just about asking creators to amplify a script. Brands are co-creating, sometimes bringing creators in as creative directors. The shift is from ‘promote our product’ to ‘let’s build something together’.”

According to Kulbir Sachdev, Founder of Voxxy Media, “The whole game has changed from moment marketing to 'movement building’.

He outlined five major forces shaping festive campaigns:

• Regional/vernacular creator pods, particularly in Tier 2/3 towns, are delivering disproportionate ROI for FMCGs, foods and D2C brands.

• Live content and ONDC-powered checkout are, for the first time, closing the loop between content consumption and purchase.

• BFSI spends on finfluencers are growing, with SEBI-compliant content seen as more credible than direct brand messaging.

• AI-driven co-creation using CGI mock-ups and remixable templates is cutting turnaround from weeks to hours.

• Episodic creator-driven IPs and storytelling arcs are turning influencers into recurring brand voices, not one-off endorsers.

Sachdev emphasised that while celebrities still anchor marquee campaigns, “day-to-day strategies are now dominated by micro and nano creators”.

“Brands are surrounding one big face with 40–60 smaller influencers who drive trust, conversations and conversions,” he said. “Micro and nano creators now command nearly half of the total influencer budget, because their content feels authentic, interactive and experimental.”

The numbers speak for themselves. Micro-tier creators consistently “outperform on sales per rupee spent”, even if the coordination effort is higher. Their agility in experimenting with new formats and memes adds to their appeal.

“The biggest mindset shift we’re seeing is that brands aren’t just buying influence anymore; they’re building infrastructure,” Sachdev added. “Owning creator communities, co-developing IPs, and plugging creators into sales pipelines. In 2025, influencer marketing isn’t a campaign; it’s a business function. It is performance marketing.”