How brands are finding the right creator collaboration

As brands compete for attention in an increasingly crowded digital landscape, many are moving away from one-size-fits-all marketing and instead searching for creators who can bring a unique cultural lens to their campaigns. Whether it is a regional influencer from the Northeast, a gaming creator with a dedicated community, or an artist whose work resonates with a specific audience, brands are betting on collaborations that feel distinctive and harder to replicate. 

The objective is not merely to generate visibility, but to create campaigns that stand out, spark conversation and connect with entirely new consumer groups. In doing so, brands are embedding themselves within communities and subcultures that traditional advertising often struggles to reach, making these creator-led partnerships a key tool for both differentiation and audience expansion.  

Beauty and wellbeing company Oriflame recently concluded its Northeast Influencer Yatra, a month-long creator-led campaign executed in partnership with Whosthat360. Covering more than 5,000 kilometres across 13 cities in Northeast India and West Bengal, the campaign engaged over 300 influencers through on-ground activations, creator auditions, beauty workshops and community-led events.

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The campaign travelled through cities including Agartala, Aizawl, Dimapur, Kohima, Guwahati, Nagaon, Dibrugarh, Itanagar, Siliguri and Durgapur. Instead of relying on a single celebrity face or a national advertising burst, the company built visibility through regional participation and user-generated content. Local creators and attendees posted reels, videos and stories in regional languages, helping the campaign organically travel across social platforms.

Abhishek Chakraborty, Head of Brand and Digital at Oriflame, said the company intentionally focused on building grassroots engagement rather than engineered virality. “We set out to build something that was genuinely rooted in the Northeast, and what we got back exceeded every expectation. The organic storytelling that emerged across every city was extraordinary. People were not just watching; they were participating and sharing, in their own voices and on their own terms. That kind of brand visibility cannot be manufactured. It has to be earned, and this campaign earned it,” he said.

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At the same time, brands are also tapping into gaming culture as it increasingly shapes youth identity, fashion and internet culture beyond entertainment.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited-owned OWND! recently partnered with gaming creator Payal Dhare, popularly known as Payal Gaming, to launch ‘Gamer Drop’, which the company described as India’s first female gamer-curated fashion capsule. Designed around gaming-inspired streetwear aesthetics, the collection reflects how brands are increasingly borrowing from digital subcultures to stay relevant among younger audiences. Rather than treating gaming creators as endorsement vehicles, companies are now building products, fashion drops and campaigns around creator communities themselves.

Marco Agnolin, Chief Executive Officer, OWND!, said gaming has evolved into a larger cultural ecosystem influencing how young consumers express themselves.

“We see gaming today as a powerful cultural force that is shaping how young consumers express themselves, communicate, and engage with fashion. As one of India’s biggest gamers, Payal Dhare represents this new generation perfectly through her authenticity, confidence, and deep connection with the gaming community. Her influence extends far beyond gaming content, making her an ideal face for our gaming collection. Through this collaboration, we aim to celebrate individuality and connect with India’s digitally native youth in a way that feels relevant, inclusive, and culture-driven,” he said.

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Samsung TV joined hands with artist Samridhi Sharma to display her paintings. 

The shift reflects a broader transformation underway in India’s marketing ecosystem, where brands are increasingly moving across regions, creator communities, internet subcultures and niche digital spaces to remain discoverable and culturally relevant.

Read On: Why brands and creators are prioritising credibility over virality

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Industry estimates suggest this strategy is only accelerating. According to Zefmo’s annual influencer marketing report titled The Intelligence Era, India’s real influencer marketing economy has already crossed ₹10,000 crore, nearly three times larger than formal industry estimates of around ₹3,375 crore.

The report noted that brands are allocating larger budgets toward regional creators, vernacular influencers and AI-led creator discovery tools as digital consumption deepens across Tier II and Tier III markets.

Shudeep Majumdar, Co-Founder and CEO, Zefmo, said authenticity is becoming increasingly valuable in a saturated creator ecosystem. “Premium creators will see their rates rise meaningfully because authenticity is the new niche. The squeeze is happening in the middle. The next twenty-four months will reward two kinds of creators: the ones who own the top, and the ones who own a specific community,” he said.

He added that while AI may help scale content production in major languages, it cannot replicate community trust at the hyperlocal level. “AI can generate Hindi, Tamil and Bengali content at scale, but it cannot generate trust in Bhojpuri, in a specific district, alongside a creator who is part of the local community,” he said.

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Ayush Shukla, CEO of Finnet Media, believes the creator economy itself is also entering a new phase where credibility and lived experience are beginning to matter more than internet popularity alone.

“The next creator economy wave may not belong to Gen Z at all. We are seeing the rise of ‘Grey Gold’ creators, people with 20 to 30 years of lived experience finally entering content. When someone who has traded markets since 2004 speaks about finance, geopolitics or business in a 90-second reel, audiences stay. Trust is becoming the new metric of influence,” he said.

Taken together, campaigns like Oriflame’s regional influencer yatra and OWND!’s gaming-led fashion collaboration underline how brands are no longer depending solely on mass advertising or celebrity endorsements to win attention.

Instead, companies are spreading themselves across regional markets, creator ecosystems, gaming communities and digital subcultures in an attempt to stay constantly visible in consumers’ feeds and conversations.

In a market where attention shifts rapidly and audiences are increasingly fragmented, visibility itself has become a moving target, forcing brands to experiment across formats, communities and cultural spaces all at once.