Branding for AI: Offense or Defense?

I just recently learned about the terms “offense” and “defense” in marketing strategy, borrowing from sports terms. I am not much of a sports fan, but my understanding is that: offensive strategy is about winning, or focusing on scoring for the team, and defensive strategy is focused on how to prevent the other team from winning.

You may ask, what does that have anything to do with branding for AI? Or branding for other new categories?

I came across a few new AI brands, and there is an interesting theme going on. From OpenAI’s content marketing, and Intercom’s AI-First launch, to Microsoft’s sustainability AI campaign, the key visuals are led by various cheerful hand-drawn illustrations. As if they are all trying to convince everyone to be radiating optimism about the future between humans and technology.

On one hand, I know AI is controversial and is a threat to some, yet on another hand, there are AI products that save lives today and will potentially solve many significant issues one day. Do these visuals actually allay the unsettling fear in people's minds? Are these brands defending their businesses and their ambitions?

Most early startups we’ve worked with ARE controversial, even in more established categories like health tech or fintech. But if brands are created and operated out of fear, whether that’s fear of losing market share or fear of being the first, they’re already lost. We see our clients get new products to market quickly and move beyond the status quo by taking risks and going on the offense from day 1. The winning brands are the ones focused on constant improvements and experiments. When we work with these ambitious founders, we are also playing offense alongside them, instead of constantly comparing ourselves to competitors or defending the idea. We make sure they stay true to who they are and what they want to become.

As a brand designer myself, I started to think about if the world of AI branding will shift into a much more honest space. What if we don’t play dress-up and actually show the opportunity and progress without hiding the risk? What if we don’t make AI look like “us” as we are reducing human involvement by 95% on AI-enabled tasks? AI is a tool. Let’s make it look like one.

-

Image credits: Koto/Microsoft, Open AI, Intercom