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What is the story about?
In categories where misinformation travels faster than facts, trust has become the hardest currency to earn. Skincare sits right at the centre of that tension. Consumers today are more informed, more sceptical, and far less tolerant of exaggerated claims than they once were. For brands operating in this space, growth is no longer just about visibility. It's about credibility.
This is where education-led content is quietly reshaping the way brands build scale. Discovery still matters, but understanding matters more. And increasingly, platforms that allow brands and creators to explain, contextualise, and go deeper are where that trust is being built. In this context, the idea of getting more with YouTube Shorts takes on a very specific meaning. YouTube Shorts is no longer just a format for faster reach. It's becoming an entry point for deeper discovery, creator-led education, and more informed purchase decisions.
This shift is playing out at scale. According to a survey conducted by GWI, in India, YouTube Shorts reaches over 650 million monthly logged-in viewers, and 44% of Shorts users don't use Instagram Reels. For brands, that represents access to incremental audiences they may not be reaching anywhere else. More importantly, it represents audiences arriving with curiosity, not just a passing scroll.
That shift was at the heart of RJ Abhinav's visit to Deconstruct's Bengaluru headquarters. Known for his comedy and magic, Abhinav stepped into a very different kind of conversation this time: one about science, transparency, and how digital platforms can support informed decision-making, not just impulse buying.
A Brand Built Against Tall Claims
Deconstruct's origin story is rooted in frustration. Founder and CEO Malini Adapureddy started the brand after noticing how much of the skincare market relied on overpromising and underexplaining. Claims were loud, ingredient lists were opaque, and consumers were often treated as if they wouldn't know better.
That assumption didn't sit right. From the start, Deconstruct positioned itself as a science-first, digital-first brand, built for consumers who wanted to understand what they were putting on their skin. Transparency wasn't a marketing tactic. It was the product philosophy. And digital platforms weren't just distribution channels. They were classrooms.
For Malini, choosing where to show up online was less about chasing trends and more about reach with relevance. Platforms needed scale, yes, but they also needed formats that allowed for education. Bite-sized explanations for quick discovery, and longer formats for audiences who want depth. Both mattered.
Why Platform Flexibility Matters
That belief shaped how Deconstruct approached YouTube early on. Shorts offered a way to communicate quick, science-backed insights in a format that fits modern consumption habits. Long-form videos allowed the brand and its creator partners to go deeper, answer questions, and unpack ingredients, routines, and claims without being constrained by time.
The platform's versatility mattered. Performance marketing formats helped drive reach, while creator collaborations added credibility. Together, they allowed Deconstruct to meet consumers at different points in their decision-making journey.
Creators as Validators, not Amplifiers
In sensitive categories like skincare, creators don't function as megaphones, but filters. Their job isn't to hype products, but to assess them, question them, and explain them to audiences that trust their judgement.
That dynamic came into sharp focus when dermatologist and creator Dr Anchal joined the conversation. She began making content to counter misinformation online, from unsafe steroid use to misleading before-and-after visuals. Education was the goal.
Right from the start, Dr Anchal has been selective about the brands she works with. In fact, she turns down far more partnerships than she accepts. Ingredients have to make sense. Claims have to be proportionate. Transparency isn't negotiable. That selectiveness is precisely what gives her influence weight. Studies show that over 90% of viewers in India consider YouTube creators trustworthy, outperforming other platforms. In categories like skincare, that credibility can't be manufactured. It has to be earned.
For audiences, especially Gen Z viewers navigating skincare advice online, trust isn't built through repetition. It's built through consistency. Through creators who show up repeatedly with information that holds up over time.
Shorts, Long-Form, and Live: One Funnel, Not Three
One of the clearest insights from the visit was that content formats don't compete with one another. When used strategically, they compound.
YouTube Shorts help brands and creators reach wide audiences quickly. They spark curiosity, answer one specific question, or introduce a product in context. Long-form content does the opposite. It slows things down. It invites investment. Viewers who spend five or ten minutes watching a video aren't just scrolling. They're learning, and they remember who taught them.
Live formats take that relationship even further. Deconstruct's Chief Business Officer, Prateek Jain, pointed to a 24-hour live dermatathon the brand hosted with certified dermatologists across the country. YouTube was the default choice, not because it was trendy, but because it could support the scale and infrastructure such an initiative required. The result wasn't just engagement. It was authority.
Across formats, one metric stood out more than dashboards or impressions: audience feedback. Comments, questions, and repeat viewers became signals of trust being built, not just content being consumed.
Incremental Audiences with Intent
For Deconstruct, YouTube Shorts also unlocked access to audiences they weren't reaching elsewhere. These weren't passive viewers. They were people actively searching for answers.
Prateek described YouTube as a research platform as much as a content one. Users arrive with intent. They search for "sunscreen for oily skin" or "ingredients for acne-prone skin" because they want to know more. That mindset changes how content performs and how brands should approach storytelling.
That intent shows up clearly in behaviour. According to GWI surveys, 72% of respondents in India say YouTube Shorts helps them decide what to purchase. Another 72% say Shorts ads introduce them to new brands or products, reinforcing how discovery and consideration are now collapsing into a single moment. For brands like Deconstruct, this matters deeply. Education isn't happening after discovery anymore. It's happening simultaneously.
Rough-edged, authentic creator content often outperforms polished brand assets, precisely because it feels real. Shorts become the entry point. Long-form content becomes the validator. And features like integrated shopping reduce friction without undermining trust, allowing interested viewers to act when ready.
Lessons From the Ground
All of this leads back to the core insight Abhinav walked away with. In categories like skincare, growth doesn't come from louder claims. It comes from clearer explanations. Trust isn't built through virality. It's built through repetition, transparency, and time.
Here's how he framed it after spending a day inside Deconstruct's ecosystem:
Education is the real growth lever.
In a market crowded with exaggerated promises, brands that slow down and explain win long-term loyalty. Deconstruct's science-first approach shows that consumers are curious. When brands respect that curiosity, credibility follows.
Creators don't amplify science, they humanise it.
In sensitive categories, creators act as validators, not billboards. Their selectiveness is what makes their recommendations matter. When creators like Dr Anchal explain ingredients, question claims, and reject brands that don't pass scrutiny, trust compounds over time.
Short form builds momentum. Long-form builds memory.
YouTube Shorts helps brands reach wide audiences quickly with bite-sized clarity. Long-form content does the heavy lifting, driving deeper understanding and recall. Together, they form a single funnel, not competing formats.
Intent matters more than impressions.
On YouTube, audiences don't just scroll, they search. People arrive looking for answers, not entertainment alone. That research-led intent changes how content performs and how brands should design their storytelling.
When brands and creators grow together, trust scales.
Education-led content isn't a constraint on growth; it's a catalyst. When creators are given the space to explain, and brands resist oversimplification, trust becomes a scalable asset rather than a fragile one.
These lessons point to a broader shift. In categories where credibility is non-negotiable, the brands that win are the ones that teach first and sell second.
When Education Becomes a Growth Strategy
Deconstruct's experience shows that when brands use YouTube Shorts as an entry point to education rather than an endpoint for attention, they don't just reach more people. They build more trust, more recall, and more meaningful growth.
By investing in creators who prioritise accuracy, choosing platforms that allow depth, and resisting the temptation to oversimplify, the brand turned credibility into a scalable asset. In a category where credibility is everything, that's what it really means to get more with Shorts.
This is where education-led content is quietly reshaping the way brands build scale. Discovery still matters, but understanding matters more. And increasingly, platforms that allow brands and creators to explain, contextualise, and go deeper are where that trust is being built. In this context, the idea of getting more with YouTube Shorts takes on a very specific meaning. YouTube Shorts is no longer just a format for faster reach. It's becoming an entry point for deeper discovery, creator-led education, and more informed purchase decisions.
This shift is playing out at scale. According to a survey conducted by GWI, in India, YouTube Shorts reaches over 650 million monthly logged-in viewers, and 44% of Shorts users don't use Instagram Reels. For brands, that represents access to incremental audiences they may not be reaching anywhere else. More importantly, it represents audiences arriving with curiosity, not just a passing scroll.
That shift was at the heart of RJ Abhinav's visit to Deconstruct's Bengaluru headquarters. Known for his comedy and magic, Abhinav stepped into a very different kind of conversation this time: one about science, transparency, and how digital platforms can support informed decision-making, not just impulse buying.
A Brand Built Against Tall Claims
Deconstruct's origin story is rooted in frustration. Founder and CEO Malini Adapureddy started the brand after noticing how much of the skincare market relied on overpromising and underexplaining. Claims were loud, ingredient lists were opaque, and consumers were often treated as if they wouldn't know better.
That assumption didn't sit right. From the start, Deconstruct positioned itself as a science-first, digital-first brand, built for consumers who wanted to understand what they were putting on their skin. Transparency wasn't a marketing tactic. It was the product philosophy. And digital platforms weren't just distribution channels. They were classrooms.
For Malini, choosing where to show up online was less about chasing trends and more about reach with relevance. Platforms needed scale, yes, but they also needed formats that allowed for education. Bite-sized explanations for quick discovery, and longer formats for audiences who want depth. Both mattered.
Why Platform Flexibility Matters
That belief shaped how Deconstruct approached YouTube early on. Shorts offered a way to communicate quick, science-backed insights in a format that fits modern consumption habits. Long-form videos allowed the brand and its creator partners to go deeper, answer questions, and unpack ingredients, routines, and claims without being constrained by time.
The platform's versatility mattered. Performance marketing formats helped drive reach, while creator collaborations added credibility. Together, they allowed Deconstruct to meet consumers at different points in their decision-making journey.
Creators as Validators, not Amplifiers
In sensitive categories like skincare, creators don't function as megaphones, but filters. Their job isn't to hype products, but to assess them, question them, and explain them to audiences that trust their judgement.
That dynamic came into sharp focus when dermatologist and creator Dr Anchal joined the conversation. She began making content to counter misinformation online, from unsafe steroid use to misleading before-and-after visuals. Education was the goal.
Right from the start, Dr Anchal has been selective about the brands she works with. In fact, she turns down far more partnerships than she accepts. Ingredients have to make sense. Claims have to be proportionate. Transparency isn't negotiable. That selectiveness is precisely what gives her influence weight. Studies show that over 90% of viewers in India consider YouTube creators trustworthy, outperforming other platforms. In categories like skincare, that credibility can't be manufactured. It has to be earned.
For audiences, especially Gen Z viewers navigating skincare advice online, trust isn't built through repetition. It's built through consistency. Through creators who show up repeatedly with information that holds up over time.
Shorts, Long-Form, and Live: One Funnel, Not Three
One of the clearest insights from the visit was that content formats don't compete with one another. When used strategically, they compound.
YouTube Shorts help brands and creators reach wide audiences quickly. They spark curiosity, answer one specific question, or introduce a product in context. Long-form content does the opposite. It slows things down. It invites investment. Viewers who spend five or ten minutes watching a video aren't just scrolling. They're learning, and they remember who taught them.
Live formats take that relationship even further. Deconstruct's Chief Business Officer, Prateek Jain, pointed to a 24-hour live dermatathon the brand hosted with certified dermatologists across the country. YouTube was the default choice, not because it was trendy, but because it could support the scale and infrastructure such an initiative required. The result wasn't just engagement. It was authority.
Across formats, one metric stood out more than dashboards or impressions: audience feedback. Comments, questions, and repeat viewers became signals of trust being built, not just content being consumed.
Incremental Audiences with Intent
For Deconstruct, YouTube Shorts also unlocked access to audiences they weren't reaching elsewhere. These weren't passive viewers. They were people actively searching for answers.
Prateek described YouTube as a research platform as much as a content one. Users arrive with intent. They search for "sunscreen for oily skin" or "ingredients for acne-prone skin" because they want to know more. That mindset changes how content performs and how brands should approach storytelling.
That intent shows up clearly in behaviour. According to GWI surveys, 72% of respondents in India say YouTube Shorts helps them decide what to purchase. Another 72% say Shorts ads introduce them to new brands or products, reinforcing how discovery and consideration are now collapsing into a single moment. For brands like Deconstruct, this matters deeply. Education isn't happening after discovery anymore. It's happening simultaneously.
Rough-edged, authentic creator content often outperforms polished brand assets, precisely because it feels real. Shorts become the entry point. Long-form content becomes the validator. And features like integrated shopping reduce friction without undermining trust, allowing interested viewers to act when ready.
Lessons From the Ground
All of this leads back to the core insight Abhinav walked away with. In categories like skincare, growth doesn't come from louder claims. It comes from clearer explanations. Trust isn't built through virality. It's built through repetition, transparency, and time.
Here's how he framed it after spending a day inside Deconstruct's ecosystem:
Education is the real growth lever.
In a market crowded with exaggerated promises, brands that slow down and explain win long-term loyalty. Deconstruct's science-first approach shows that consumers are curious. When brands respect that curiosity, credibility follows.
Creators don't amplify science, they humanise it.
In sensitive categories, creators act as validators, not billboards. Their selectiveness is what makes their recommendations matter. When creators like Dr Anchal explain ingredients, question claims, and reject brands that don't pass scrutiny, trust compounds over time.
Short form builds momentum. Long-form builds memory.
YouTube Shorts helps brands reach wide audiences quickly with bite-sized clarity. Long-form content does the heavy lifting, driving deeper understanding and recall. Together, they form a single funnel, not competing formats.
Intent matters more than impressions.
On YouTube, audiences don't just scroll, they search. People arrive looking for answers, not entertainment alone. That research-led intent changes how content performs and how brands should design their storytelling.
When brands and creators grow together, trust scales.
Education-led content isn't a constraint on growth; it's a catalyst. When creators are given the space to explain, and brands resist oversimplification, trust becomes a scalable asset rather than a fragile one.
These lessons point to a broader shift. In categories where credibility is non-negotiable, the brands that win are the ones that teach first and sell second.
When Education Becomes a Growth Strategy
Deconstruct's experience shows that when brands use YouTube Shorts as an entry point to education rather than an endpoint for attention, they don't just reach more people. They build more trust, more recall, and more meaningful growth.
By investing in creators who prioritise accuracy, choosing platforms that allow depth, and resisting the temptation to oversimplify, the brand turned credibility into a scalable asset. In a category where credibility is everything, that's what it really means to get more with Shorts.
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