Today, we’re bringing you the latest in AI-powered marketing and business strategies. Here’s what’s inside:

🚨 AI Top Story: How brands are preparing for TikTok’s uncertain future

📊 AI Use Case of the Week: Craft emotionally resonant brand stories that captivate your audience, build trust, and drive engagement.

🎯 Killer Marketing Prompt: Leverage AI to refine pricing models, analyze trends, and boost profitability.

🌟 Creator Spotlight: Meet Max Foster, a LinkedIn Creator offering forward-thinking perspectives on AI integration, digital transformation, and effective leadership in today's business landscape.

Marketers Brace for a Post-TikTok World

The TikTok Clock Ticks Closer to a US Ban

With a potential ban on TikTok nearing, marketers are rethinking their strategies to prepare for a future without the popular platform. The looming ban, spurred by concerns over data security and national security risks, has sent ripples through the marketing world, forcing brands and agencies to pivot toward alternative platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and other emerging players.

TikTok became a cornerstone of digital marketing for its ability to connect brands with younger audiences and drive authentic engagement. Its unique algorithm, which prioritises content over follower count, has allowed marketers to reach broader audiences in creative ways.

However, the potential loss of TikTok would disrupt carefully planned campaigns and deprive brands of a platform that has been key to tapping into Gen-Z consumers.

The urgency of the situation has intensified following recent legal developments in the case. A federal appeals court has rejected TikTok's request to halt the enforcement of a mid-January deadline that requires the app's sale to an approved buyer, or face a ban in the U.S. TikTok plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, which may or may not review the case.

The law, signed by President Biden, stems from national security concerns about TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, potentially being forced to share U.S. user data with Chinese authorities. TikTok denies these claims, arguing the government's concerns are hypothetical.

The court highlighted that an injunction while seeking Supreme Court review is "unwarranted," and if not overturned, the app will shut down by January 19, affecting over 170 million American users.

Many forward-thinking marketers aren’t waiting for the final decision. They are diversifying their strategies by investing in multi-platform campaigns, experimenting with fresh formats, and exploring untapped social networks to fill the void TikTok would leave. Meanwhile, brands are also bracing for shifts in influencer marketing dynamics, as TikTok has been a major force behind creator-led content.

As TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance, brands are racing to future-proof their strategies, ensuring they remain resilient and innovative regardless of the outcome.

🤝 Mark Zuckerberg sets aside his feud with Elon Musk to go after Sam Altman's OpenAI - Zuckerberg declares Meta’s intent to rival OpenAI.

🤖 Study Finds Executives Embrace AI More Than Entry-Level Marketers - Executives lead the charge in AI adoption, leaving junior staff behind.

🧠 AI's Impact on Human Cognition: Memory, Bias, and Decisions - Examining AI’s effects on human thought patterns.

🔍 The End of Traditional Search Engines as We Know Them - How AI is replacing traditional search engines.

Omneky

Omneky is an AI-driven advertising platform that revolutionises the creation and management of personalised ad campaigns across multiple digital channels. By leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms, Omneky enables businesses to generate high-performing ad creatives tailored to specific audiences, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.

Here are some of its key features:

- AI-Powered Creative Generation: Omneky utilises deep learning to produce compelling ad creatives, including images and copy, that resonate with target audiences. This automation accelerates the creative process and ensures content relevance.

- Personalised Advertising at Scale: The platform analyses user data to deliver personalised ad experiences, increasing the likelihood of engagement and driving higher conversion rates.

- Cross-Platform Campaign Management: Omneky supports campaign deployment across various digital platforms, including social media networks and connected TV, providing a unified solution for omni-channel marketing strategies.

- Real-Time Performance Optimisation: Through continuous monitoring and analysis, Omneky adjusts ad elements in real-time to optimise performance, ensuring campaigns achieve their objectives efficiently.

- Advertising Agents: Omneky's AI-driven agents automate campaign generation, launch, and optimisation, delivering higher performance and cost efficiency for advertisers.

- Creative Generation Pro: This feature allows users to create thousands of personalised content variations at scale, streamlining the production of high-performing ads.

MAX FOSTER - AI In Sales Cheat Sheet

AI-POWERED COMPETITIVE PRICING

Tools Needed:

• Prisync

• Zapier

• Google Sheets 

• ChatGPT (GPT-4 Turbo) 
  HubSpot CRM

Step 1: Automate Data Collection

What to Do:

1) Set Up Prisync:

Use Prisync to automatically monitor competitor pricing for your product catalog.

Set up dynamic tracking rules for:

- Competitor pricing updates.
- Promotions and discounts.
- Stock availability.

2) Integrate Business Data via Zapier:

Connect your CRM (e.g., HubSpot) or eCommerce platform to Google Sheets using Zapier.

Automate data syncing to include:

- Product catalog.
- Current prices.
- COGS (Cost of Goods Sold).
- Profit margins.

3) Export combined competitor and business data to Google Sheets for analysis.

Columns include: Product Name, Your Price, Competitor Price, COGS, Price Difference, and Profit Margin.

Step 2: Contextualise For ChatGPT

What to do:

1) Create a streamlined prompt for ChatGPT using structured data from Google Sheets.

Sample Prompt:

"Our business sells [product category] with the following data:

Product A: Our price $50, COGS $30, competitor price $48.
Product B: Our price $30, COGS $20, competitor price $35.

Goals:

Maintain a profit margin of at least 30%.

Stay competitive while boosting sales.

Suggest pricing adjustments that align with these objectives, highlighting specific strategies for each product"

ChatGPT will generate actionable insights based on the data provided.

Step 3: Implement Dynamic Pricing Rules

What to do:

1) Use ChatGPT’s recommendations to create pricing rules in Google Sheets or your eCommerce platform:

- Price Match: Match competitors on high-demand, price-sensitive products.
- Premium Pricing: Maintain higher pricing for premium or feature-rich products.
- Discount Strategies: Offer targeted discounts to clear stock or compete during promotional periods.

Automate these rules using Prisync’s dynamic pricing feature, which adjusts your prices based on competitor updates.

Step 4: Automate Implementation & Updates

What to Do:

1) Zapier Integration:

- Automate the transfer of updated pricing data from Google Sheets or Prisync to your eCommerce platform or CRM.

- Enable real-time updates for pricing changes, ensuring your platform reflects adjustments without manual input.

2) Set up alerts in Prisync for major competitor price changes, ensuring proactive adjustments.

Step 5: Monitor & Optimise Performance

What to Do:

1) Use your CRM or analytics platform to track key performance indicators (KPIs):

- Sales growth after pricing changes.
- Profit margins per product.
- Conversion rates and competitor pricing trends.

2) Export performance data into Google Sheets and refine your strategy using ChatGPT:

"Post-pricing adjustment results:

Product A: Sales increased by 15%, profit margin remains at 35%.
Product B: Sales dropped by 10%, profit margin is 25%.
Recommend refinements to improve both sales and profitability for each product."

3) Iterate on pricing rules and strategies to maintain market competitiveness and profitability.

4) Automate recurring updates and analysis through Zapier workflows, minimising manual oversight.

Emotion-Driven Storytelling Framework

You are a brand strategist tasked with creating an emotionally resonant storytelling framework for [brand name] in the [specific industry].

Your goal is to build a layered narrative that deeply connects with the target audience, reinforces the brand's core values, and drives engagement across digital and offline channels.

Start by defining the emotional core of the brand story. Identify the key values and themes—such as trust, innovation, or resilience—that align with [brand name]’s mission and vision. Highlight the emotional challenges or aspirations of the target audience that the brand can address.

Develop a framework for incorporating storytelling into campaigns. Break it into three tiers:

Hero Stories: Highlight the brand’s evolution, key milestones, or transformative impact in the industry.

Customer-Centric Stories: Showcase real-life testimonials, case studies, or user journeys that reflect relatable challenges and meaningful resolutions.

Micro-Stories: Share bite-sized content on social media or newsletters, like behind-the-scenes moments, team achievements, or product innovation anecdotes.

Propose strategies for blending storytelling with multimedia. Recommend formats such as short-form videos, interactive web experiences, or visually compelling posts. 

Include ideas for how music, visuals, and tone can amplify the emotional impact of the narrative.

Provide recommendations for audience participation. Suggest ways to invite customers to share their own stories, such as through user-generated content campaigns, interactive polls, or contests. Outline how these stories can be integrated back into the brand’s messaging.

Finally, create a system for measuring the success of the storytelling framework. Identify metrics like content shares, sentiment analysis, engagement rates, or customer retention improvements. Use these insights to refine the strategy, ensuring it remains authentic and impactful over time.

This framework should position [brand name] as an emotionally engaging, customer-centric leader in the [specific industry].

OSCAR-WINNER SHONA HEATH MIXES AI WITH THEATRICAL DANCE IN BONKERS B2B SPOT

The Glass Hermit is a powerful short film created by Helo and Team Lewis for Northern Data Group, a company specialising in AI and high-performance computing. Directed by Oscar-winner Shona Heath, the film features a moving performance by circus artist Ruby Gaskell. It aims to show how Northern Data Group combines creativity with advanced technology.