Forget looking like Apple, and start acting like Apple.
"We want our brand to look like Apple." How many times has a new client said this? More times than I can count. What they really mean is that they want to be like Apple — they want trust, loyalty, instant recognition from a simple icon, and that cool factor that feels effortless.
I can tell you with complete certainty: no agency can guarantee that a rebrand will produce the next Apple, Nike, or Coca-Cola. What I can do is offer some timeless advertising advice for a seemingly new frontier — web3. Stop focusing your branding on the technology. Start focusing on the people using your products.
What's missing from web3 branding
The tech industry, especially web3, is full of oblique concepts, abstract infrastructure, and gradients — lots of gradients. What's missing? Transparency. Plain English. Personality. Emotion. Soul.
What actually drives brand loyalty? You need a great product as the foundation, absolutely. But beyond that, people want to feel something. As we hide behind screens in a world full of complexity and anxiety, we're still deeply social creatures who crave human connection. Web3 is a social technology, and its heart is real people.
What actually wins in an oversaturated market
People want brands that make them feel part of a community — appreciated, seen, understood. In a market full of same-same, the winners are the disruptors. The brands that write copy with a genuine point of view. That invest in their communities not as marketing tactics but as genuine commitments. That choose color and imagery that isn't safe and detached, but warm and humanizing.
Be brave. Have a heart. Think different.
