The creator economy, also known as the influencer economy, was born in the Web2 era thanks to social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube and the rise of user-generated content and online celebrities. It is Web3, however, that will drive the evolution of the creator economy by empowering content creators and allowing them to own not only their content but also their community.

While Web2 allowed content creators and influencers to build a huge online following, the middlemen such as Facebook and YouTube were the ones who actually owned the platforms and set the rules, making it difficult for most of them to monetise their content.

Which is ironic, considering that the creator economy is now worth US$100B globally, with Goldman Sachs predicting it could grow to US$480 billion by 2027.

How creators got their groove back

In fact, it was the pain points that she herself experienced as an influencer that led SO-COL Founder Irene Zhao to launch the Singapore-based Web3 social platform.

“Even though I have a huge following on social media. I don’t get most of it. I don’t own my content or my community. The only way for me to monetise is through advertisements,” Zhao said.

Web3, however, is disrupting this business model thanks to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are also becoming more popularly known as digital collectibles. NFTs allow creators to own their content. By buying these NFTs, fans can own part of the creators’ work. More importantly, creators and their fans can build a community by using NFTs as proof of identity.

“Web3 is truly impactful on content creators in two big ways. First, creators can truly own their community on a decentralised platform not subject to fast-changing social media policies. Second, with DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisations), they can build deeper, more meaningful, and more two-way interactions with their audience instead of fans simply liking and commenting on their posts,” Zhao said.

The power of smart contracts

While some might have the wrong notion that NFTs are just fancy JPEGs, they are actually digital assets powered by smart contracts on a blockchain, such as Ethereum. Anything can be tokenised, allowing content creators to directly monetise their works, whether art, music, articles, literature, videos, and so on.

Also Read: How to stay creative in the age of Generative AI and Web3

This is why Web3 is a game changer for the creator economy because it allows content creators to own their data and get paid for what others consume.

“Smart contracts ensure timely payments as they eliminate the middleman, meaning creators will receive their revenue share the moment it has been paid. As Web2 platforms begin to disappear, smart contracts and NFTs will emerge as the new standard, with a record of ownership for every piece of content posted onto immutable public blockchains. 

“With NFTs, artists will be able to keep track of the value of their older creations and continue to monetize them through royalties. Under the old system, if an artist sold a painting for US$10,000 and it was later sold again for US$5 million, the artist would not receive anything more, with the dealer pocketing the difference. That won’t happen with NFTs, as the artists can create a smart contract that ensures they will receive a percentage of any future sale.” 

Launching the Creator Circle

Offering a powerful platform for content creators is one thing. Educating them on Web3 and helping them optimise these digital tools, however, is another.

This is precisely why BlockchainSpace, a Web3 community enabler in Southeast Asia, has partnered with leading Philippine telecommunications provider Smart Communications to accelerate Web3 adoption and launch its Creator Circle program for content creators across the region. 

By joining the Creator Circle, content creators gain access not only to exclusive events and perks but also to funding that will help them launch their projects and build their communities.

Starting out as a physical venue for Web3 events, BlockchainSpace evolved into a guild hub for play-to-earn communities around blockchain games such as Axie Infinity. Since 2020, it has empowered over 100 communities and raised US$20M from top investors, including Animoca Brands, CoinGecko, and Crypto.com Capital. This year, it expanded from gaming into the creator economy.

By partnering with Smart, BlockchainSpace now hopes to make Web3 more mainstream by reaching out not only to gamers but also to content creators and their huge communities.

“Filipinos have been at the forefront of utilising Web3 since the peak of the pandemic. With millions already owning crypto wallets and participating in GameFi, the Philippines has consistently been one of the leaders of Web3 adoption in Southeast Asia. Through this partnership, BlockchainSpace and Smart will continue to build on that foundation by enabling more communities to connect in a truly open, meaningful and secure manner,” said BlockchainSpace CEO Peter Ing.

“This partnership aligns with Smart’s mission to empower FIlipinos with the latest digital innovations so they can live more today,” said Smart First Vice President and Head of Prepaid and Content Lloyd Manaloto.

Also Read: How a decentralised localisation and building a community of trust can lead to global success

Decentralisation is the way

Web3 is all about decentralisation, allowing anyone to have the opportunity to create their own content and build their own communities. It is bringing power back to the content creators, and turning their fans into co-creators and community stakeholders, instead of just passive consumers. 

This trend toward decentralisation has been happening for years. Web3 will accelerate the process, making this the best time to be a creator.   

“Despite flooding platforms with content, centralised institutions have held a monopoly on privacy, content, audience and on revenue. Even in the traditional publishing world and music industry, record labels and publishers keep the majority of all earnings while the artists and authors sign contracts to keep a small percentage of royalties.

An increasing number of authors, however, are choosing to forgo the traditional route and instead are self-publishing, supported to best-seller status through swathes of their army of YouTube followers buying their book. This can be seen as evidence that a cultural and socio-economic shift is already well underway.”

The revolution is already underway. Will you be part of it?

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Slice Group, an Indonesia-based creator relationship management (CRM) platform, has completed a US$645,000 seed round of financing led by Intudo Ventures and Arise.

With this capital, Slice plans to refine its product offerings, accelerate platform development, drive sales, and enhance recruitment efforts.

The startup plans to build embedded finance features for brands/agencies and content creators within the platform. The features include invoice financing for agencies to offer invoice loans for agencies to manage cash flow and help creators get paid faster, besides a digital wallet for brands, agencies, and creators to facilitate payments and track financial transaction history.

Founded in January 2022 by Jesse Bouman (CEO) and Nesha Hanzdima (COO), Slice Group is a creator management solution that helps agencies and brands manage creator relationships. Its integrated CRM platform simplifies reporting, payments, and relationships for sponsored brand content.

Also Read: We are now in an era of cultivating organisational culture: Flash Group CEO

The group offers a wide range of targeted features for brands and agencies designed to streamline creator management with automated and customised products and services. They include automated reporting, providing validated campaign reports within 24 hours of the most recent creator post; creator discovery, helping brands and agencies find creators for campaigns; and payment distribution, enabling payment of multiple creators simultaneously and making sure creators are rewarded for their work in a timely, transparent manner.

By working with Slice Group, content creators can unlock brand deal opportunities, analytics, and media kits to transition to become full-time creators through stable and recurring income streams and ultimately position creators to launch their own brands.

“Despite brands investing more in creators and influencer marketing, far too many marketers are still relying on manual processes, which siloes a lot of brand dollars to the same few mega influencers. We created Slice Group with the needs of both brands and creators in mind, to help them build sustainable relationships and work more efficiently on influencer campaigns,” said Bouman.

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Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is making headlines as it explodes in prevalence across the globe.  It serves as a key marker of the new technological era and promises drastic change in the future.  But what is it, exactly?

AI is defined as the ability of a computer or machine to learn from previous experiences.  Previous experiences include written prompts, math problems, and images.  AI studies these experiences and responds to them, generating content, trends, and predictions.  

There are different AI models and types.  For example, AI can be categorised as a machine learning program, a deep learning program, or an expert systems program.  Machine learning AI is able to learn from data without manual human programming.  Deep learning AI programs specialise in high-complexity patterns and often outperform machine learning data inputs. 

Expert systems are AI programs designed to copy human-level decision-making.  Expert systems have been used in the medical field; for example, AI of chest X-rays can identify lung cancer type and stage by analysing the image in context with the disease. 

Also Read: How Transparently.AI uses Artificial Intelligence to detect accounting manipulation, fraud

Other key terms include Application Programming Interface (API), data extraction, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), and Optical Character Recognition (OCR).  API is made up of a set of defined rules that allows various applications to communicate with each other.  It acts as an intermediary layer between systems. 

Data extraction allows AI programs to pull usable information from large and unconsolidated sources.  JSON is a lightweight format for storing and transporting data and is used when data needs to transmit from a server to a webpage.  Finally, OCR is text recognition that allows users to extract printed or handwritten text from images and documents. 

AI applications can also be categorised further, leading to more terminology.  Important categories include generative AI, predictive analytics, natural language processing, and computer vision.  Each of these has its own uses.  For example, generative AI, as seen in programs like NovelAI, creates news content through existing data.  Computer vision, on the other hand, is a program that can interpret digital images.  

The above terminology is important to know, as AI is predicted to continue having a massive impact on society.  In fact, Ark Invest predicts that AI will contribute US$200 trillion to the global economic output by 2030.  Additionally, by 2023, global spending on AI by governments and businesses is expected to exceed US$500 billion. 

The impact and applications of AI

To further demonstrate the proliferation of AI in businesses, we can examine the number of AI capabilities used by businesses over time.  In 2018, businesses used an average of 1.9 capabilities.  By  2022, this number doubled, with an average of 3.8 capabilities.  This number is expected to double once again in 2023.  The most common AI capabilities are automating processes through robotics, computer vision, and natural language text understanding. 

Also Read: Singapore’s YC-backed AI startups making waves globally with generative technology

Governments and businesses turn to AI for its several benefits.  For one, AI increases efficiency and productivity, as it frees up workers to focus on more advanced tasks.  It generates greater speed by shortening development cycles and cutting the time between design and commercialisation.  This in turn increases ROI.  AI also improves monitoring and results in higher quality and increased accuracy.  Finally, AI can increase talent management by improving the hiring process. 

There are five steps that businesses should keep in mind when incorporating AI into their operations.  To begin, a business needs to understand its own needs and goals and how AI fits into those goals.  Businesses should also set near-term goals for AI use and then evaluate the approach that will work best for them.  Once businesses have established the foundation, they make sure the data is accurate and complete, then begin testing AI. 

One type of AI that businesses might consider is Intelligent Document Processing.  Lazarus AI provides an option for this with its RikAI program, which is an input-agnostic language model.  It works with no training or retraining and can pull data from any document, even if the type, format, or language varies.  It specialises in contextualising information and can help businesses find answers to natural language questions. 

There are countless types of AI, and the numbers will continue to grow as technology advances.  Many businesses are implementing AI into their organisations, and understanding the terminology and role of various AI models is key to navigating an increasingly-technological future.

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Indonesian coffee chain startup Fore Coffee revealed the secrets behind its recent positive EBITDA achievement for Q3 2021, one of them being cutting off its promotional budget by up to 50 per cent. The company said that this move continued all the way to 2022 by 30 per cent and is set to continue by 20-30 per cent in 2023.

Apart from that, Fore Coffee stated that about 50 per cent of its non-functional outlets were badly hit by the pandemic in 2020-2021. This was caused by changes in supply and demand, supply chain as well as coffee production and distribution process. This situation encouraged coffee chain industry players to keep on innovating in order to survive.

Under the leadership of Co-Founder & CEO Vico Lomar, Fore Coffee has been reviewing its business strategy. He shifted the focus of the company back to its core business as a provider of quality food and beverage products that the customers adore.

In the fifth year of its operations, Lomar explained the three strategic steps that have become Fore Coffee’s secret sauce to success in expanding and achieving profitability: Producing quality products through R&D, optimising the quality of human resources, and targeting new outlets.

Up until today, Fore Coffee owns 134 outlets in Greater Jakarta Area, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. The company intends to add around 75 new outlets and expand to mid-sized cities, aiming to operate a total of 200 outlets by the end of 2023.

Also Read: Flash Coffee extends Series B round to US$50M, aims to grow footprint across APAC

“Our dream is for Fore Coffee to become a beloved and trusted brand by Indonesian customers. This might seem like a simple goal, but it requires a great commitment from every element within the company. With the principles of openness and transparency, and willingness to innovate, we believe that we can make it come true,” Lomar said.

The company also performed a brand image reposition to become a trendy, affordable beverage. It presents seasonal products all together with its core products.

Fore Coffee CMO Matthew Ardian said in a press statement that the company has a different approach to other coffee brands. This encouraged customers to believe that Fore Coffee is a premium local brand–a perception that it aims to change.

“In early 2022, we decided to sharpen our position not to be known as a premium player but instead as a power house brand that provides essential, unique, high-quality products that customers love. We understand that customers deserve a better product,” Ardian said.

Some of its notable products in 2022 include Aren Latte, Pandan Latte, and Butterscotch Sea-Salt Latte. The company claimed that these products had carried the Fore Coffee brand into the list of top five brands with the highest top-of-mind score in Indonesia.

“In 2022, Fore Coffee has achieved many firsts, from launching a children’s beverage product called Fore Junior and Fore Deli line to collaborating with premium lifestyle brands such as Grab, Laneige, Green Rebel and Oma Elly. These launches are packed with trendy, digital-centric marketing campaigns,” Ardian said.

Also Read: Bootstrapped: How dating service Sirf Coffee takes on the likes of Tinder without raising VC money

Organic marketing

Moreover, the company highlighted the key role that marketing plays in R&D and operations. In addition to understanding the aspirations and inspirations of Indonesian customers, marketing helps to answer their demands with a range of product innovations.

The target is to perform organic and sustainable marketing in 2023. The high number of new customers acquired through either online or offline channels is attributed to the sharpening of the company’s brand. Apart from that, the company also actively perform monthly campaigns, leading to customers spreading their content on various social media network.

Based on research that it performs with a third party, Fore Coffee is discovered to have experienced a sharp increase in customer satisfaction level and (Net Promoter Score) by 25 per cent, placing it as a top NPS scorer amongst Indonesian brands.

“Our own core beverage products are the most effective promotional instruments. These products have successfully carried the message of the quality of the products that Fore Coffee served to Indonesia. This is why we focus on intensive, sustainable research and development to help us start new trends and introduce new products that the customers are going to love,” Lomar closed.

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The article was written in Bahasa Indonesia by Kristin Siagian for DailySocial. English translation and editing by e27.

Image Credit: Fore Coffee

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With ChatGPT as its all-conquering, headline-grabbing (and generating) primary use case, automation and AI have catapulted from the tech and business sections to the front pages in 2023. Hundreds of millions of users globally are using transcendent software for billions of tasks. From Singapore to San Francisco, consumers are using it to summarise novels, write cover letters and suggest recipes.

However, for all the hype, it’s overshadowing its potential to provide businesses with tangible benefits that improve their efficiency and productivity. Those benefits can be felt by businesses in any industry.

Take hospitality, for example. Because their core provision, food, drink and connection, cannot be automated; restaurants, bars and cafes are relatively low on the list of businesses that can gain from the technology.

In reality, the opposite is true.

In the wake of the pandemic, many hospitality businesses across APAC struggled to access labour from front-of-house to administrative staff. At the same time as their resources were limited, the expectations from consumers reached all-time highs.

ChatGPT and a business strategy grounded in automation won’t replace the provision of food, drink and connection, but it can improve businesses’ ability to provide those exceptional experiences. Here’s how.

Leveraging ChatGPT

In February, a UBS report revealed ChatGPT had reached 100 million users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. It reached the milestone in just two months, far quicker than other global apps like TikTok (nine months) and Instagram (2.5 years).

Its user base is likely far bigger now, and it’s no longer just students looking for homework help or intrigued consumers testing their imagination and its capabilities. Its users are businesses, using it to do less with more and enhance rather than impede the face-to-face, human side of their business.

Also Read: AI in banking: Unlocking success with ChatGPT and embracing the future

For businesses, especially with the threat of a global recession looming and labour shortages continuing to bite, time is money. By automating time-consuming, non-revenue-generating tasks in seconds, hospitality businesses can work more cost- and time-effectively. The impact of ChatGPT can be felt business-wide, directly by employees and indirectly by customers.

Restaurants are experts at composing the best combination of ingredients to create a perfect dish. They’re not always experts at crafting impactful messages through words, though. It’s essential for businesses to be discovered by, and engage with, consumers online, but it can and does fall down the list of priorities.

However, ChatGPT can analyse masses of online data in milliseconds and use it to create compelling custom website landing page copy, blogs and even email marketing. Through ChatGPT, that content can be instantly translated into any language, a huge time-saver for businesses in APAC, a region with so many dialects and is hugely reliant on international tourism.

It’s not only about creating content but responding to it too. Venues receive multiple reviews and emails every day. Responding to them, whether good, bad or neutral, is an important part of building deeper relationships with existing and prospective customers. Again, though, it can be a daunting and time-consuming task.

However, venues are using ChatGPT to draft copies or provide templates to refine. And through A/B testing, they can analyse the performance and suitability of different versions, so they’re not just responding but responding strategically.

Not only can ChatGPT automate the creation of content, but it can also create entire strategies for specific audiences. For example, if a venue’s target customers are those who like expensive and exclusive experiences, ChatGPT can suggest tactics and messaging that would appeal to their characteristics or any other demographic for that matter.

Venues are even integrating ChatGPT within their website through a chatbot or instant messaging widget. Rather than requiring a member of staff to look after the website full time or risk losing a visitor who can’t quickly find the information they’re looking for, venues can automatically answer frequently
asked questions, registered reservations and even processed online orders.

From the fundamental examples to the funner ones. In the US, some SevenRooms customers have used ChatGPT creates guest cocktails, which then compete with house cocktails or those created by the staff. While a fun novelty, it can be revenue-generating. ChatGPT has taken the world by storm but is still in its infancy. Behind the scenes, automation is enacting tangible positive change in other processes.

Also Read: Is ChatGPT a great invention or is it being ‘hype’

Embracing automation

Consumers don’t select a restaurant, bar or cafe specifically because of the technology that business uses. They select a venue based on the quality of the overall experience they receive, and that is guided by the technology that underpins that. Automation cannot and will not replace meaningful, personalised and human experiences, but it can enhance them.

For businesses, automation has become one of the biggest competitive differentiators and the best way to do less with more in the face of labour shortages. In hospitality, these shortages have inhibited many businesses’ ability to provide those exceptional, personalised and human experiences. But that’s where automation comes in.

Technology that enables restaurants, bars, and cafes to streamline or entirely automate time-consuming, repeat, and non-revenue-generating tasks that once required human involvement is essential. For example, rather than requiring a staff member to register reservations manually, check in guests and facilitate payments, these processes can be automated through online reservations, contactless check-in, and order and pay via QR codes.

It’s about more than operational efficiency and overcoming labour shortages, it’s about loyalty and long-term growth strategies. When venues can use technology to automate these processes, it enables them to automatically collect approved guest data, use it to understand individual customers’ habits and preferences, and then send personalised, automated marketing.

If a venue can automate these previously time-consuming, manual processes, they can spend more time providing the face-to-face, meaningful interactions that consumers across APAC remember, recommend and reward.

While the hype around ChatGPT is unlikely to subside for some time, when it does, it will leave in its wake businesses that have tapped the software and automation more broadly to work smarter, more strategically and more streamlined than ever before. And all that in the hospitality industry is often labelled too ‘traditional’ to embrace.

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