Did influencer marketing spark success for brands this festive season?

The festive season is a high-stakes period for brands eager to make a lasting impression. This year, brands across categories—electronics, lifestyle, cosmetics, and apparel—have ramped up their ad spends, with many devoting as much as 40% of their annual marketing budgets to influencer marketing during this season, according to Kalyan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of KlugKlug. With surging demand in sectors from white goods to automobiles, brands aimed for maximum visibility in an increasingly competitive space. Influencer marketing emerged as a critical tool for many, enabling brands to drive salience in an environment where ad budgets are scrutinised. 

“This season has been a breakthrough for influencer marketing. A notable 2,500 brands connected with over 8,000 influencers through our platform, generating a staggering Rs 10 crore in campaign deals,” Anirudh Shridharan, co-founder of HashFame told exchange4media.

HashFame is a marketplace where brands showcase campaign opportunities with transparent budgets. Influencers can discover and collaborate with a diverse range of brands spanning 112+ unique categories. 

The question remains, however, that just how effective these festive campaigns were. From connecting with audiences to tackling challenges like fake followers and audience mismatches, here’s a look at the performance of influencer marketing this festive season.

Navigating fake followers, audience mismatch, and consumer fatigue

As brands sought influencer-driven boosts to festive sales, many encountered inherent pitfalls. Kumar, highlighted three significant issues brands encountered this festive season: audience fatigue, fake followers, and audience mismatches. These issues often hinder brands from realising the full potential of their campaigns. 

“Imagine using the same influencers everyone else is using – it leads to fatigue,” Kumar explained, emphasizing that over-relying on a familiar pool of 2,000-3,000 influencers can exhaust audiences. He revealed, “Brands often don’t realize that roughly two-thirds of influencers have more than 60% inactive or fake followers, wasting a considerable portion of ad budgets.” KlugKlug has been raising awareness on audience validation, though many brands are only beginning to grasp the impact. 

For brands targeting female consumers, the challenge is even more nuanced. “Most beauty and lifestyle influencers targeting female audiences have 70-80% male followers,” Kumar noted, with only about 12-15 out of 100 influencers having at least 50% female followers. This mismatch proves problematic for brands in categories like beauty, wellness, and apparel that rely on authentic female engagement. 

Influencer marketing: building loyalty or just driving sales?

According to Kumar, many brands lean heavily on influencers for quick sales during big discount events, like Amazon’s Big Billion Day, rather than cultivating long-term loyalty. This approach can dilute an influencer's credibility. “If I’m a health influencer, pushing a quick buy could ruin my authenticity,” he observed. Instead, Kalyan advocates a balanced approach, suggesting that “50% of influencer work should start pre-festive, building resonance, and the other 50% should peak during the period.”  

Kumar believes QuickCommerce—driving immediate sales through flash discounts—is suitable for categories like apparel, cosmetics, and wellness but less so for high-value products like electronics, which require a longer customer journey.

For sustained impact, Kumar advises brands to position their products within meaningful narratives, citing Dove’s “inner beauty” campaigns as an example of brand-building beyond immediate sales. “If brands position themselves within meaningful narratives, they build credibility, not just sales,” he explained.

The role of data-driven selection and year-round engagement

Kumar recommends brands to avoid “spray and pray” strategies and instead select influencers who genuinely align with target demographics. “Brands that define an influencer's specific role within their marketing mix and select the right personalities can expect better results and greater ROI.” 

A strategic approach may involve "always-on" engagement rather than just festive boosts. Kumar mentioned a leading wellness brand that prioritized year-round engagement, offering steady discounts to target fitness-conscious audiences, thus preserving long-term profitability while capturing market share. 

Rahat Khan, Co-Founder of Fame Keeda, reveals that this festive season saw brands increase influencer campaign investments by 12-13%, yielding substantial revenue spikes. FMCG, lifestyle, and consumer tech brands experienced sales boosts of up to 20% compared to off-season, demonstrating the effectiveness of strategic influencer partnerships during peak festive seasons. 

The future of influencer marketing relies on validated data, intelligent timing, and well-planned, year-round strategies. While festive seasons remain key engagement opportunities, a sustained approach can deliver more reliable, impactful results.