A branding strategy expert set to speak at our tech in retail breakfast has said technology should be invisible to provide “blood and oxygen” to brand names.
John Whalley is executive creative director at digital agency Seventy7 Group and head of HT&E – Here, There and Everywhere – the group’s branding and strategy division.
“The term ‘brand’ is no longer a logo, a product or a sign over a door; it is now a combination of expectation, conversation, experience and entertainment,” he told BusinessCloud.
“Technology is the vehicle for its activation and delivery: rather than the latest technology defining the brand, we must use tech to deliver the brand to people – however, whenever and wherever they want it.
“Wherever possible these amazing technologies should become invisible. In other words, they should be the flow of blood and oxygen that keep the brand at the front of the race, not the things used to promote the brand itself.
“As a consumer, I am offered one-hour delivery, things I want or need, automatic form filling, a virtually real experience. All of these things are truly fabulous.
“But they’re functional, not emotional, and therefore not the primary reason I’ll shop with the brand.
“Technology has become the lifeblood of retail, and one of the main reasons to go back again and again – but it is still the brand that we fall in love with first.”
Kevin Jones, the founder and CEO of Shopblocks – a platform for online and physical shops – is also set to speak at the event.
He said: “What excites me most is seeing the new things we’ll be announcing soon that enable products to be customised, purchased and delivered in new ways.
“Helping define the future of retail tech is what gets us out of bed in the morning.”
BELOW: Jones speaks with BusinessCloud last year