How fake paparazzi moments fuel brand buzz in India

From influencers staging public spats to actresses suddenly dabbing moisturizer on their cheeks outside a café, marketers are engineering candid encounters to turn the sidewalk—or the airport—into an advertising stage.

The strategy, known as paparazzi marketing, involves deliberately setting up scenes that appear spontaneous, with the paparazzi capturing the moment.

A paparazzi is a photographer who follows famous people—film stars, sports heroes, and business tycoons—in order to get pictures of them and sell to the press.

Staged spontaneity

These paparazzi moments often go viral on Instagram and entertainment portals, feeding the public’s appetite for celebrity spotting. Recent examples include popular influencers Sakshi Shivdasani and Naina Bhan bickering in public—a stunt later revealed to be a Crocs endorsement—or Vaseline’s campaign where actors Huma Qureshi, Gauhar Khan, and Jannat Zubair walked out applying moisturiser in the shape of clouds on their faces.

“Paparazzi marketing or ‘staged spontaneity’ is surging as ad-weary audiences still crave celebrity cues, making a candid-seeming airport look or café sip feel more authentic than a tagged advertisement,” said Shudeep Majumdar, co-founder of influencer marketing firm Zefmo.

Paparazzi pages offer better engagement while recommendations on the brand’s page guarantee return on investment, according to Sakshi Shivdasani, a Mumbai-based content creator. “Pap marketing is great to pull eyeballs but the audience will actually purchase through a recommendation on the influencer or brand page.”

In December last year, oral care brand Perfora collaborated with content creator and reality TV personality Urfi Javed for a campaign to introduce their new teeth whitening strips. The campaign began with a staged Instagram post where Javed “called out” the brand for asking her to “strip,” sparking widespread buzz across social media platforms. Two days later, Javed clarified that the statement wasn’t about her clothes, but rather the yellowness of her teeth—revealing Perfora’s new product.

The campaign exceeded the team’s expectations in terms of reach, gaining traction not only among social media users but also across digital news outlets. “Revenue from this product launch was more than 8-9x in the first seven days compared to any of our other products,” said Jatan Bawa, co-founder of Perfora.

But the campaign came at a high cost—more than five times that of a typical social media influencer initiative—making it more of a one-time approach, Bawa noted. “It’s also important to use this strategy carefully as it can easily go very wrong.”

Unlike a straightforward sponsored post, brands orchestrate entire experiences: permits, styling, location, and even coordination with paparazzi networks like Viral Bhayani’s. According to Majumdar, this can sometimes be cheaper for mid-tier influencers than traditional photoshoots, though costs spike during marquee events like Lakme Fashion Week.

For brands, the appeal lies in amplification. “One candid post or photo can fly from Filmfare and Pinkvilla to dozens of fan pages, sometimes delivering 5–6x the impressions of an influencer’s own #OOTD, plus search spikes and user-generated content that signal recall,” Majumdar noted.

OOTD, or outfit of the day, is a popular hashtag on social media platforms like Instagram, and TikTok where influencers, or regular users post photos showcasing what they’re wearing on a particular day.

Viral Bhayani, a well-known paparazzi, said that such collaborations ensure predictable reach. “When brands collaborate with paparazzi like me, they are assured a minimum of 150,000-200,000 views, which guarantees a certain return on investment. Beyond the content itself, the way we edit videos, the choice of text, colors, fonts, captions, and even techniques like circling or pointing out specific moments play a vital role in amplifying visibility for brands.”

This marketing tool can be at least twice as expensive as a typical influencer-led social media post, according to a senior marketing executive at a premium bags and accessories brand, who did not want to be named.

“Big names in the paparazzi world can command fees up to seven digits for a single campaign. It’s pretty steep for a small brand. But many brands are willing to spend big bucks on new marketing tools so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a well-funded player bucking the trend,” this person said.

But small brands are quietly taking note. Skincare brand Plum, which already spends a “meaningful portion” of its marketing budget on influencer marketing, is open to tweaking its promotional strategies based on what is expected to do well while retaining its vision of authenticity.

“We have found that a combination of engaging, educational, and relatable content is what works. Whether it’s for creators, celebrities or the Plum team, it’s all about stoking the imagination and laying out the facts in an understandable fashion,” said Shankar Prasad, founder of Plum.

Bhayani added that part of the appeal lies in subtlety. “Unlike an influencer’s profile where sponsored content is labeled as a paid promotion, if a product is integrated naturally in a public setting and we cover it, it generates curiosity and creates an organic buzz.”

Buzz vs brand

But the theatrics come with trade-offs. “Faking it for the paps gets its share of eyeballs for 24 hours, no more. The ‘controversy’ is really contrived communication—sometimes bordering on being amateurish,” said Sandeep Goyal, managing director at Rediffusion. “So it is good for a small surge but hardly a brand builder or multiplier.”

“While paparazzi marketing can spark curiosity and buzz, it carries the risk of appearing over-staged, which may invite scrutiny or even trolling for being inauthentic. As a result, only a select group of brands willing to take bold risks are experimenting with such publicity stunts. For many of them, the payoff from these unconventional campaigns has been strong,” said Dhruv Khurana, co-founder of influencer marketing SaaS platform Astatine. “Reliable data on paparazzi-style influencer marketing in India is missing — neither industry reports nor brand disclosures break it out as a separate category.

However, based on modelling from India’s ₹3,600-crore influencer economy and observed brand behaviour, it can be reasonably estimated that paparazzi-style stunts today represent roughly ₹70–100 crore (about 5–7% of brands allocating nearly 1–3% of their marketing budgets). If influencer budgets continue to grow at 25–30% annually and more youth-oriented brands adopt attention-grabbing tactics, this niche could realistically double in size to ₹150–200 crore over the next two to three years.”

There is always a risk of being called out for something staged. However, most successful campaigns acknowledge the “wink” where they don’t try too hard to pass as 100% candid, but lean into the entertainment value of the moment. Influencers also usually pick brands and scripts that align with their personality, so the integration feels natural rather than forced. For brands, the key is balance, said Ankit Bathija, talent head at Pocket Aces’ talent management arm Clout.

The growing use of such guerrilla-style tactics has also attracted regulatory attention. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has made disclosures mandatory wherever a brand connection exists.

“If approached by ASCI, the brand needs to submit a written declaration denying the material connection, else the post is considered an advertisement without disclosures violating both the ASCI code and the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) guidelines,” said Manisha Kapoor, ASCI’s secretary general. The guidelines require social media posts sponsored by brands to have a disclosure upfront stating that it is an advertisement.

Moreover, heavy dependence on the public image of a single person as well as opaque promotional strategies can create exposure fatigue, according to Plum’s Prasad. “Besides the obvious downside PR risk, there’s also a need to keep the content continually refreshed. Consumers also seek expertise and authenticity today more than ever, and therefore the person behind the promotion needs to have credibility along those dimensions. Else, the buzz may not necessarily build a lasting business.”

Zefmo’s Majumdar said brands are learning to embrace transparency in creative ways. “Smart brands seed hints and later share BTS [behind the scenes], turning transparency into engagement; and we encourage our influencers and brands to do the same.”