Meet “Dolly Didi” and the Data

A regional beauty brand in India was planning a campaign to promote their new herbal hair oil. Traditionally, they would rope in a glamorous, pan-India face from Mumbai — someone with millions of followers.

But this time, the brand ran its influencer shortlist through an AI tool that analyzed engagement, geographic reach, sentiment, and comment quality.

Surprisingly, the tool didn’t pick the Bollywood face.

Instead, it flagged a lesser-known creator from Lucknow, fondly known online as “Dolly Didi” — a 42-year-old homemaker who shares daily beauty tips in Hindi on YouTube Shorts. Her subscriber count was modest, but her engagement rate was 3X the norm and 92% of her audience matched the brand’s target segment.

The result? A campaign that felt local, resonated deeply, and sold out the first batch of the product in Tier 2 markets — all powered by an AI-backed creator match.

The Rise of AI-Generated Influencers

Parallelly, AI isn’t just helping select influencers — it’s also creating them.

From Lil Miquela in the US to Kyra in India, AI-generated influencers are gaining real-world sponsorship deals and loyal followers. Brands are drawn to their consistency, controllability, and lack of scandals. These avatars never age, never take a break, and always deliver on time.

But this raises new questions:
Can they build trust? Do followers know they’re not real? Should they be allowed to promote products without clear disclosure?

The Shift: From Popularity to Precision

In the AI era, brands are focusing less on follower counts and more on precision marketing.

Thanks to machine learning tools, brands can now:

• Match influencers to niche target groups (urban moms, rural youth, fitness-first Gen Z).
• Track emotion in comments (Are people inspired? Skeptical? Indifferent?).
• Predict campaign performance before it goes live.

We’re moving from influencer marketing to influence intelligence.

In the age of AI, influence is no longer about how many follow you — it’s about who listens, who acts, and how aligned you truly are.
The spotlight is shifting — and it’s not always on the biggest stage.