'Tagger Media & YAAP aim to influence influencer marketing'

Influencer marketing (IM) has undeniably become a powerful, if intractable, force in the media and advertising industry, both within India, and abroad. And in India, where the IM industry is expected to handily cross Rs 2000 crore, there is a growing need for brands to have access to the reams of data, measured by a huge range of metrics, and dependent on myriad variables and other calculations, which need to be calculated to ensure the best, most efficient media spends.

And that is where Atul Hegde and Dave Dickman come in. The founder of YAAP and CEO of Tagger Media respectively spoke to e4m about their new joint venture that marked Tagger Media’s entry into the Indian market, the need for advanced tools to keep pace with the rapidly evolving influencer market, and how companies can stay relevant and be heard amid all the noise.

Dickman noted that the sheer volume of content has grown exponentially across the board. While earlier the focus was on producing quality content, now there is a need by brands to churn out vast quantities of it in an increasingly crowded marketplace, just to remain part of the conversation. “High end brands still obviously concentrate on producing high quality, polished content and messaging, but the plan broadly for most places today is post now and post often, so there’s a lot of competition.”

“That’s happening across every other media stream, but I think it’s happening a lot faster in this space and it’s the most complicated, because you have so many platforms and different points of measurement,” says Dickman, noting that earlier the main pain points were with big agencies, who didn’t have the tools to measure, manage and work the data, nor the bandwidth to quickly create those tools. And that’s where Tagger came in.

In a world where data is the new oil, “Tagger Media was built on the promise of data. Over the years, we have augmented the platform with customization, workflow integration, linguistic, multi-currency payments, and CRM capabilities. Today, our database is unparalleled in the influencer marketing ecosystem, giving our clients the edge in an ever-competitive market. I believe we have timed our entry into India well, considering the exemplary digitalization and burgeoning influencer culture in this growth market,” said Dickman.

Tagger’s foray into the Indian influencer marketing ecosystem further expands its global presence, which spans six continents and 17 international offices. YAAP, with its extensive operational experience and a large network of clients in India, aims to complement Tagger’s bleeding edge tech stacks.

Its platform provides access to data points of over 15 billion high-quality social posts and over 278,000 brands worldwide, and Tagger Media boasts a client roster that includes Bose, Porsche, Christian Dior, Omnicom, Warner Bros. Pictures, and DKNY.

YAAP itself has posted a top-line growth of 97% and a 5X jump in profitability in FY 21-22. Its client portfolio includes Coca-Cola, Visit Dubai, Lufthansa, RuPay, American Express, Disney, Amazon, and Square Enix, among other leading brands in the Middle East and India.

Pointing out that YAAP was one of the first agencies to get into IM in India, Hegde observed that the landscape of the industry is largely service led. “There are PR agencies, IM agencies, now ad agencies, everyone is doing influencer marketing in one way or the other. And we have approached this in two ways.”

The first, says Hegde, is literally tapping into the vast creator economy that is burgeoning in every nook, cranny, language, and culture of India. “We have such a vibrant cross section of creators, but 80% of the ad spends are on a few, big name influencers. Everyone is going after the same base of top social media influencers, Bollywood A-listers, and cricketers. And that is largely because of a lack of data, which is what makes our tie-up with Tagger so important.”

Harnessing those proprietary data tools, continues Hegde, across India’s huge creative space will help YAAP and the markets it’s taking Tagger into (India and the Middle East) with the agencies together being able to provide clients across a wide spectrum with the best possible creative talent from across a very vibrant one.

“India’s IM market has been on a rapid growth trajectory over the past few years, and this is the perfect time for us to join hands with Tagger Media. The data-driven approach embodied by Tagger’s one-stop platform and the market knowledge of YAAP are poised to revolutionize influencer marketing in India, said Hegde, concluding, “This market possesses a sizable appetite for social intelligence and insight-led influencer marketing, and we will soon be catering to this demand.”