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Concluding the quarter on a high note, the Collaborator Network, Sri Lanka’s first social media influencer community announced plans to enter the cross-media marketing industry backed by significant partnerships with a number of local and foreign businesses operating in parallel industries.
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Founder of the Collaborator Network - Dilshan Senaratne |
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Founder and CEO of Alakazam - Dulitha Wijewantha |
In a year of rapid growth, the Collaborator Network, a strategic business unit conceptualised by communications consultancy and holding Cyaniq Global successfully completed 96 influencer marketing and media projects for its clientele.
Alongside its early entry to the industry, setting the benchmark for recent entrants to the market, the network also succeeded in hosting Sri Lanka’s first and only community event for the Instagram platform’s biggest names, personalities and brands in the form of the FriMi Instagram Collaborator Forum.
The forum which saw the participation of 200 enthusiasts and keynote speakers of the calibre of the Co-Founder of Iron Man Sri Lanka Yasas Hewage, Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Universe 2017 Christina Peiris, Founder/CEO of Surge Global Bhanuka Harischandra and Indian-based luxury blogger Riaan George was a resounding success and established the network’s thought leadership in the influencer marketing space as well as the broader social media marketing industry.
With the successes of the past year in hand, the network is advancing along its envisioned trajectory to enter the emerging cross-media marketing industry which is quickly reshaping the media landscape of many mature economies. It is in line with this planned advancement and growth that the network has entered several landmark partnerships with entities whose operational focus parallels that of the Network.
“When we entered the influencer marketing industry at the beginning of the year as a side project undertaken by Cyaniq Global, the market for the services we were offering didn’t exist and there were significant gaps in the understanding of what influencer marketing is. Fast forward the 12 months of investment undertaken by Cyaniq in the form of the Collaborator Network, we are operating in an industry where some of the biggest media networks in the country are trying to enter this space through their own offerings. I think the significance of what we achieved in this year is best proved by these new entrants who are adopting the business model we first conceptualised and put in place as proof of concept. Now it’s time for us to make the next transition and continue to shape the industry with our vision for the future of media. We are confident that a year from now, we will see our peer networks adjusting and adopting the industry infrastructure we put in place,” commented the Collaborator Network Founder Dilshan Senaratne.
Alakazam, the AI-enabled assistive digital marketing platform incorporated in Singapore, tied up with Cyaniq Global earlier in the year to pilot its mobile app’s insider programme via the distributed influencer network and industry-specific client list maintained and operated by the Collaborator Network.
The partnership was announced at an event held at the World Trade Centre in October of this year with the participation of a closed list of social media influencers. In line with the Network’s plans for growth, Alakazam will be developing specific tools that allow businesses and content creators to better understand and action the insights derived from their audience interactions on popular social media platforms.
“We have noticed a behavioural pattern in mature markets where brands are switching budgets to new age media such as influencer marketing and externalised content creation for building brand awareness for their products and services. This behaviour is also mirrored in the emerging markets of South East Asia as well. Looking at the local landscape with new players entering the market, influencer marketing and collaborative connectivity are segments set to grow rapidly. Our interest in partnering with the Collaborator Network lies in the first mover advantage that the company holds, an element that has proven to be a major advantage in similar industries,” stated Alakazam Founder/CEO Dulitha Wijewantha.
The Alakazam partnership is one of several agreements entered by the Collaborator Network to strengthen its strategic position in the market, and one of the few agreements presently disclosed publicly. Cyaniq Global CEO Rohitha Perera commented that a slew of further partnerships and a potential joint venture is on the cards in the coming months for the Collaborator Network.
“The success of the Collaborator Network has been one of the highlights of projects we undertook this year and we are thrilled to partner a number of businesses whose interests parallel ours in order to achieve the scale needed to continue growth. We are fully confident that our entry to the cross-media foray is an early look at the future mediascape and the incredible new opportunities that the media industry of the future is poised to offer,” stated Perera, concluding his statement.
