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June 16, 2005
The Skype Brand
Posted by Johnnie Moore
I attended an interesting session at the Reboot 7 conference in Copenhagen at the weekend. Malthe Sigurdsson, from Skype, did a talk about how they built the brand, which he blogged here, with a pdf of his slides here and an MP3 audio recording here.
I was struck by the principles Malthe articulated: do simple things really well; release all the time (ie keep updating the application in small bites); evolve; open up; and viral features. A good illustration of the idea of simplicity is their preference for plain language - so talk about sharing and calls, not peer-to-peer and VOIP or telephony. Bearing in mind Skype has about 45 million registered withouth advertising, I think it's a pretty interesting case study.
One of the things that he said that caught my attention was what he said about fear. They do fear their competitors (eg the big telecoms)... and that makes them stay busy innovating. I like the notion of acknowledging fear and using it, instead of blocking it.
It seems to me that Skype is a brand with a lot of vitality - and this presentation makes good sense of how it operates.
Technorati tags:reboot7 skype branding
Comments (3)
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1. Jack Yan on June 16, 2005 09:03 AM writes...
What I love about Skype is its virtual nature: if I recall correctly, it's incorporated in the Netherlands (good for royalty income) and does its engineering in Estonia (them high-tech Scandinavians!). Hence it is a brand that embodies a virtual organization, which brings it into my territory. It is perhaps less fear than one of a perceived insecurity: that the public won't accept a firm that is virtual. This may be as great a driveri.e. the quest for credibility.
Permalink to Comment2. Jaanus Kase on June 21, 2005 06:46 PM writes...
It's actually incorporated in Luxembourg (pretty much the same place :) and we have people working for us, besides Estonia, also in London, USA, Asia.. of many different backgrounds and nationalities. A fascinating place to be indeed.
Permalink to Comment3. Jack Yan on June 27, 2005 07:59 AM writes...
Jaanus, my mistake. Thank you for correcting me.
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