In Episode 11 of Acceleration Economy Growth Swarm, John Siefert, Bob Evans, Tony Uphoff, and Scott Vaughan discuss how top Cloud companies are reimagining their approaches to branding in the context of B2B buying and implementation.
Highlights
00:11 — John introduces the panel and today’s topic: branding’s crucial role in B2B buying and implementation.
01:41 — Tony describes a “return to brand” and what branding means in a world of automation.
02:46 — Scott explains why the return to brand hasn’t happened yet, and why there’s a healthy appetite for pushing it back to the forefront.
04:15 — The importance of trusted branding rises with inflation and a recessed economy. Keynotes from Cloud Wars Expo shined new light on how major players in the cloud industry are reimagining their brands, taking on huge challenges like improving the healthcare industry, and leading the way toward greater sustainability.
05:48 — Bob expands on how Microsoft has built a cohesive brand image even as it invests heavily in different spheres of its business (namely gaming and cloud technology).
07:59 — Taking on large-scale problems like sustainability is a brand value proposition. The application of technology to resolve big challenges is today’s method of establishing a brand and what brands stand for.
09:56 — Scott references Cloud Wars Expo’s CXO2 lounge discussion on what drives branding in the current business landscape.
11:09 — A number of Cloud Wars Top 10 companies use some variation of the theme “we love to solve the world’s hardest problems.” Oracle’s acquisition of Cerner and its aim to create a national database of health records bring this theme to life.
12:20 — John recounts discussions and keynotes from last month’s live expo event that reset expectations of these mainstay companies. The Cloud Wars top companies may all be recognizable by name, but are their principles being made clear to their customers?
14:08 — Tony explains the measure of trust these companies must have in their partners to be taking on such massive initiatives.
16:21 — A large sector of today’s decision-makers were not in those positions two years ago.
17:26 — John introduces the Metaverse to the branding discussion, referencing recent stories from analysts Toni Witt and Kieron Allen and expanding on the Metaverse ecosystem.
19:11 — The conversation wraps with a preview for the Acceleration Economy Analyst Network and Cloud Wars subscription, which makes all live session recordings from June’s Cloud Wars Expo available on-demand.
