Q&A with the CEO – 2023

Once again, we have asked our founder and CEO, Casper Janns, to answer a series of questions about the business of Hypefactors. Like before, we discussed the importance of media intelligence, reputation management and corporate trust, as well as ways in which organizations can benefit from using the Hypefactors technology. Some of the essential questions were repeated and some new ones were added.

How did it all start?

“With a background in strategic marketing and advertising consulting, I have a deep appreciation for the importance of measuring and documenting the impact of implemented initiatives. I believe in a business-driven approach that emphasizes the link between strong marketing performance and strong business performance, and I have seen firsthand how digital solutions can help marketing teams prove this link. Before founding Hypefactors, I served as CEO at an agency that originally focused solely on marketing but eventually expanded to include communications and PR consulting as well. While marketing teams are primarily focused on driving brand awareness and sales through paid media channels such as advertising, communications teams are responsible for managing the company’s reputation through earned media, such as editorial mentions in the press.

Through my work with many large companies, I’ve observed that there are two main challenges facing communications teams today. First, the concepts of trust and reputation are critical to any business’s success, yet these are often managed less effectively than other important contributors to success. This is largely due to a lack of ability to document and measure results, which by the way can lead to a situation where the value of the work done by professional reputation and communications teams is underappreciated. Second, the increasing complexity of media and workload is not well-suited to manual processes such as old-school press clipping services, Powerpoint media reports, Excel, and reactive phone calls to international teams to stay informed about what’s happening.

I knew there had to be a better way, which is why I founded Hypefactors. Our platform provides a comprehensive solution for communications professionals, allowing them to manage their work more efficiently and effectively. With Hypefactors, users can easily monitor media coverage, measure and document the impact of their work, and collaborate with team members around the world in real-time. Our goal is to empower communications teams to build and maintain strong reputations for their companies, ultimately contributing to their overall success.”

What is the idea behind Hypefactors?

“My idea for Hypefactors was straightforward: To be the “digital wingman” for reputation professionals by providing them with 1) more concise and easily digestible relevant facts on media reputation and insights, and 2) making the entire process more efficient. In my opinion, “earned media” should be treated as important as “paid media.”

While basic media monitoring such as finding relevant mentions for a client is crucial, it is not enough. To provide deeper insights into media reputation and intelligence, we need to employ modern technology. We must also automate more processes to better assist PR departments and communications teams. At the same time, we must provide better support to professionals who work with communications, corporate reputation, and insights. By automating processes and workflows, we can make their daily work lives more manageable.”

What are the client’s benefits of using Hypefactors?

“There are several benefits that clients can enjoy by using Hypefactors. Firstly, our platform provides clients with real-time and relevant information on their media mentions from across the globe and various media types. This enables them to stay on top of their media reputation and respond promptly to any emerging issues.

Secondly, clients can gain deeper insights into their media performance, thanks to the enriched and aggregated data provided by our platform. This information can help clients to identify their strengths and weaknesses in their media strategy and adjust accordingly.

Thirdly, our platform is equipped with comprehensive analytics, KPIs, one-click media reports, news distribution, and press rooms, all of which make media intelligence and reputation management a lot easier and more efficient. Finally, we strive to make our platform and mobile app as user-friendly as possible, ensuring that clients can easily navigate and use the platform. Overall, by using Hypefactors, clients can make more informed decisions regarding their media intelligence and reputation management, leading to better outcomes for their business or organization.”

Why is media intelligence and reputation tracking relevant?

“For any organization, this is essential information. Our clients utilize the insights that we provide to identify opportunities, assess risks, evaluate product launches, and track ESG criteria. Whether it’s identifying potential issues with competitors or suppliers, or monitoring how a product launch is being received, our platform empowers organizations to make data-driven decisions and stay ahead of the game. ‘Media monitoring’ refers to the act of looking for and collecting third-party created information presented in the media, whether online, print, broadcast, social media or from reviews, which has the potential to impact a company in some way or form. The term “reputation management« refers to the act of managing the ways in which an organization or brand is perceived. As our contemporary media landscape continues to grow and evolve, media monitoring and reputation management simultaneously become increasingly integral parts of the success of any business. For example, a company’s product might be absolutely brilliant — but if people do not have a general sense of trust in the company that sells said product, the quality of it really does not matter that much at all.”

What will tools like ChatGPT mean for communications and media intelligence?

“The most recent rollouts of more general AI tools like ChatGPT clearly shows how AI will change a lot of the current ways of working in different sectors. Including communications. Although early AI-generated content was criticized for being inaccurate or poorly written, the potential of AI in writing is becoming increasingly evident. Today, AI-generated writing already exceeds the quality of the average copywriter and journalist, and it is only a matter of time before it reaches the level of the best professionals in the field.

For media intelligence providers, the question is whether they are equipped to work with modern AI technology. AI has the potential to revolutionize media monitoring and analysis, providing deeper insights and faster processing than ever before. Providers that embrace AI will have a competitive edge in the market.

On the other hand, traditional press clipping services may struggle to remain relevant in a world where AI is increasingly dominant. As AI technology continues to advance and improve, it may render traditional methods of media monitoring and analysis obsolete. It is essential for businesses in the media intelligence industry to adapt to these changes and stay ahead of the curve to remain competitive.”

What is the relationship between Atlastic.ai and Hypefactors?

“Atlastic.ai is a part of Hypefactors. It is our core AI proprietary technology powering the Hypefactors platform. At the same time, it can power other IT systems with enriched media data adding a lot of potential business opportunities.”

What is the business model?

“We are a SaaS based company. SaaS means “Service as a Service” and can be explained as subscription based. This means that clients signup for a pre-defined initial license period, e.g. 12 months and if they are happy with the solution, they will continue using and paying for the solution also after the first period. The license fee is also called ‘recurring revenue’. For winning new clients our commercial team presents our solution to the prospects, which is often done in virtual meetings. When a new client is signed, our customer success team takes over and handle the onboarding process and the continuously support of the clients.”

What differentiates Hypefactors from competitors?

“One of the things that differentiate Hypefactors from competitors is better insights for better decision-making combined with ease-of-use to support communications and reputation specialists. Our core technology, including our AIs, is Hypefactors property, which puts us in a strong position to add even more functionalities for the benefit of the users on top.”

Who are the main competitors?

“In the global market for media intelligence solutions, I would mention Cision, Meltwater and Signal-AI as the most important competitors.”

How does the future look like?

“It looks good! With our proprietary AI-based technology, we are in the right position to be one of the winners in our market. We believe that our continued focus on innovation and leveraging new technologies will allow us to stay ahead of the curve and deliver even greater value to our clients. We anticipate that the media intelligence landscape will continue to evolve rapidly, and we are committed to staying at the forefront of these changes. With a dedicated team and a strong vision, we are excited about the future and the opportunities that lie ahead. On the commercial side, our focus is to improve the performance and increase the number of clients and the revenue and to be profitable.”