D2C, also regarded as Direct-to-Consumer, has been a very successful marketing strategy in the last couple of years. This marketing strategy has been helpful for both consumers and manufacturers in many ways.
With the D2C marketing strategy, manufacturers get end-to-end control of the marketing and selling the products they produce. In simple words, the D2C strategy takes the middlemen, like distributors and wholesale which allows the producers to have more control over the products they produce and get a closer look at the areas that need improvement.
The clout of influencers in D2C marketing has been growing at a steady speed in India. The influencer market in India is projected to touch INR2,200 crore by 2025. The credit for this growth can be attributed to cheap internet, rising internet penetration, and easy availability of smartphones.
The growth of the internet has also boosted the creator economy. While there are numerous digital creators on various social networking platforms, not everyone is an influencer.
Therefore, it is crucial to choose the right influencer and ensure that their niche aligns with the products you want to promote. To help with that, this article contains information about the top 20 influencers and content creators who have made it big in the D2C segment.
Mr. Abhijit Bhaduri figures prominently in the list of the top 10 learning experts globally. He has authored two best-selling books and is considered an influential voice in talent management.
Besides talent management, his skills include employer branding, employee engagement, resource management, performance management, and many more.
SHRM awarded him the coveted title of ‘No. 1 HR Influencer on Social Media.’
Visit Abhijit Bhaduri's LinkedIn and website.
Mr. Rhitiman Majumder is the co-founder of India’s first virtual logistics platform, Pickrr. He talks about and has expertise in D2C, shipping, warehousing, eCommerce, and entrepreneurship.
Before launching Pickrr, he was associated with Stayzilla. iRunway, and UnitedLex Corporation. Mr. Majumder received the ‘Best Associate -Commercialization’ and ‘Best Team Member’ awards during his stint with UnitedLex.
Visit Rhitiman Majumder's LinkedIn profile.
Ms. Gauri Das is an award-winning HR leader with a proven track record of leading organizational change. She is currently associated with India Factoring and Finance Solutions Pvt. Ltd. as the Vice President and Head of Human Resources.
Besides this, she is also a TEDx speaker and a prolific writer whose articles are often published in leading publications like Economic Times, TOI, Human Capital, etc.
Visit Gauri Das's LinkedIn profile.
Sonal Dabral was the brain behind Ogilvy advertising agency’s meteoric rise in India, Malaysia, and Singapore. He was chosen as the Creative Leader of the Year by the International Advertising Association (India Chapter)in 2017.
Mr. Sabral is a celebrated speaker with a history of speaking at major events and festivals like Rebels, LIA, Rulers, etc. His favorite topics include advertising, creativity, storytelling, etc.
Visit Sonal Dabral's LinkedIn profile.
Mr. Yashwant Mahadik is an experienced global HR professional with more than thirty years of experience in many multinational enterprises. He figures prominently among the top 50 most powerful Indian HR professionals.
Mr. Mahadik is credited with leading many transformation initiatives and programs in Philips, J&J, Lupin, and SunPharma. He is also quite popular on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Visit Yashwant Mahadik's LinkedIn and website.
Mr. Varun Vagish is a celebrated travel vlogger with 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube. For his immense contribution to the field of tourism, the Government of India bestowed him with a National Award in 2006.
Mr. Vagish’s passion for solo travel and eco-friendly tourism has taken him to many exotic destinations globally. His primary objective is to help travel enthusiasts curate pocket-friendly travel plans.
Visit Varun Vagish's LinkedIn and YouTube Channel.
Mr. Rahul Subramaniam is a stand-up comedian based out of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. With over 8.6 lakh followers, Rahul is one of the most followed stand-up comedians on LinkedIn.
Before taking up comedy, he worked with Mahindra Rise as Manager- Corporate Branding and Digital Marketing and with Mahindra Retail Pvt. Ltd.as Manager - Ecommerce.
Visit Rahul Subramaniam's LinkedIn profile.
Kunal Shah is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur who founded CRED, one of the fastest-growing startups in India. Before founding CRED, he worked with Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd., AngelList, Sequoia Capital, etc.
Although he is an MBA dropout, the knowledge he acquired from his business ventures has helped him reach stardom, and presently, he is currently one of the most successful public speakers in India.
Visit Kunal Shah's LinkedIn profile.
Mr. Harish Bhat, an alumnus of BITS Pilani and IIM Ahmedabad, has been associated with the Tata Group since 1987.
Besides his professional role as Brand Custodian, Tata Group, and Chairman of Tata Coffee Limited, he is also the author of four books, including Tata Stories and The Curious Marketer.
Visit Harish Bhat's LinkedIn profile.
Mr. Ronnie Screwvala is a known name in the D2C segment, thanks to his multiple successful business ventures in the fields of media and education. Be it UTV or Unilazer Ventures, Swades Foundation, or upGrad, Mr.Screwvala has struck gold in every sphere.
With 4.88 lakh followers on LinkedIn, he is one of the most followed D2C influencers in India.
Visit Ronnie Screwvala's LinkedIn profile.
Ms. Vani Kola is the Founder and MD of India’s biggest early-stage Venture Capital (VC) firms. Dream11, Cure Fit, Myntra, and Snapdeal are some of her successful investments.
Besides being on the management team of numerous companies, she has been the subject of several books and features prominently in ‘Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women in Business.’
Visit Vani Kola's LinkedIn profile.
Ms. Kiran Mazumder Shaw is one of the world’s '25 Most Influential People in Biopharma' and features in the list of 'World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.'
As the Chairperson and MD of Biocon, one of Asia’s best bio-pharmaceutical enterprises, she has spearheaded countless innovations in the field of biopharma.
Visit Kiran Mazumder Shaw's LinkedIn profile.
Founder of India’s very first private company in space, Exseed, Mahesh Murthy is one of the most influential business persons in India. His ideas are futuristic and innovative, and he has partnered with companies like Amazon, Yahoo, Nike, Pepsi, Microsoft, and Unilever as a marketer.
Murthy has contributed a lot to MTV’s launch in India. He has also worked as a director in successful commercials that have received various marketing awards.
Visit Mahesh Murthy’s LinkedIn profile.
Best known for his very first book, “DO EPIC SHIT,” Ankur Warikoo is a mentor for thousands of future entrepreneurs. His success as an educator online is just as remarkable as his success as an author.
Warikoo is among the most popular content creators, with over 7million followers across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Before becoming an author, he founded nearbuy.com in the year2015, which was a very successful lifestyle app in India. Previously, he founded Groupon and co-founded Accentium Web.
Warikoo was given the Young Leader Award back when he was in the Indian School of Business in the year 2006. In the year 2022, he made it to the40 under 40 list of Fortune Magazine.
Visit Ankur Warikoo’s LinkedIn profile.
Founder of EngineerBabu, one of the top platforms in the domain of IT services, Aditi Chaurasia is an inspiration for all the first-generation entrepreneurs who are still afraid to take the big step. Recently, she launched Supersourcing, one of India’s largest B2B platforms that hire remote engineers at scale.
Chaurasia has been given various awards for her huge contribution to the business world, including the CEO of the Year by the HR Association of India. Moreover, in her home state Madhya Pradesh, she has taken huge initiatives in order to promote the startup ecosystem, such as EB Community of Geeks, Indore Startups Community, She Connect, etc.
Visit Aditi Chaurasia’s LinkedIn profile.
Presently the CEO of Melvano, one of the most effective learning platforms with adaptive nature for competitive exams, Taran Singh has are markable experience in founding tech companies.
Apart from managing Skillbary and Melvano, Singh also works as a consultant for startups on go-to market strategies, product management, and growth.
Visit Taran Singh’s LinkedIn profile.
Commonly regarded as the RK Laxman of Business, Harjeet Khandujais an international author, influencer, speaker, and so on. His take on TEDx on topics like HR, Tech, Leadership, Economics, and Entrepreneurship is very influential and inspiring.
Khanduja has been given various awards for his contribution to his domain - including the Pride of the Nation Award, HR Leadership Award, HR personality of the year award, Global Learning Award, and more. He has published three patents in the area of HR technology.
His book “Nothing About Business'' was a best seller on Amazon. Khanduja’s influence is huge on the future entrepreneurs of the world.
Visit Harjeet Khanduja’s LinkedIn profile.
CEO of ProofHub, a leading platform that ensures the smooth and fast completion of projects, Vartika Kashyap is an expert in marketing, especially branding and influencing.
She has been perfecting the art of running successful marketing campaigns over the last couple of years, and the growth is clearly visible in her projects. Her writeups have been published on platforms like The Next Web, YourStory, Thrive Global, and more.
Visit Vartika Kashyap’s LinkedIn profile.
Mubeena Azeez is known for her remarkable experience in Human Resources. Her creative problem-solving skills and strategic thinking skills have helped projects like “Attracting talents over Social Media” a massive success. She has previously worked as a talent advisor at Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company.
She expertise in crafting the perfect resume for people by getting to know about their profession and career goals.
She has been a part of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in the year 2019-20.
Visit Mubeena Azeez’s LinkedIn profile.
Dr. Ajit Patil is an experienced salesforce consultant who has prompt leadership skills and the ability to work equally well at all levels of an organization. He has commendable experience in implementing both service and sales cloud applications.
Patil’s ability to train and mentor his team members with business process and product knowledge is also very praiseworthy.
Visit Dr. Ajit Patil’s LinkedIn profile.
As influencer marketing becomes bigger and better, D2C brands have started to realize that it is immensely difficult to beat the competition without collaborating with influencers or content creators.
As a matter of fact, more than 600 D2C brands have already included influencer marketing in their marketing strategy and plan to explore other features like influencer commerce.
The above list will be updated periodically. If you are a D2Cinfluencer/ content creator or know an influencer/ content creator whom you think deserves mention in the list, write to us at reach@customfit.ai.
