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Much like prepaid mobile SIMs that offer fixed plans with limited flexibility, influencer marketing agencies are now rolling out prepaid campaign kits priced between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2.5 lakh. However, questions are being raised over their relevance and impact, calling the model limited in value for brands.
Swiggy Instamart’s Marketing Head Abhishek Shetty told e4m, “The prepaid model — where brands pay upfront to access a fixed set of influencer services — offers little advantage over traditional influencer marketing. Unless the prepaid model offers a clear cost benefit — say, a 20 per cent reduction — I don’t see how it’s any better than a standard curated influencer campaign.”
In the current influencer marketing model, brands like Swiggy Instamart, Ajio, Myntra and Flipkart work with agencies to create customised campaigns by sharing specific goals, budgets, and messaging requirements. Agencies respond with a curated list of influencers based on factors like brand fit, geography, and engagement metrics. Brands then select influencers that align with their campaign objectives.
Currently, payments are not made upfront; instead, an advance may be issued before the campaign begins, with final payments tied to deliverables outlined in legal agreements. Payment terms are not a deciding factor — brands prioritise quality, relevance, and outcomes.
While Abhishek acknowledged that smaller brands might consider prepaid plans for quicker execution, he questioned the risks involved. “What recourse do you have to recover money if influencers don’t deliver? How many influencers would you go behind trying to recover money?” he asked.
According to Abhishek, the prepaid approach doesn’t improve marketing outcomes and remains a financial workaround rather than a strategic advantage.
Experts Call for Structural Evolution, Not Shortcuts
Krisneil Peres, Co-Founder of Fame Keeda, echoed Abhishek Shetty’s concerns around prepaid influencer kits, calling them a “shortcut” that fails to address the real needs of the ecosystem. “Speed and structure are fine, but when you pre-fix creators, formats, and pricing without context, you’re not running an influencer campaign, you’re running a glorified rate card,” he said.
When asked, will this model work at scale? He replied, “Unlikely—maybe 20% of the time, and only for very tactical, short-term bursts like FMCG launches, quick trials, or app downloads. Even then, success hinges on sharp curation and creative autonomy—not rigid templates.”
He added, “If prepaid models must exist, they need to evolve from ‘kits’ to ‘frameworks’ with modularity, performance-based incentives, and strategic oversight. Let brands and influencers retain creative control and align properly—because in this game, shortcuts don’t scale.”
Danny Advani, Head of Business Strategy at Dot Media, explained the need of this model and called it a response to the industry's long pitch-to-payment cycle and the ever-evolving nature of the creator economy.
According to him, the keyword is TAT (Turn Around Time). “The creator economy is untamed—by the time an agency onboards 50 creators, 500 more have entered the space. This kit can help brands access speed, structure, and scale without the red tape.”
He believes the prepaid model fits well in the current era of micro-UGC and island targeting, where influencer discovery and campaign execution need to happen faster than traditional systems allow. However, for it to work, Advani warned that the model must go beyond offering a “cookie-cutter template.”
He also pointed out the risk factors. One major issue, he noted, is the danger of kits becoming too templated.
“One-size-fits-none. If the kits are too generic, they’ll lack relevance across categories,” Advani said. He also cautioned against overpromising results. “These are organic content pieces. We never use the word ‘committed ROI’—we say ‘projected.’ Anything else is risky.”
Poor creator quality, lack of creative oversight, and minimal post-campaign support were also flagged as potential weak spots. “If there’s no feedback loop, no learnings or optimisation, clients won’t return. Prepaid doesn’t mean post-campaign silence,” he said.
Advani warned that repetitive formats could also hurt brand outcomes. “Templatised creativity dulls the edge. Influence is personal—kits must reflect that.”
Prepaid Model for D2C and SME Growth
ClanConnect, an AI-powered influencer marketing platform, the first agency to launch these packages are targeting D2C brands, SMEs, agencies, and regional players entering vernacular markets.
Sagar Pushp, CEO of ClanConnect said, “Many influencer marketing platforms focus only on matchmaking. For us, it is just the first step. The model removes the ambiguity of traditional influencer marketing by offering fixed deliverables, committed CPV, and pre-selected influencer combinations.”
The launch also aims to benefit influencers with timely briefs and faster payments, while helping agencies build new data pipelines and revenue channels. As, delayed payments remain a major issue, with influencers reporting an average TAT of 45–90 days.
On prepaid kits being pitched as a solution to delayed influencer payments, Abhishek maintained this is a financial problem, not a marketing one. “What you're essentially trying to do is raise an issue saying there is a payment issue where influencers get their money quite delayed. It's a completely different issue at hand,” he said.
Abhishek added that Swiggy ensures timely payments through advance disbursals before campaigns begin. “Only if the deliverables recorded in a legal agreement are not met do we withhold payment. Otherwise, we never resort to that,” he said.
Poonam Shah, Business Acquisition Head, NOFILTR.GROUP said, there should be Prepaid influencer kits not influencer marketing kits, that will bring much-needed structure, predictability, and speed to influencer marketing—especially for brands planning budgets with precision. As, over 30% of brands now demand performance-linked or cost-per-view (CPV) metrics.
“We’ve seen nearly 90% success when pricing is based on the creator’s current relevance, platform strength, and content innovation. The biggest risk is revising commercials based on time rather than evolution of the creator’s influence. Only keep what matters - something to be applied at every stage of designing the kit,” she said.
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