The Influence of Influencers

Cloudbreakr’s AI-powered platform identifies the right person in the spotlight to speak for the brands.

To modern marketers, the word-of-mouth marketing has become an effective tool to increase the exposure and consumer confidence of a brand in a diverse retail market.

And endorsement messages disseminated by stars, celebrities, pop singers, youtubers and key-opinion-leaders (KOLs), generally named influencers, are widely used to create noise and attention. But, how to identify the right influencer who can speak the same language as the concerned consumers?

Starting with a good idea

In 2015, a group of young entrepreneurs stole the limelight at a hackathon held in Hong Kong. This triggered them to start a data and AI analytical business, Cloudbreakr, in a rather niche area: to analyze, discover and evaluate influencers in Hong Kong and other South East Asian cities to speak for different retail brands.

Before setting up Cloudbreakr in Hong Kong, the Co-Founder and CEO Edwin Wong did consider Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand as other possible locations.

“We choose Hong Kong because we see a fast track here that allows us to turn tech ideas into products, thanks to the HKSAR government’s efforts of proactively promoting innovation and technology,” said Wong.

Of equal significance is the presence of a diversified range of international retail brands in Hong Kong, which has created enormous business opportunities for the company, Wong added.

Expanding with a niche capability

Cloudbreakr’s strongest edge lies in analyzing the influencers’ profiles with references to their opinions and interests shared in the new media world. In addition, the company also monitors the posts of its clients’ competitors based on keywords, hashtags and AI-suggestions, while keeping track of the volume and content of fraud messages and negative sentiment.

“By doing so, we can unveil an authentic profile of each influencer in Hong Kong and its neighbouring cities,” said Wong.

The company also helps to facilitate a macro marketing management for the head-person of a corporate who may have to oversee more than ten different brands. By analyzing and comparing the profile of each influencer and the business performance of each brand in respective city, Cloudbreakr is able to generate one comprehensive report for the big bosses to review.

As such, the corporate heads can concentrate on one compendious document for mapping out strategic business and marketing plans as a whole, Wong noted.

“We can also execute tailor-made social media campaigns for our clients. We want to offer a total word-of-mouth marketing solution comprising influencer analysis and strategy execution.”

Moving forward with a passion

According to Wong, big corporations are becoming keen on integrating tech solutions into their businesses, which has attracted more young talent to engage in the tech sector.

“Hong Kong is catching up with the tech trend in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic has indeed speeded up the tech and digital developments in Hong Kong because companies realise that a total integration of online and offline business mode is needed.”

To stay ahead of this niche market, Wong endeavors to establish a sophisticated system on influencer data analysis, such as setting up a benchmark on influencer rankings for the regional markets.

In addition, the CEO anticipates to expand Cloudbreakr’s services to all Chinese-speaking countries and regions, particularly the cities in the Greater Bay Area.