Why technology branding for startups is more important than ever and what tech companies are currently doing wrong to convey their USP in a complicated jargon of words that common consumer either doestn understand or have no clue what to do with it

1. WHY WEARABLE TECH,
ROBOTICS, AUGMENTED
REALITY COMPANIES NEED TO STAY AWAY
FROM “TECHNOLOGY”
Kapil Kanugo
Twitter: @kapilkanugo

2. Are you or your company
working on technologies like
Augmented Reality,
Wearable Tech,
Robotics etc ?

3. Do you find it
difficult to penetrate
the marketing or brand
message to mass user
base?

4. You are
alone

5. If you are building a product or
have gone to Kickstarter
or Indiegogo and
raised money
Thinking you have the early
adopters….Let me tell you

6. These Early adopter
percentages are not
enough to guarantee
mass market acceptance

7. Why ?

8. Let me tell you how world has
evolved in the
Technology
Industry and how
Technology Brands are perceived
today

9. Difference between
Consumer and Technology
Companies
Consumer brands come from
Houses of Brands
Technology brands come
from Branded Houses

10. In consumer companies, the master
brand is almost never as important
as the individual product brands.
In technology companies it is always
the most important

11. From a customer perspective, good
Technology brands serve three useful purposes
1. They save time
2. They project the right image
3. They provide an identity

12. What hi-Tech Startup like
Wearable Tech,
Augmented
Reality etc Companies
are doing wrong?

13. Too focused on
technology or market
change
Tech companies tend to focus on product
features (like AR Game engine has features
like yadi yada yada….)

14. WHAT KILLS TECHNOLOGY HYPE
HINT: ITS NOT TECHNOLOGY
Confusing jargon of
Technical Details, Features of
Product, No real use case
demonstration in every day life
and most importantly Solving
a problem that average
consumer do or will care about

15. This causes:
Confusion in
market place
about how are
you different (specially
when attention span of people has
gone down and marketplace is
crowded and competitive)

16. Not every startup has
budget of Millions to
spread its Marketing
message or differentiation
aspects to masses

17. Why
Bother?

18. Your Tech company has a defacto
position and a brand, whether
•you intend to or not
• you like it or not
•you manage it or not

19. Technology brands build
peace of mind
--“What” and
“when” anxiety

20. Technology brands evolve
over time
•Consumer brands are
timeless
•Technology brands are
dynamic

21. Technology is never the
differentiator
•Customers want a total
product
•3rd party support is critical

22. Technology brands are
built on
•Reputation
•Momentum
•Vision

23. Technology used
to be about
creating perceptions

24. Now Technology are about
encouraging
interaction and nurturing
relationships

25. Technology used
to target the mass
market

26. Now Technology
targets customers
one-to-one

27. Technology
used to
transcend the
middleman

28. Now Technology eliminates the
middleman, and encourage direct
contact between the
company and
the customer

29. Technology Brand activities
were separate
and
sequential

30. Now Tech branding activities
need to be
simultaneous
and tightly
integrated

31. Build a real technology business
first.
•Nothing kills a bad product faster
than good advertising
•Bad ads can have a devastating--
and lasting--effect on brands
•If you rely on clever but irrelevant
ads, you’re probably doomed

32. •View the competitive
landscape
•Have a sound go-to-market
plan
•Test your business and
positioning premises with
key influencers

33. BUILD THE BRAND AROUND YOUR
CUSTOMERS
Strong brands are centered around
the customer, not the
Technology or
product

34. Own the total
customer
experience and
Provide a 360-
degree view

35. BAKE YOUR OWN PIE.
The ideal brand will move you beyond market share and into market creation
Don’t be the next
Google, be the first
something else

36. Don’t focus on the business you’re in
today, design your solution around
where you’ll need to be tomorrow
Don’t sell the
world’s best steam
engine

37. Focus, focus, focus!
• Brand extension
• Brand dilution
• Brand extinction
• Two common mistakes
• Brand Soup
• Brand Creep

38. •Technology Branding is about discipline and
making hard choices
• It’s as much about what you decide not to do as it
is what you do
•The most important aspect of a tech brand is its
single-mindedness
•Although markets may change, the
fundamental underpinnings of a technology
brand must remain consistent

39. •The technology brand must be
differentiated in a way that is:
•Relevant
•Meaningful
•Believable
•Defensible
•And can evolve as the company and its