Creators in India are reshaping the role of beauty and fashion. It’s becoming ever more relatable to people, and that’s opening up new ways for brands to partner with creators and readily form deep connections with audiences.
Where beauty and fashion content once focussed on the aesthetic appeal of looks and styles, it’s now gone deeper. Through beauty and fashion, creators tell personal stories, explore wellness and self-care, and express their identities and culture.
In other words, beauty and fashion has become a way creators let audiences into their inner lives. This makes it both a highly relatable medium and a powerful way to engage with audiences on a deeper level.
Here are three ways creators have taken beauty and fashion beyond the realm of aesthetic appeal and created opportunities for brands to strengthen audience engagement.
Creators in India use beauty and fashion as a means to tell intimate stories about their personal lives. One way they do so is through the popular video format GRWM, short for “Get Ready With Me.”
Besides documenting makeup and grooming routines in GRWM videos, creators also use the time to share everything from life updates to personal struggles. As they wear their hearts on their sleeves in that moment, beauty and fashion become highly relatable to audiences.
A GRWM Shorts by creator Himadri Patel, for instance, drew more than 6 million views when she confessed, while doing her makeup, that she had to learn to feel confident about her complexion. Her personal growth story, captured in that GRWM Shorts, resonated with over 380,000 viewers who liked the video.
Beauty video content has become more than skin-deep. It’s now a way for creators to shine light on mindful wellness rituals and explore holistic health. Creator Lavish Krish’s Self Care Saturday Shorts is one such example.
The video, which has attracted over 2 million likes, plays up the ASMR aspects of skin care rituals. It turns what otherwise would’ve been a video on mundane routines into content that evokes soothing feelings in viewers, offering them a vicarious experience of wellness.
Skin care videos go beyond the cosmetic when creators focus on facets of health and wellness. Some of them spotlight the traditional wellness system of ayurveda while other creators, who are also medical experts, like dermatologist Dr. Aanchal MD, zoom in on the health aspect of beauty products.
Beauty and fashion content has also become a canvas for creators to express diverse cultures, ranging from traditional customs and heritage to popular culture.
It’s not uncommon for video content about wedding and festive fashion, for example, to shine a light on traditional customs such as sporting mehendi designs, and dressing up in kurtas for men and wearing lehengas for women.
Makeup and fashion has also become a means for creators to pay homage to their heritage and interest in pop culture. The influencer behind Daizy Aizy Vlogs, which has over 4.5 million subscribers, uses makeup to depict deities like the goddess Durga and express her Hindu heritage.
Creator Ronit Ashra, on the other hand, uses beauty and fashion to come up with humorous representations of celebrities and popular movie characters. His channel has drawn over 1.55 million subscribers since 2020.
Boost marketing for fashion and beauty via creator partnerships
As creators make beauty and fashion content ever more relatable to audiences, brands can ride this trend and tap into their influencer marketing power in India to connect with audiences.
This is especially so on YouTube, India’s top platform where viewers go to find creators or influencers they trust for product or service reviews, even if they know it's sponsored, compared to other video based platforms.1
To start, collaborate with the most suitable creators — those who have a personal connection to your brand values and story, and who can help you tell it in their unique voice.
You can find the right creators using YouTube BrandConnect. The self-service platform recommends YouTube creators and shares information about their channel attributes. You can also expand your search on the platform to creators beyond the recommended list.
Another way to identify suitable creators is to know what content your audience enjoys. Insights Finder provides information on what viewers are watching on YouTube, and the creators that cover those types of content.
Besides finding relevant creators to partner with, you should let them lead your campaign in their authentic voices. It will help you build trust and connect meaningfully with their audiences.
One way to do that is to have your ads blend into creators’ Shorts feeds, since viewers in India say that YouTube Shorts is the No. 1 short-form video platform for beauty content, compared to other short-form video platforms.2
Another way you can let creators feature your products in their content authentically is to participate in the YouTube Shopping affiliate programme, which recently launched in India. Once you upload your products to the Google Merchant Center, eligible YouTube creators can easily feature and tag your items in the videos, Shorts, and live streams they create. And viewers can shop your products while they watch, by making purchases directly on Flipkart and Myntra.
Beauty and fashion in India is becoming ever more relatable to audiences, thanks to creator content. So to market your fashion and beauty products in this new reality, partner with creators on YouTube — the platform that influences audiences.
Contributors: Yudhishthir Agrawal, Culture & Trends Manager, India & APAC; Omkar Bhat, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Ads Marketing, YouTube; Nikita Maheshwari, Associate Product Marketing Manager
