(Image from the Costless Sacrifice article)
Hello everyone,
If you're reading this it's likely I do not have to convince you that investing in branding is an important part of developing a business/product/service.
I'm will to guess that doing so is already part of you world view. You think it's important because...of course it is!
You already understand that we relate and connect to people and things because of how they reflect our own values and beliefs (or don't).
This drives a lot of behaviour. It goes some way to explaining why we buy the products we buy, live where we live, eat dinner where we do.
The tech world appears to be having a realisation that brad is important.
I mean, they have been investing in brand for the better part of a decade, but something recently has shifted.
Paul Graham, one of the founders of Y Combinator, recently shared a 5,000+ word article titled
"The Brand Age", where we makes a case for tech companies of all sizes to invest in brand.
He makes his case comparing the transition of Swiss watch brands in the 1970's from functional accuracy to expensive luxury in response to that Japanese being able to match them at functionality for a fraction of the price.
The analogy, he thinks, is mirrored in today world with AI making the cost of software far cheaper than it has ever been.
If apps cost nothing to build, then what separates them from one another?
His answer is brand, design, how something feels.
It's important that Paul has written this. He is one of the most influential figures/investors in the tech world and people listen to what he says.
So while it may not be news to you, it is news to a lot of computer science graduates who are desperately trying to figure out how to get people to pay attention to their new start-up.
...
There have been several articles making related points lately that I'll share below which I think are all worth reading.
I guess my final thought here is that while brand applied to tech isn't really that new, the next phase is likely to be something deeper.
When Airbnb rebranded in the 2010's, it applied a beautiful new logo, colours, type, to it's exisiting functionality.
What should/could/might come now is a world where designers and creatives like you are not only being asked how something should look and feel, but also how something should work. How does a product identify influence the functionality?
These are new questions that have historically been kept form 'creatives', but I think that's going to change.
Have a great week.
Nick
