Why tech-based brands mustn’t forget to show their human side.
By Aaron Hutchinson, managing director, Across the Pond
Tech is ruining our minds, taking over our jobs, killing democracy and eroding culture. That’s what the media coverage around technology seems to tell us on a daily basis.
From fears that AI will put Sally Rooney out of business, to warnings that big tech is co-parenting our children, the picture being painted of tech is pretty bleak.
With so many negative headlines being churned out, it’s almost impossible to get a balanced view of tech’s contribution to the world and our lives.
We know that news organisations love an eye-catchingly apocalyptic headline, but a big part of what’s fuelling the negative press is tech companies’ failure to communicate on a more human level.
Tech needs an alternative approach to marketing because it’s so different from other categories, like retail or telecoms. Big corporations like Coke and Nike have built their brands by associating them with a benefit their products can provide, such as “happiness” in the case of Coke.
Tech brands like TikTok, Google and Meta serve an entirely different purpose.
Plus, they’re not providing an end product, such as a pair of sneakers, to build their brand world around. So we shouldn’t take the same brand theories we apply to consumer goods and use them to build tech brands.
Rather than putting something tangible into the world, tech is an invisible enabler of many important human needs, such as communication, education, community and creativity.
The complexity of the tech world does not easily lend itself to stories that people can relate to or be emotionally engaged with.
But making tech seem more human and relatable is crucial in order to offer a more balanced view of its role.
Tech isn’t all bad. Much of it is improving our lives, transforming our health and protecting our planet.
For example, tech is enabling companies to tackle climate change, such as Twelve, an organisation on a mission to eliminate global emissions by recycling carbon dioxide from the air and turning it into renewable energy, or Sono Motors, which has created an affordable solar-powered car.
Tech is also responsible for major advancements in healthcare. Google’s DeepMind, a client of ours at Across The Pond, has developed an artificial intelligence program called AlphaFold that predicts a protein’s 3D structure from its amino acid sequence.
AlphaFold is hailed by scientists as a game changer for life sciences and medicine because it can vastly accelerate efforts to understand the building blocks of cells.
And tech isn’t just saving lives through healthcare. AI is helping firefighters navigate their way through burning buildings.
A Nasa-designed system called AUDREY (Assistant for Understanding Data through Reasoning, Extraction and sYnthesis) uses AI to collect temperature data to detect danger in burning buildings and direct firefighters to the safest route to take, so they can protect themselves and rescue more people.
Pioneering tech brands need to engage more people with their mission. Instead of focusing on “category benefit”, they should invest in building an association with social value and the role they play in serving our needs and improving society.
This makes for more effective marketing because it is human first, not machine first; emotional, not functional, and meaningful because it is built on shared equity.
There are some strong examples of this in action. The Apple campaign that showcased the creativity of people with disabilities reached a lot of people and raised awareness.
Microsoft, too, has been transforming its operations and comms to show how it can leverage technology to help people who are on the front lines of Covid-19 research as well as donating to non-profits and diverse-owned businesses.
Tech CMOs should be comfortable in raising their voices – and their game when it comes to improving on DE&I as well as seeking to reach different audiences.
It’s not just about feeling good and creating positive sentiment (though this helps).
As Google CMO Lorraine Twohill said at Cannes Creativity Week: “Brands have to think about who their audiences are and how they reach them. I see this as a massive business opportunity.”
She’s right, using tech more inclusively and offering it more broadly will always have a positive impact on your bottom line.
We can all make this more inviting when we tune into diverse needs and share the positive impact of technology.
This is how we turn that narrative around and why we need to invite everyone in so that we can all share the future story of tech development.
A version of this article first appeared on Campaign UK.
