With success rate of 30-40%, brands turning to AI for festive campaigns

Multi-language format, multi-region content creation, zero scheduling hurdles, and tighter brand-safety controls — this dream scenario for most creatives and content creators is turning true, thanks to AI-led campaigns. 

As per industry leaders, artificial intelligence has been instrumental in campaigns seeing a success rate of 30-40%, particularly in beauty, fashion, e-commerce, and consumer tech categories ahead of the festive season. 

Festive Season Push

AI has been the central character, albeit unseen, in most festive campaigns this year. 

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Ullas Vijay, Chief Marketing Officer, Duroflex Group, told e4m, “Considering how central Onam is to Kerala’s festive spirit, we wanted to go beyond conventional marketing by making the celebrations more personal and being a part of their festive wishes. Our campaign was built on a digital-first approach and its highlight was our collaboration with actress Amala Paul. We utilised cutting-edge technology to introduce AI-powered, personalised greetings from the actress for our dealers and consumers.”

On execution and outcomes, Rohit Agarwal, Founder & Director, Alpha Zegus, an experimental marketing agency, said, “When the creative matches the platform vibe, we’ve seen an equal or slightly higher engagement versus human creators — studies peg up to 3 per cent lift in engagement on an average. The bigger win is cost per asset and speed: you can localise a hero idea into 10+ festive variants (Durga Puja/Diwali/Garba) overnight.”

He highlighted four emerging trends shaping this festive season: dynamic localisation at scale, with brands rolling out Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali variants of the same concept; hybrid casts, where AI avatars serve as digital lookbooks while human creators handle reviews and demos; programmatic placements, using AI-generated props or backdrops in creator videos without the need for reshoots; and finally, a sharper focus on measurement and disclosure, with stricter tagging and lift-tests becoming essential as brand appetite softens even though youth curiosity around AI remains high.

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Categories Driving Adoption and Caution

According to Swiggy Instamart CMO Abhishek Shetty, AI influencers work well in aesthetics-led categories like fashion, beauty, or entertainment. “Today, I’d place the success rate of AI-led campaigns at 30-40 per cent, compared to 60-70 per cent for real creators. While AI influencers offer scalability and novelty, most brands still crave the warmth and relatability that only human creators bring. In a world craving authenticity, staying human isn’t just safe, it’s strategic,” he added.

Agarwal of Alpha Zegus further pointed out that AI experimentation is largely happening in beauty/personal care, fashion/e-commerce, and consumer tech. “The draw is simple between human and AI influencers. AI gives rapid multi-language, multi-region content at scale, zero talent scheduling issues, and tighter brand-safety controls. That said, interest is uneven with global trackers showing that brand demand for virtual influencers is 30% lower YoY as some marketers wait for clearer benchmarks and disclosure norms,” he explained.

Compliance and Measurement in Focus

While AI adoption is picking pace and how, marketers are still facing hiccups when it comes to clearer benchmarks and disclosure norms. Highly regulated sectors such as BFSI and healthcare are still cautious.

Manuj Tuteja, Head of Influencer Marketing at HypeSquad–Team Pumpkin, noted, AI influencer briefs are far more technical and compliance-heavy, covering personal details, creative & brand objectives, and strict usage rights, mainly used for engagement purposes. They also mandate ethics, transparency, and measurement plans, ensuring brand safety and accountability.

“In practice, we’ve observed AI/virtual creators often match or even exceed reach in short-term bursts (novelty, algorithmic favor, 24/7 content cadence). But when it comes to sustained watch-time and deeper audience affinity, human creators consistently hold the edge. Their lived experiences, emotions, and imperfections make Reels feel more authentic and relatable, something AI still struggles to replicate. Meta’s scale creates room for both types to perform.”

AI influencer at Wimbledon

Tuteja further said that studies and industry surveys show AI/virtual influencers can deliver higher engagement rates in some categories (novelty, fashion, gaming, tech), but for purchase intent and trust-led KPIs human creators often outperform. "Expect higher reach/impressions and lower CPMs from AI-driven, highly optimized output, but conversion uplift versus good human creator content is modest unless creative + targeting are exceptional. Anecdotally and from industry pilots, direct conversions are still predominantly driven by trusted human creators, with AI content contributing more to upper-funnel discovery and scaled product demos. If a brand wants a precise split, plan for tracked experiments with unique promo codes/UTM structures across AI vs human-led Reels.”

The primary consideration when deciding whether to invest in AI-generated content should be its quantifiable effects on engagement, conversion, and brand recall, noted Raahul Seshadri, Director, AI & Tech at WebEngage. “Controlled experimentation, like A/B testing campaigns with and without AI-generated content across channels such as email, SMS, or push notifications, is the most effective way to assess this,” he explained.

Illustrating with an example, he added, “Several customers have reported measurable improvements after using our Gen AI engine for email and SMS combined with Intelligent Campaign Optimization. For instance, a leading OTA/travel platform achieved a 10% increase in open rates and notable revenue gains through hyper-personalized, AI-enhanced email campaigns. Our Intelligent Optimization (‘Send Intelligently’ and ‘Best Channel’) features ensure each message is delivered at the optimal time and via the channel a user responds best to, driving higher engagement and improved ROI by reducing wasted sends and spend.”

Seshadri emphasized that Martech tools, particularly those with AI orchestration and analytics, are instrumental in determining not only the value of AI-generated content but also the right moments and channels to deploy it.

Cost Structures and Engagement Metrics

Academic and industry data indicate virtual influencers sometimes hit engagement rates in the 2.5–3% range, driven by novelty, consistent output, and controlled creativity. But experts caution that engagement driven by curiosity does not always translate into loyalty or commerce. Quality signals such as CTR, time-on-video, comments, and clicks matter more than raw like percentages.

Influencer costings are still largely unstructured and inconsistent when quoted to brands, which makes direct comparisons tricky. Broadly, AI can appear materially cheaper upfront per asset, but hidden layers like build, licensing, and governance costs do exist.

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AI + Human Touch

According to Ullas Vijay of Duroflex Group, “For Onam campaigns, we offered our dealers and customers seven different festive themes to wish their friends and family. The personalised wishes from actress Amala made each greeting unique and heartfelt. We amplified the campaign across Google, Meta, and YouTube while leveraging influencer partnerships. Over 15,000 wishes were generated across Kerala, making it one of our most engaging festive activations. This is the power of combining technology with culture — it makes celebrations borderless, inclusive, and deeply memorable.

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“When comparing AI-driven campaigns with human influencers, we see it as a complementary relationship. By combining the emotional power of human influencers with the technological capabilities of AI, we can create campaigns that are both impactful and scalable.”

Manas Gulati, Founder & CEO, ARM Worldwide, shared a recent example of their collaboration with Bajaj Finserv, which he said “shows just how impactful AI-powered virtual avatars can be. We launched six customised influencers across different offerings to make financial products easier to understand and engage audiences effectively — a campaign that not only drove strong results but also won multiple awards, highlighting the real-world impact of virtual influencers.”

“We’ve applied the same approach for other brands as well,” he continued. “For Kotak Life Insurance, the avatars helped make term insurance plans relatable, carefully matching age, tone, and features to the right audience; for Varuna Group, a leading logistics company, the avatars brought the brand to life, clearly communicating offerings and connecting with key customer segments. These examples demonstrate how AI can be adapted successfully across diverse sectors while keeping the communication human and relatable.”

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As for Nirav Hemani, Co-Founder, Aabo, an AI wearables company, “The key lies in aligning with voices that resonate authentically with the brand’s ethos and the audience’s aspirations. When we identify and collaborate with AI influencers who genuinely connect with the product’s purpose, we move beyond transactional promotion to meaningful engagement. This is where impact is created.”

And therein lies the line brands are now trying to walk. 

Ethical Guardrails and Policy Push

According to Aditya Gurwara, Co-Founder and Head of Brand Alliances at Qoruz, an influencer marketing intelligence platform, “AI-led videos can go viral, and brands are paying Rs 20,000 per video. But is it sustainable? That’s the big question.” 

Warning of legal grey zones, especially when using historical or cultural figures, Gurwara said: “You can make Gandhi hold a salt pack and say ‘why march?’ — it’s clever. But should you?”

The AI influencer space is growing fast, full of creative potential and viral flair. But whether it can build long-term trust with audiences — and whether it should be trusted to tell culturally or emotionally sensitive stories — is still up for debate. For now, many brands are watching, testing, and weighing their bets.

Another growing trend is influencers are building their own AI avatars — training voice models and visual personas to produce large volumes of content. Names like Varun Maya, Aevy TV, and Faye D’Souza are experimenting with this approach but not many have appreciated this. 

On the ethical side, Tuteja stressed, “Zero tolerance for deepfake-style impersonation. Whether of a public figure or a common person, without explicit, documented consent. Transparency is non-negotiable. Brands and individuals alike must follow strict guardrails: consent, disclosures, IP checks, platform compliance, and crisis preparedness, because ethical transparency builds lasting trust far more than short-term reach.”

Meanwhile, a Parliamentary Standing Committee chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has recommended that the government explore licensing requirements for AI content creators and make labelling of AI-generated videos mandatory. It also called for legal and technological mechanisms to prosecute those creating or spreading deepfakes.

Global giants have also been expressing concerns. The WPP Advertising in 2030 report warns that more than half of online users could be non-human personas by the next decade. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, during his Meta AI press tour earlier this year, acknowledged this, saying: “The average American has fewer than three friends, and the demand for connections is being filled by generated content. AI could soon play the role of ‘friends’ online.”