Tech companies are increasingly taking on the role of providing answers to the dynamic desires of consumers.
From “fin” to “fun,” tech companies are increasingly taking on the role of providing answers to the dynamic desires of consumers. They include companies from many segments- financial, entertainment, education, health, food service- that have at their core, the innovation and application of technologies to solve problems in the consumer market.
With a faster learning curve, they have been revolutionizing business in some areas that, according to global studies, will define the way we sell and consume. According to the WGSN Future Drivers 2024 report, some of these areas are:
- Care economy, a culture that sees personal and collective care as fundamental to
economic well-being and inclusive. - Planet in check, which focuses on the critical moment of preserving the planet, which
leads to a more global awareness that change is necessary. - Only the essential, a growing thought fueled by professional burnout, aggravated by
the economic crisis, and prolonged social isolation to which we were conditioned during
the pandemic. In this not-so-new way of thinking, the view that lifestyles need to change
predominates more than ever.
Tech and brand communications
These new fronts of action in marketplace bring other challenges for brand communications, requiring it to go beyond advertising. The key point for companies in this segment is to strengthen conversations that contribute to the construction of this new scenario of innovation. The needs are diverse, but two of them are more latent.
One is communications aimed at educating the market to provide a repertoire that helps in understanding how this offer of innovations works. An example in mobility tech is Uber, which in its early days needed to clarify to customers and its network of drivers about its payment and usage processes, promoting a differentiation compared to the traditional taxi offering. Remember the candy offered in the cars as a way of highlighting this difference?
The other demand is the construction of an audience, that is, the formation of a community that will directly benefit from the innovations introduced. Here the challenge is broader, as it is not limited to sharing content about services and products. The brand needs to get closer to the public through a more engaging conversation with practical value.
The WGSN survey indicates that “companies need to implement processes that encourage co-creation, bringing innovation closer to their customers.” This type of exchange is much more viable in technology startups, which operate with more flexible processes, where ideas coming from the community can effectively be leveraged by the brand.
Communications as an asset
A good link between performance and branding places tech startups on the radar of larger companies that are interested in acquisition and merger processes. According to a survey by Sling Hub, one of the main data intelligence platforms for startups in Brazil, Magazine Luiza was the largest buyer of startups in 2021, with 23 acquisitions.
Serasa (credit rating company) also started to expand its operations through tech companies. In the last four years, the organization has invested in 13 startups, from the financial segment to insurance and agribusiness. The president of Serasa Experian states that this is the best strategy because “you can’t develop everything in-house.”
Whether it is a healthtech, fintech or agrotech, regardless of the tech segment in which it operates, brand communications are a fundamental driver for the construction of these innovative businesses, becoming a key strategic component from the initial stages of developing the narrative identity to its expansions and structural evolutions.
