November 3, 2026
The Irony of Branding an AI Company
As artificial intelligence transforms the branding and design industry, our work with Maio Labs offered an interesting perspective on why human creativity and strategic thinking still matter.
Artificial intelligence is changing the branding industry at extraordinary speed. AI-powered design tools can now generate logos, visual identities, marketing content and websites in a fraction of the time these tasks once required. For branding agencies, this raises an important question:
If AI can produce so much creative work, what is the future of human creativity in branding?
We recently found ourselves exploring that question from an interesting position: developing the brand strategy and visual identity for MaioLabs, a company specialising in artificial intelligence. There is a certain irony in an AI company choosing to work with a branding agency at a time when AI is transforming the creative industry itself. And that irony says something about the value of branding.
Maio Labs works with organisations to unlock the potential of their data, knowledge and technology, building intelligent systems that businesses can own and develop over time. Like many companies operating in the artificial intelligence industry, Maio Labs needed a brand capable of communicating a complex proposition in a way that was clear, distinctive and relevant to its audience.
The challenge went beyond designing a logo or developing a visual identity. It involved defining what the company stood for, articulating its value and creating a positioning that would remain meaningful in an industry evolving at remarkable speed. Through our brand strategy process, we developed the positioning:
The Frontier Is Inside
The idea reflects Maio Labs' belief that much of the intelligence organisations need already exists within their businesses, across their people, data, knowledge and systems. AI creates opportunities to connect and unlock that intelligence. This became the foundation for communicating the brand's vision and value. And interestingly, the thinking behind it has something in common with the way we approach branding at Strawberry.
As AI branding tools become more sophisticated, businesses have access to an unprecedented volume of creative possibilities. A company can generate dozens of logo concepts, explore visual styles, produce marketing copy and develop website layouts using AI.
But having more options does not necessarily make it easier to build a strong brand. Successful brand strategy requires an understanding of the business, its competitive landscape, its ambitions and the people it wants to reach. It involves asking questions that go beyond aesthetics. What makes this company genuinely different? Why should customers choose it over its competitors? What should people associate with the brand? And how can that positioning support its long-term business objectives?
These questions are particularly important for AI and technology companies, where complex propositions, rapidly evolving products and increasingly crowded markets can make differentiation difficult AI can support research, generate ideas and accelerate creative exploration. Human judgement remains essential to evaluating those possibilities within the context of a real business.
In our work with Maio Labs, defining the brand's position meant understanding the founders' vision and identifying an idea that could connect the company's technological expertise with a compelling commercial proposition. That thinking guided the creative process.
There is little doubt that artificial intelligence will continue to reshape the creative industry. AI tools are already influencing how branding agencies approach research, concept development, graphic design, copywriting, image generation and website production. As these technologies evolve, some parts of the branding process will become faster and more accessible.
Businesses that previously lacked the resources to invest in professional design will have increasingly capable tools at their disposal. This creates opportunities for both businesses and creative professionals. However, as access to design tools becomes more widespread, access to those tools becomes less of a competitive advantage.
The challenge shifts towards developing a brand that has a clear point of view, communicates something meaningful and stands apart from competitors using similar technology. For businesses investing in branding, this makes the relationship between brand strategy and visual identity particularly important.
A distinctive brand identity is strongest when it is built on a compelling strategic foundation. The choices behind its name, language, typography, imagery and design system should all contribute to the same overarching idea. AI can help bring those elements to life but deciding what they should communicate requires a deeper understanding of the business.
One of the most interesting aspects of working with Maio Labs was seeing how a company dedicated to artificial intelligence approached its own brand. Maio Labs understands the potential of AI to transform how organisations operate. Its business is built around helping companies use technology to access and apply intelligence more effectively.
Yet its founders also recognised the value of investing in brand positioning, creative direction and human collaboration. That distinction matters. The purpose of a branding agency is beyond producing creative assets. It is to help businesses make decisions about how they present themselves, how they compete and how they build value over time.
For technology companies in particular, effective branding can help translate technical capabilities into a proposition that customers understand and trust. And as AI continues to expand what businesses can produce, the importance of knowing what to create, and why, becomes increasingly apparent. But ultimately, the value of AI depends on the expertise guiding it.
Technology can accelerate processes, generate possibilities and unlock extraordinary potential, but it takes human understanding, experience and judgement to know which problems are worth solving and how to turn those possibilities into meaningful business outcomes.
The relationship between AI and branding will undoubtedly evolve. Creative studios will need to adapt their processes, embrace new tools and reconsider where they deliver the greatest value.
For us at Strawberry, that evolution is an opportunity to spend more time on the aspects of branding that have the greatest impact on businesses: understanding their challenges, developing a meaningful position and creating identities that communicate their value. Our experience branding Maio Labs reinforced that perspective.
The company operates at the frontier of artificial intelligence, yet its brand began with a very human process: conversations, questions, ideas and decisions about what the business stands for.
Technology will continue to change the way brands are created. What makes a brand valuable will continue to depend on how effectively it connects a business with the people it wants to reach.
And perhaps that is the real irony of branding an AI company: the more sophisticated our tools become, the more important it is to know what we want to achieve with them.
Strawberry Brand Studio is an independent branding agency based in Lisbon, Portugal, working with businesses internationally on brand strategy, positioning, naming and visual identity and marketing. Explore our work or get in touch to discuss your next brand.
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