The tech industry is known for its fierce competition and rivalries, but some experts argue that this is counterproductive and harmful for the long-term growth and reputation of the sector. Instead of engaging in public spats and lawsuits, tech CEOs should prioritize building a strong and consistent brand that reflects their vision and values.
The Cage Fighting Culture Of Tech
The tech world is often compared to a cage fight, where the strongest and most aggressive players dominate the market and crush their opponents. This culture of confrontation and hostility is evident in the recent clashes between some of the most prominent tech leaders, such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been vocal about his disdain for Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook). He has repeatedly criticized Meta’s products and practices, such as its virtual reality platform Oculus and its handling of user data. He has also challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight on Twitter, and accused Meta of copying his Neuralink project with its Threads initiative.
Zuckerberg, on the other hand, has defended his company’s vision and strategy, and dismissed Musk’s claims as baseless and misleading. He has also taken subtle jabs at Musk’s ventures, such as questioning the feasibility and ethics of colonizing Mars.
These two tech titans are not the only ones who have engaged in public feuds. Other examples include Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, who competed for the title of the first billionaire in space; Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, who clashed over privacy and antitrust issues; and Jack Dorsey and Brian Armstrong, who disagreed over the role of cryptocurrencies in the future of finance.
The Branding Challenge Of Tech
While some may view these rivalries as a sign of healthy competition and innovation, others argue that they are detrimental to the overall image and reputation of the tech industry. According to Sairah Ashman, the global CEO of brand consultancy Wolff Olins, tech CEOs should stop cage fighting and prioritize branding instead.
Ashman defines branding as “the foundational glue that drives consistency across all touch-points” and “the belief system that influences decision-making across the board”. She explains that branding is not just about the visual manifestation of a company (such as its logo, website, or ads), but also about what it stands for and how it impacts its customers, employees, partners, and society.
She argues that branding is essential for tech companies to achieve lasting success in four dimensions: happiness, achievement, significance, and legacy. Happiness is a sustained sense of contentment with one’s life; achievement is surpassing goals set by others; significance is having a positive impact on those one cares for; and legacy is preserving values and accomplishments for future generations.
Ashman claims that many tech companies are failing to balance these four dimensions, and instead focus on short-term wins and self-interest. She cites examples such as Uber, which faced scandals over its toxic culture and unethical practices; WeWork, which collapsed after its inflated valuation and mismanagement; and Theranos, which deceived investors and customers with its fraudulent blood-testing technology.
She suggests that tech CEOs should learn from these failures and adopt a more holistic approach to branding. She advises them to define their vision and values clearly, communicate them effectively across all channels, align them with their actions and outcomes, and measure them against their impact on all stakeholders.
The Benefits Of Branding For Tech
By focusing on branding rather than bickering, tech CEOs can reap several benefits for their companies and themselves. Some of these benefits include:
- Building trust. Branding can help tech companies establish credibility and reliability with their customers, employees, partners, regulators, media, and society. By being transparent about their goals, strategies, challenges, successes, failures, learnings, and improvements, they can foster a culture of honesty and accountability. This can also help them avoid or mitigate potential crises or controversies that may arise from their products or practices.
- Creating loyalty. Branding can help tech companies cultivate loyalty and advocacy among their customers, employees, partners, influencers, fans, and followers. By delivering value and satisfaction consistently across all touch-points, they can create positive experiences and emotions that inspire loyalty. By engaging with their audiences through meaningful interactions and feedback mechanisms, they can foster a sense of community and belonging that encourages advocacy.
- Differentiating themselves. Branding can help tech companies stand out from their competitors and attract attention from their target markets. By highlighting their unique selling propositions (USPs) and competitive advantages (CAs), they can showcase their strengths and capabilities. By expressing their personality and voice through their tone, style, aesthetics, humor, etc., they can convey their character and identity.
- Driving growth. Branding can help tech companies achieve growth in terms of revenue, market share, profitability, valuation, innovation, expansion, etc. By creating awareness and demand for their products or services through effective marketing campaigns (online and offline), they can generate sales and conversions.
- By retaining and upselling their existing customers through loyalty programs and referrals, they can increase their lifetime value (LTV) and reduce their churn rate. By attracting and retaining the best talent through employer branding and employee engagement, they can enhance their productivity and performance. By partnering with other brands that share their vision and values, they can leverage their synergies and complementarities.
The Future Of Branding For Tech
The tech industry is constantly evolving and facing new challenges and opportunities. As such, tech CEOs need to adapt and innovate their branding strategies accordingly. Some of the trends and developments that may shape the future of branding for tech include:
- The rise of social responsibility. Tech companies are increasingly expected to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of their products and practices. This means that they need to align their branding with their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, such as reducing their carbon footprint, promoting diversity and inclusion, supporting social causes, etc. They also need to demonstrate their commitment to ethical principles, such as privacy, security, transparency, accountability, etc.
- The shift to metaverse. Tech companies are exploring the possibilities of creating and participating in the metaverse, a virtual reality environment where people can interact with each other and digital content. This means that they need to extend their branding to this new realm, where they can create immersive experiences and stories for their customers and employees. They also need to consider the implications of this new medium for their identity, reputation, culture, etc.
- The emergence of personalization. Tech companies are leveraging the power of data and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer personalized products and services to their customers. This means that they need to tailor their branding to the preferences and behaviors of each individual customer, rather than relying on generic or mass-market approaches. They also need to balance the benefits of personalization with the risks of privacy invasion or manipulation.
