Culture's Shaping of Tech Shows How Tech Brands Must Now Change

We may live in a digital age, but it’s also an age of fear – fear of tech’s impact on culture and society. From the media to dystopian movies and political commentary, Tech’s undersong has darkened over the last few years. Today, the dominant narrative around tech is negative. 

And there is plenty of evidence of the effect this has had on how people feel about tech. Recent studies show – fear of tech stealing our jobs, fear of tech stealing our privacy, fear of tech stealing our identities, and even fear of deepfakes after they recently stole the show on ‘America’s Got Talent’. 

Set back to a narrative that is increasingly negative and coupled with the fact that tech is often intangible - how do you build strong brand equity? From tech brands, what’s needed is a more human centric approach - one that builds emotional and not just functional brand associations. 

Kantar has defined 'humanising brands' as involving a brand re-examining its relationships with people, what that brand stands for, what they say and how they behave. Tech brands now need to be doing this more than ever before. If they are to be more 'human', they need to dial up a number of things, including Relevance, Distinctiveness and Resonance. 

Here’s a breakdown of how that works - 

1. Relevance    

Yes, it is important to talk about the features, functions and facts but it is equally important to focus on the role your tech plays in the life of your audience. This means thinking about technology within its social and cultural context. There are often powerful, emotive connections to build between tech and people when you look through a socio-cultural lens. Think about what your tech is challenging or changing? Think about the emerging social and cultural ideologies your tech addresses or aligns with? This is especially fertile ground to explore for tech start-ups and disruptors who are often answering a social or cultural shift. Remember, It is not about the tech, it is about what tech enables people to do. 

For example - we recently did some work with Bruin Biometrics. A health tech brand that has developed a handheld scanner which allows medical staff to detect bed sores on all skin tones. Agnostic diagnosis of bedsores in this day and age is shockingly hard to achieve using current methods. The technology is amazing - it reduces costs, time and takes the subjectivity out of diagnosis. But the most powerful and emotive role this tech plays in our lives - is creating a more equitable healthcare system. Bruin Biometrics’s scanner challenges the white normativity that exists in much of medicine today and this ideology is a powerful and emotive one to surface as part of the brand story. 

2. Distinctiveness 

Many tech brands lean into category norms and presentation. Consider the sea of corporate blue associated with work tools. According to a recent study 61% of tech companies use blue as the primary colour in tech branding. Coupled with the use of functional names and even more functional taglines there is a lack of distinctiveness and a missed opportunity to connect emotionally by focusing on the human experience rather than just the nature of the product. 

For example - in our recent work for Google’s AI For Social Good programme, we thought very carefully about the visual and written language of AI. Semiotics analysis of the AI space shows that within the category - in both written and visual language - the role humans play in creating and developing this technology is recessive. So as part of our work we created a human first visual identity - as far away as possible from the electric blues, animations and robotic images that dominate and perpetuate the feeling that AI is scary and autonomous.

3. Resonance 

Resonance breeds mental availability and research from Kantar shows that in order to be resonant you must be meaningful to people - both functionally and emotionally. Tech brands can be more meaningful in their storytelling by understanding the different ways different people respond to tech.

This isn’t just about demographics, it’s also about social and cultural nuances. The attitudes, interests and priorities of inner-city urban dwellers and those beyond the M25, for example, are not the same and tech brands can be more resonant by leaning into this. 

Remember, not everyone everywhere has the same relationship with tech.

One of my favourite examples of this is Spotify. The line ‘There’s A Playlist For That’ flexes and taps into specific audience segments through relatable life situations and cultural nuances. It communicates that Spotify has playlists for their users, no matter ‘where’ and ‘when’. Their ads resonate with audiences because they are not one size fits all - respecting and capturing how personal music is as well as cultural nuances at play. 

So there’s three things to think about when working on tech branding and making the best connections. Ultimately, the message here is simple: the best tech doesn’t change minds, the best narrative will.