Over the last decade, the influencing power of celebrity has been fuelled through digital media. However, 2020 presented a unique challenge to the influencer platforms.
On one hand, people spending more time at home has greatly increased the volume of content consumed online, making the digital realm more desirable for brand promotions than ever before. On the other hand, a financially difficult year has slashed ad budgets and lowered cost metrics on dynamically priced forums such as search engines and social media.
Innovative businesses are adapting their service models to solve this issue.
CELEBFIE is a new-age platform which connects brands and fans seamlessly to the right celebrity influencers using its tech-enabled mobile first application.
Fans actively subscribing to their favourite celebrities on the platform display deep engagement with the content. There is a greater chance that these fans will convert into transactional customers of brands promoted on celebrity channels.
As an added advantage, celebrities themselves control new monetisation opportunities based on user demand, which also allows them to produce more in-demand content. Rahil Azam, the leading man of the hit TV series Hatim shares, “CELEBFIE isn’t just an app for celebrity shout-outs, it is much bigger and better than that. It has created new monetization opportunities for celebrities digitally, which is something truly commendable.”
Brands today are looking at new and more efficient ways of building interesting narratives across multiple media platforms. CELEBFIE helps brands by connecting them with the right celebrity to curate these narratives.
These direct interactions between celebrities and fans, allows brands to gauge audience demand and response in close proximity and in real time. This takes the guesswork out of influencer marketing. Brands can now customise content, tailor costs and measure tangible results in a transparent, controlled setting.
Finally, brands can collaborate with known celebrity faces to increase brand recognition, brand recall and enforce a brand identity. These collaborations can include service or product promotion videos, social media shout-outs or endorsement deals.
TV actress Gia Manek from the popular Rasode mein kaun tha? video concurs, “They have created a platform which gives an opportunity to both the actor and their fans to get one step closer to knowing each other via personalized video messages, video calls and a lot more. It’s always a pleasant experience for the actor, fans and brands to work with a professional team like CELEBFIE.”
CELEBFIE bridges the gap between creators, consumers and collaborators using tech-forward features that enable India’s MSME’s and celebrities to have meaningful conversations with their audiences. “From a brand sending me a custom request to the final delivery of the content, the process is very streamlined and works efficiently. I can see a lot of brands coming to this realisation and using this to meet their brand goals,” Shivani Gosain from cult-favourite TV series Naagin adds.
The app currently comprises a list of celebrities across various genres like comedy, beauty, music, Bollywood, fashion, fitness and more. CELEBFIE also includes a list of influencers who can produce content in various regional languages to ensure deep impact within a highly targeted audience.
CELEBFIE Founder and CEO Raminder Singh says, “We already see brands using CELEBFIE in multiple creative ways, like a hospitality chain using celeb sharing to promote their staycation experience, an IT services company used a celebrity to announce high achieving staff members to motivate their teams. Some of our early clients have seen improved customer loyalty. Our vision is to bring not only customers but also fans for brands.”
CELEBFIE’s strongest attribute seems to be that it cuts out the clutter present on other social platforms. It is an integrated hub where a fan can build a unique relationship with their favourite celebrities who were till now unattainable and detached from their real fans, where a celebrity can share their candid content on their channels and where brands can collaborate with the celebrity of their choice with an easy-to-book system in place.
Celebrities being so accessible is an unheard of concept in a country like India which makes the present and future of this platform an exciting one to look at. The app currently enlists over 120 select celebrities with a cumulative follower base exceeding one billion.
