ZeBrand - New Features, Awards and What's Next
ZeBrand was a finalist at NextGen@Home
A lot has been happening behind the scenes at ZeBrand. Here is an overview of what we have been up to.
Brand new features
As a DIY branding platform that uses algorithmic logic to create holistic brand strategies and design, ZeBrand aspires to put the power of expert branding agencies in the hands of startups and small businesses. The service aims to make branding more accessible in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Startups and businesses can use the service to distill their thinking about their target customers, vision, brand story, and messaging. ZeBrand's artificial intelligence uses this information to create brand blueprints and much more.
We have just announced a whole host of new features including improved brand design, strategy boards that allow you to create a brand strategy from scratch, and online sessions with brand coaches. “ZeBrand was launched under the brand purpose, ‘Brand your way’. We started out as a service to automate branding by answering a few simple questions. However, we believe that the essence of branding - the brand promise, the brand strategy, and the part that sets the vision and direction - is what matters, so one of the new features we released is a coach session on building a brand strategy,” says founder and CEO, Ryo Kikuchi.
ZeBrand - shortlisted and winner in industry competitions
Earlier this summer, ZeBrand was selected for the TechCrunch Pitchers and Pitches competition. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was conducted virtually using a service called Hopin. ZeBrand won the competition, receiving positive votes from over 1000 members of the audience.
ZeBrand became a finalist at NextGen@Home, an annual business conference bringing together some of the best young entrepreneurs in the world. Heavily curated for quality, it is a very competitive space. Last year, ZeBrand made it into the top 15 but missed making the finalist list so it was a great milestone to be a finalist this year. Following this, ZeBrand then entered into a partnership with NextGen@Home.
ZeBrand was also shortlisted for Betalist, an online platform that enables users to discover and get early access to the latest internet startups.
August 2021 Update: ZeBrand was nominated as a top brand marketing company in the United States by PR Expert.
Partnership with fabbit
Startup support and co-working space operator, fabbit has entered into a partnership with ZeBrand. As a product of this partnership, fabbit users will be able to access ZeBrand at a discounted rate by registering through the site. Watch this space for more collaborative work - first up is a webinar about ‘The New Face of Branding’.
Although the ZeBrand service is currently only available in English, with this partnership, the company has made moves to expand in Japan.
Can branding be 100% automated with AI?
“A brand’s journey can go from 0 to 10. To get from 0 to 1, we define where the user is now, and where they want to go in the future. Then from 1 to 10, we can automate the brand design towards the vision, values and direction of the user. Although AI technology is good for the parts from 1 to 10 to achieve a desired result, it isn’t very good at the initial stage of determining a brand’s current state and vision. Human creativity plays a key part here. At ZeBrand, we work together with our users to define their vision and the direction they want to go in, and then we help them create various branding design assets, so they can realize their vision,” says Ryo Kikuchi.
What’s next?
ZeBrand are fully committed to creating a world where AI and human creativity work hand in hand to create great branding, that allows users to express their individuality. We are currently working on a series of articles about how to make the best use of our new features, so watch this space!
