Interbrand Thinking
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The new standard for connectivity, interview with Matter

Expert Perspective

Why growing your brand in the connection economy means shifting where you’re competing and where you’re collaborating.

NAMED ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST INVENTIONS OF 2021

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the ways we live, work, and play but the proliferation of competing technology ecosystems is causing confusion for consumers, and complications for developers. When you buy a device, how do you know it works with your other products?

Over 180 companies of all sizes and from across the IoT value chain, including major technology leaders, have come together under the Connectivity Standards Alliance to develop and promote the adoption of a new, industry-unifying connectivity standard.

This new connectivity standard promises to deliver new levels of simplicity, reliability, and interoperability for the IoT – the kind of clarity that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi brought to audio and internet connectivity.

Interbrand helped the Connectivity Standards Alliance define the underlying technology and create a brand that could withstand the test of time. The goal was to create a name, symbol and visual expression to signal that the new foundation of IoT connectivity has arrived, and it matters. Here we interview their senior leadership about the new brand.

1. In creating Matter, we were conscious of creating standards for the human condition.

Eliminating the pain points relating to the Internet of Things is really about eliminating pain points in how people live their lives – and as the smart home, smart office, smart hospital takes off this will continue to grow in importance.

2.

Technology is just the stuff that doesn’t work yet.”

That’s one of my favourite Douglas Adams quotes – and he’s right in that we are hyper aware of technology because it’s something we have to actively manage. This is especially true in a smart home when we’re adding technology to our daily life – things we’ve done since birth. Matter eliminates many of reasons we are so aware of technology. If we do our jobs right, when people interact with Matter, they’re not even aware they’re interacting with it at all, it’s an elemental a part of our homes as electricity or plumbing.

3. Competition drives innovation, differentiation and value for brands and users.

That’s why Matter is so impactful – because it changes where we’re collaborating and we we’re competing. Smart home brands only have so many resources and today they have to invest so much of them just getting things to talk to each other and there’s not a lot of room left to actually innovate. Matter comes from the desire to solve for that and to shift the industries resources from connectivity to innovation and creates value for all kinds of users.

4. Brands have to balance is technically possible with what’s needed.

Connection is an incredibly powerful territory that every brand can tap into but it’s also highly personal – security and privacy are important from a consumer perspective and a counterpoint to personalization. That’s what will allow brands to create new and exciting ways to interact and engage in the IOT space.

5. In designing the Matter brand, we leaned into semiotics.

That also goes to the simplification of the naming and the marque: Matter is a foundational building block of everything in the world, so it felt apt, but more than that it almost intimates something physical – a living entity. Through the marque we wanted to convey trust, simplicity and usability. The shape suggests those elements coming together and connecting almost as a hieroglyph. The marque is so simple that even if you don’t speak English, you can understand its meaning.

With thanks to interviewees:

Tobin Richardson,
President and CEO, Connectivity Standards Alliance

Daniel Moneta
Matter Marketing Chair & Global Product Marketing Manager, Smart Home at Google

Sujata Neidig
Marketing Director, NXP Semiconductors

Michelle Mindala-Freeman
Head of Marketing and Member Services, Matter

Oliver Maltby
Executive Creative Director, Interbrand NY

Andrew Miller
Executive Director Strategy, Interbrand NY

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