Subscribe for Email Updates
RSS Feed
Technorati
Delicious bookmark
Bloglines
Boston’s Tech Brand
When it comes to being a hot technology brand, Boston sucks eggs. Unfortunately, the problem is bigger than a simple rebranding strategy and it’s not something a new logo or tagline is going to fix. Why? Because the personality of a brand can only represent the personalities of the people behind it. Here in Boston, our technology brand image continues to be driven by the same good old boy network of faces, many of whom haven’t changed in over a decade. Like the polyester suit that lets the world know you are out of touch with today’s trends, Boston continues to pimp “leaders” who had their glory days over a dozen years ago and haven’t done anything hot since. For the record, this isn’t about sexism. There are many fantastic, edgy new male personalities here in the Boston area who aren’t part of the “club.” The problem is that many don’t get the visibility or platform to emerge and help put a new face on Boston’s technology brand.
There is no judgment here, only a feeling that we are responsible for our own image. Compared to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, the Boston area looks like a bunch of uptight peeps. When you go to a Web 2.0 Expo and Tim O’Reilly gets up in jeans and sandals, it screams the personality of the West Coast brand — hip, innovative, fresh, risk-taking, and relaxed. You can feel it the second you walk into an event. From newly minted Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) to repeat icons like Marc Andreessen (co-founder of Ning and Netscape) to three-peat icons like Max Levchin (co-founder PayPal, Yelp and Slide) their personalities really are the West Coast brand image — they are successful, casual, laid back and approachable. They live, eat, breathe and get totally cocked on the Internet-driven world we live in. Unlike our Boston area reheated icons, in a million years, they would never write a book on social media without being an insatiable blogger who smokes Facebook like crack and twitters to the point where their significant other is ready to kill them…or even better, their significant other twitters too.
What’s a Boston area peep to do? Own the brand. Change your ways. Vote suits off the island and for God’s sake people, lighten up. Better yet, shake it up. Have some fun. Throw away the PowerPoint and jump on Mac’s Keynote. We have all the ingredients to be a hip, cool, iconic beacon on the hot technology horizon. From being a kick-ass city to “wicked smaht” peeps from MIT to cool Web 2.0 start-ups like Helium to social media mavens like Laura Fitton (aka Pistachio), we got it all goin’ on. It’s time to start struttin’ some new stuff and usher in a fresh lineup of companies and peeps to represent the Boston area tech world. Obama hopes to put a new face on the United States brand. Isn’t it time we put one on Boston’s technology brand?
Are ya’ with me?
Note: I understand much of the tech world in Mass is outside of Boston. However, the rest of the world thinks “Boston” whether the actual physical location is Waltham, Woburn, Burlington or beyond.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Maybe the bias towards suits is because Boston is so cold in the winter and layering in a suit keeps them all warmer? Also, change is not something Boston embraces all that well. The Boston Garden came down and people were outraged. New designs for Fenway Park showed up and people went nuts. Ted Kennedy is still a Senator. Aerosmith is still Boston’s musical claim to fame.
I agree with you whole-heartedly. A company’s attitude and vision is from the top down and if the leader of your company is a square… chances are the enthusiasm and loyalty for fresh thinkers to said company is diminished.
It is why K&P continues to grow and succeed and why the agency I worked for had to close. Congrats on the new digs, you and your staff deserve it. I expect K&P to have PWNd all of Boston with one year’s time.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:10 am
lenwood, thanks for the comment. your examples made me laugh. i couldn’t agree more that so much of this is driven by the boston culture of resistance to change. we need an “adapt or die” mentality. the west coast is kicking our ass on the tech front and we need to do something fast. i’m sorry to hear your agency closed. that is not good for anyone including competitors like k&p. best of luck!
April 13th, 2009 at 10:23 am
So, what happens when Health 2.0, LLC comes to Boston? The Health 2.0 Meets Ix conference is next week (April 22-23) in Boston. Health 2.0 is based in California and the Center for Information Therapy (Ix = information therapy) is based in Washington, DC.
There will be a bit of Boston representation this time around due to the, uh, location of the conference. Now I am curious to see how stiff the tech people are!
It would be fun to see you there.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Another spot-on post Kel. At least in our market – I think Boston suffers from trying to be “everything to everyone”. Wearing suits when visiting the big financial clients, and jeans when working with the entertainment/technology folks. My feeling is, figure out the identity of your company…and don’t sacrifice that – no matter HOW big the client. If you don’t get hired, because you wore jeans to a meeting – in my opinion, it’s not the kind of client I want to work with anyway.
{burns anything less comfortable than jeans and a hooded sweatshirt in effigy}
April 13th, 2009 at 11:17 am
cindy, it’s great the health 2.0 conference is coming to boston. what a great opp to help change the perception of the boston area tech brand. if it were my conference, i would take down the photo of the exec in the suit on the conference homepage (http://health2con.com/). that’s the perfect example of the tweaking we need to do when it comes to the boston tech brand. i would also ban text-heavy powerpoint presentations. hope you have a facebook page for attendees and tweet like there is no tomorrow. while i appreciate the invitation to attend, healhthcare is not the crib i play in. feel free to find me at any web 2.0 expo or please swing by my office at 21 drydock ave. would love to share a beer with you. thanks again for taking the time to comment cindy.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:23 am
michael, i couldn’t agree more. the “jeans only” alter is the one i worship no matter who i am meeting with or presenting to. if people don’t want to work with me because i don’t wear a suit, that’s cool. chances are i probably would not want to work with them either. life is way too short. i prefer the “relax, have fun and do great work” approach over the “be conservative, act guarded and read my hidden agenda” approach.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Great point Kel!!! Branding and perception is everything and I think if we took this approach to our Boston ‘tech’ brand we would be making some more ‘noise’ in the kitchen so to speak. If you had CEO’s from the area speaking at these expos in Red Sox jersey’s or wearing an Aerosmith hat it would scream BOSTON!! Furthermore it would perpetuate the identity that so many are already aware of due to our almost decade long success with our sports teams.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
graham, i love your enthusiasm! don’t ever let anyone or anything change it. rock on brother graham.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hello Kel,
Being a Peep from MIT and also a VP at Helium, I, of course, enjoyed your post. Keep up the good work!!
April 14th, 2009 at 11:02 am
andrew, thanks for the post. the double wango…you should most def represent the boston tech brand. haha!
April 14th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Remember Rt. 128 (the main highway around around Boston) was touted as “America’s Technology Highway”? Talk about road to nowhere. Lycos, Wang, Prime Computer and others were all strewn along the roadside like so many empty cigarette butts. But I still think there’s hope for us to re-brand ourselves. Hell, there’s no place on earth with more egghead power than Boston. But what Boston has that Cali doesnt is also our greatest downfall: history. We’re doomed to repeat it since we’ve had this culture of people needing to get their palms greased in order to get anything done. Just look at the Big Dig for proof. Vision is sorely lacking from our leaders who now want to brand us as a “Biotech” center. WTF? Talk about pigeon-holing us. Vision starts with the top and Deval, Menino and other hacks have none. Or if they do, it ends at Rt. 128, “America’s Crusty Old Technology Highway.”
April 14th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
shane, where have you been lately?! i have missed your colorful commentary. your examples are spot on. let’s not forget the now forgotten digital equipment corporation. we have all the ingredients to make this city a hip, contemporary brand in the tech world. it’s time to ignite and embrace change before we all get burned.
April 14th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Kel, if you look outside of “social media,” Boston is very cool/ innovative whether bio-tech, green energy, robotics to name a few. I love yah, but I think you might have the Web 2.0 kool-aid googles on. But, I love the call to arms. – BC
April 15th, 2009 at 6:37 am
ben, i didn’t know the web 2.0 koolaid goggles were removable. haha! i think the sectors you cite present our greatest opp for bringing cool and hip to the boston tech brand. while we may have mindshare in bio-tech, plenty of other areas of the country are slugging it out for green energy. the difference is they will bring it to life under a laid back, approachable and cool umbrella while we continue to wrap it in our region’s uptight attitude. i think we need a mass distribution of a chill pill. btw ben, i love you too.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:53 am
K – Great points. Getting New Englanders to be more West Coast would require too much of a sismic shift. Why don’t we make our worst quality our best. London has done an amazing job branding itself as forward looking, but rooted in its historically cold/stuffy persona.
Some brand ideas; Geek City USA, Braintown, or Boston, Where Cold is Hot.
BTW – if wearing sandals to work makes me cool, then I’m at peace with my uncoolness. – BC
April 15th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Ben, you are funny. I am a big fan of seismic anything if it results in a positive change. DEC, Wang and Prime Computer refused to change and look where they ended up. BTW, you are way cool and totally exempt from my analogy.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Kel — Great argument here, and I love your rallying cry. That said, there are plenty of smart, fresh faces locally, as you say. Like Pistachio. Like danah boyd. Like Chris Brogan. Like our friends at Hubspot. Like David Meerman Scott. Like you. Like me. Like lots of your readers here, it seems. All people who are, as you say, “owning the brand.”
It seems the only thing Boston fails at (along this theme) is that we aren’t as good as promoting it. I like Ben’s “Where Cold Is Hot.” Or how’s this: “Boston’s Social Media Scene: Wicked Pissah!!”
April 21st, 2009 at 9:14 am
ann, sing it loud, sing it proud sista! love your face of the brand examples. agree we do a “shitay” job pimpin’ it. the good old boys still have way too much visibility and it’s killin’ our perception. btw, your “wicked pissah” comment made me spit on my computer when i laughed. rock on girl!
April 21st, 2009 at 10:33 am
Ouch!
There are tons of fun, hip and potentially game changing companies in Boston / Cambridge / Waltham. In fact, check out this Mashable article “Social Media Hub: Boston” (http://mashable.com/2009/04/14/boston/) talking about how many inbound marketing and social technologies are coming from Boston. There are also a number of marketing gurus that reside here (David Meerman Scott, Chris Brogan, Paul Gillin) in addition to lots of companies.
Maybe we don’t brand ourselves that well… but I am not sure that dressing down is the answer. I do NOT think our brand should be to copy the left coast and start wearing flip flops. The point of a brand is to be unique and distinct. I worked at startups for 4 years in the Bay Area before moving back to Boston, and I really appreciate and respect the practical Yankee culture we have that focuses on real business models and revenue. It is different and unique from the west coast. If we all just wear flip flops and act like them, we have lost. So I am not going to get rid of my khakis and brooks brothers button down yet! In fact, is it possible that our brand is that we are subtle, non-self-promotional and grounded in reality?
PS – Come check out http://www.HubSpot.tv one Friday at 4pm. We do a live video podcast, conversation on Twitter, and have free beer! I think it is one of the local fun events you are lookign for to help define the community. (Last week @Biz came by!)
April 21st, 2009 at 11:14 am
mike, you don’t need to sell me on hubspot. you guys do great stuff and i have tremendous respect for you. you’re missing the point of the post. i suggest you go back and reread it. i didn’t say we don’t have people and companies that are hot in the social media space. i said that the boston area does not have the tech brand perception that is associated with those companies. unfortunately, hubspot is not who peeps think of when they think of the east coast tech brand. that’s the point. we are viewed as a joke when it comes to being a tech brand compared to the west coast. show me an east coast equivalent that gets pimped at the level of zuckerberg, andreessen and/or levchin…or google, facebook and twitter. the companies and peeps you cite are fantastic and exactly who we should be pimpin’ but they don’t have anywhere near the visibility and respect that my west coast examples do. the reasons are unfortunate. while i appreciate your flip flop point, you have taken my point out of context so it’s not worth defending.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
mike, i think i just figured out why you may have missed the point of the post. if you read scott kirsner’s reprinted version of this post, you wouldn’t have seen all the content. scott reprinted an abbreviated version in the paper and on boston.com. see above for the full version. peace out.
April 21st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Kel,
Wanted to make sure you were aware of the formal, city-run Brand Boston initiative called “Boston World Partnerships.” Ironically, it’s model is thoroughly “2.0.” You can check them out at bostonworldpartnerships.com. They focus on Boston’s arts and business as much as tech, and are notably global in outlook.
April 21st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
jed, thanks for your comment. i love that boston world partnerships is web 2.0-driven. btw, it doesn’t surprise me that menino is behind this. i love that guy!
April 21st, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Great post. So tell us, who would be your top five nominees for Massachusetts-based tech rock stars/gurus/celebrities who you would like to personify our tech brand?
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:12 am
greg, thanks for the question. i just wrote an entire new post that includes the answers to your question. check it out:
http://www.kelandpartners.com/kelkellyblog/2009/04/22/brand-perception-trumps-reality/
June 14th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
[...] Technology…yup, I just made that up) biggest assets. In a recent blog post I talked about how Boston’s tech brand image sucks eggs. In this case, it is the perception that trumps reality because there is actually a lot of hot [...]