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Hello, there!

It’s been an action-packed week 🙌 

• Podcast: From Poverty to Profit: Global Initiative Transforms Lives in 35+ Cities

• Success story: When AI Goes Grocery Shopping

• Leveraging the Power of Micro-influencers

• Weekly Business Challenge: Facebook’s 2010 Hardware Debut 🤔

But first, a tour of the headlines…

Weekly Catchups

News | Industry Insights | Trends

• 🤖 New Kid on the Block

  Anthropic, an AI company started by former Open AI employees, says its new Claude 3 family of AI models perform better than leading models of Google (Gemini) and Open AI (GPT-4). Anthropic claims Haiku, Claude 3’s smallest version, is capable of reading a dense research paper with graphs and charts “in less than three seconds.” X was inundated with comparisons between Claude and ChatGPT.
  

• ⌛Disney’s Descendants

  Walt Disney’s heirs are rallying around Disney chief executive Bob Iger as they prepare to battle activist inventors and former top executives for board seats next month. Some, such as Abigail Disney, are setting aside their past differences with Iger to join hands. Meanwhile, activist investor Nelson Peltz published a 130-page memo identifying the factors holding back Disney’s growth, blaming the company for it.

• 💉 Slim Pharma on the Rise

  Skyrocketing demand for weight-loss drugs can make Novo Nordisk (NN) and Eli Lilly the first Pharma companies to hit a trillion-dollar market cap. But for that possibility to become reality, the two must supersize the production of their drugs. Neither drugmaker has enough factories specialising in filling drugs into strings (fill-finish). Oral pills could address the fill-finish issue, which is exactly why competitors like Pfizer are vying for the space. But Hurdles exist. NN’s oral pill requires 146 times more active ingredients than the injectable variant. 

Uncharted Horizons

Personal Development | Success Story

When AI Goes Grocery Shopping

Amidst a plethora of academic papers trying to predict the most sinister implications of the emerging technology, (read job insecurity, massive layoffs, humans being replaced by bots capable of abstract and logical thinking at work) an Associate professor of AI and Society at the Oxford Internet Institute Ekaterina Hertog is choosing to ask alternative questions: Can AI help ease the burden of household chores?

Through her research project Domestic AI, Hertog has tapped into one of the least talked about and undervalued tenets of the economy: domestic labor.  

Ekaterina, whose primary interest lies in tracking domestic labour in Japan and the UK, says that women in Japan continue to do almost 90% of all the housework and care work within couples. 

Across 17 types of domestic tasks, including cooking, dishwashing, cleaning, grocery shopping, and physical child care, it is predicted that 20% of the time could be saved through automation in five years. Furthermore, a paper written by Ekaterina suggests that domestic automation could free up 5.8% of women in the UK to take up a job. In the best-case scenario for the future, the rise of domestic automation could finally address gender inequality in domestic work by increasing the time available for women to carry out paid work and leisure. 

Strategies | Tools | Marketing Tips

Leveraging the Power of Micro-Influencers

Your brand has some great products in the pipeline, waiting for their stellar launch. But conveying their authenticity seems like a tough nut to crack. Micro-influencers to the rescue. Clever brands are leveraging the social media clout of this category of influencers (follower count ranging from 10,000 to 100,000) to target niche users.

Why not chase the big fish, you might ask? We give you three reasons to pick micro-influencers for your next product campaign:

👍️They’re Trustworthy: Micro-influencers enjoy an authentic connection with their followers when compared to bigger influencers. Their recommendations tend to have a deeper impact on audiences.

💰️🤝Cost-effective Collaboration: Micro-influencers often charge lower fees for promoting products. They’ll even be willing to promote products through samples.

🎯Niche Market Penetration: Micro-influencers have a strong presence in specialised segments.

Here’s a checklist for successful collaboration from start to end ✅ 

#1 Set Clear KPIs

Establish key performing indicators aligning with your objective. These can be reach, engagement, click-through rates, conversions, or sales. Predetermine the number of social posts, reels, or blog posts you will need for your product. 

#2 Use Trackable Links or Promo Codes

Provide each micro-influencer with unique trackable links they can include in the content they make for you. This allows you to attribute website traffic, conversations, or sales directly to their efforts. 

#3 Craft Compelling Content

Upon finding your influencer partner, use their platforms to showcase the hard work behind your products. This can be a behind-the-scenes look at your product creation, a day featuring your services, a creative challenge, or videos capturing giveaways to lucky customers.

#4 Monitor Social Media Engagement

Collaboration with cherry-picked micro-influencers is a job half-done. After the campaign is live, monitor social media platforms for likes, comments, shares, and saves. It’s important to engage with users who interact with the influencer’s content. Answer any questions about your product/service to foster conversations. 

#5 Evaluate ROI and Adjust Strategies

Calculate the ROI of your influencer marketing campaign by comparing costs incurred (e.g., influencer fees, product samples) to outcomes achieved (increased brand awareness, sales revenue) 

Don’t Miss It!

Networking | Business Development | Entrepreneurship

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