The Influence Experts Vavo Digital aims to reach tier II and tier III cities to get its message across and increase sales and plans on establishing an offline agency in Dubai

Valued at over 12 billion Indian rupees in 2022, Vavo Digital was born out of a shift of marketing from offline to online. The brand founded by Neha Puri & Radhika Agrawal in 2020, stemmed from their previous experience of running a successful PAN India gifting business pre- pandemic. The unforeseen phase of Covid saw them take a new approach, the digital one.

Post-graduates in Marketing & Strategy from the Warwick Business School, UK, Puri and Agrawal's relationship with entrepreneurship dates back in time. Agrawal hails from a business family with a presence in the steel industry for over 50 years, whereas Puri's family boasts of a good share of investments in now some top brands in India as Venture capitalists.

While figuring how the audience will engage post covid, they realized a lot of brands associated with them had a tough time reaching out to their target audience. "Most of them engaged in basic public relations activities of sending PR Kits to popular faces. There was no influencer agency in the market that put influencer needs first, and it was mostly digital marketing agencies that made influencers an extension of their services to the clients. This led to repetitive sheets, lack of good personal or organic touch, absence of clear report formatting or any tool to select an influencer on metrics more than just their follower count," shared Puri. And that gave wings to Vavo Digital in 2020.

With over three months of research, the startup developed its in-house influencer agency vertical and began providing tech support to its clients to match them with the best-fit influencer. They dug deep into understanding the influencer segment to give the brands relevant yet integral information beyond the basic metrics which were provided in this industry. Vavo Digital provided the brands with audience data of the influencers, in terms of their demographics as well as target location.

"I never wanted us to be termed as an "Agency" and for any industry to thrive, it needs a technology backed product," recalls Agrawal. Thus, Vavo launched its influencerbrand barter application called Sehaye. With Sehaye, the startup aims to provide Millions of individuals who aim to become Influencers and utilise their skills, the opportunity to work with their favourite brands. "This app is for all those budding influencers and individuals who want to explore and make their mark in the field of influencer marketing. Everyone out there wants to work with bigger names, thereby restricting the opportunities for these budding Influencers. Via the application, we aim to be the one stop shop for all barter and soon paid campaigns that the brands can implement directly and by having complete control over their campaign and communication," Agrawal adds.

Vavo receives brand enquiries from 10,000+ influencers to go live on a barter (only product exchange) association only. It replaces the current tedious communication system through WhatsApp, emails, direct messages, and phone calls.

Vavo serves 150+ clients PAN India across 10+ industries with 2 lakh+ influencers. Its client base boasts of brands such as Flipkart, HSBC, Meesho, Swiggy, Zink London, and Happy dent. "We are also among the first to explore the power of Influencers on LinkedIn, starting our own vertical of LinkedIn influencer talent management. We have been awarded the "best campaign on a new platform" and execute campaigns worth over 35 lakh on an untapped platform, LinkedIn, making it one of the most profitable and successful verticals for us," Puri adds, who herself has 100,000-plus Followers on the platform. The startup is said to be one of the biggest players in the industry for their Linkedin campaigns.

As an entrepreneur, Puri believes in continuous experimentation, while Agrawal resorts to accepting challenges and learning from others. Agrawal considers her brother her mentor, while Puri looks up to her father.

The company achieved its break even in 2022, established a Delhi base, and currently has expansion and growth plans underway. In 2023, it aims to reach tier 2 and tier 3 cities to get its message across and increase sales and plans on establishing an offline agency in Dubai. "With the launch of the mobile application, once the barter followed by the paid version is live in India, we aim to make it globally accessible, thereby allowing brands looking at establishing their product/services in India," the founders concluded.