Interview with Ben Reed from Canada

Interview with Alex Shim from South Korea
April 22, 2024
Interview with Jacquie Joy from Australia
April 22, 2024

Ben Reed

Ben Reed is a multi-award-winning marketing and communications professional with over 25 years of experience in the technology industry. He values people's happiness and business outcomes and has led teams to deliver high-quality results while having fun. His work-life motto is, "Don't not do the right thing because it's hard."


1Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your design background.

Hi, my name is Ben Reed. After spending more than two and a half decades in the technology industry, working in organizations of all sizes from startups to multinational corporations, I always carry two core values with me: people's happiness and business outcomes. The teams I have worked with and managed deliver high-quality results and have fun doing it!

As a multi-award-winning marketing and communications professional, I have had the honor of working at the forefront of technological breakthroughs and innovation in various industry verticals and channels spanning enterprise, B2B, B2C, sales, consulting, and retail.

Diverse perspectives are important to me and have led me to live and work in dozens of countries on four different continents. But no matter where I am or where I work, my work-life motto is, "Don't not do the right thing because it's hard."

2What made you become/why did you choose to become a digital designer/artist?

At its core, marketing uses a powerful tool – storytelling. But what invigorates me is the use of storytelling to achieve business outcomes. This is what I like to call strategic storytelling. There are many ways to do digital storytelling, and it's the endless amount of creativity and possibilities that make me passionate about being a digital storyteller the most.

3Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.

Sanctuary AI is on a mission to create the world's first general-purpose human-like intelligence robots that will help make work safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. The world is experiencing declining birth rates and labor shortages. In the United States alone, there are 9.9 million job openings, but only 5.8 million unemployed workers. These shortages pose a real threat to the way we live, and Sanctuary AI's technology offers a solution.

Powered by our pioneering AI control system Carbon™, Sanctuary AI’s Phoenix™ general-purpose robots can perform tasks in the same way people can. Unlike special-purpose robots, Sanctuary AI technology can drop into any environment and start working. Carbon and Phoenix mark the beginning of a new era of work and prosperity.

As Sanctuary AI's Chief Marketing Officer and member of the executive leadership team, I am responsible for leading the company's marketing and communications initiatives across all owned, earned, and paid channels. My responsibilities include overseeing all aspects of the planning, development, and execution of activities across advertising, public relations, industry analyst relations, web, mobile, and social media.

4What’s your favorite kind of digital design and why?

Above all, I value honesty in any marketing and communications project, collateral, or asset. Through my years of experience leading and pioneering the creation of several profoundly new technology product categories, I've learned that trust is gained in drops, but lost in buckets. New and emerging industries can fall into the trap of overhype and being unable to deliver or meet expectations.

Any digital design that is compelling and remains true to its marketing is one that I would consider a great design. You can learn more about how our work at Sanctuary AI upholds this gold standard throughout our communications efforts:

https://sanctuary.ai/resources/news/honesty-in-technology-communications-marketing-and-storytelling/

5To you, what makes a “good” design?

Trust, I've learned, isn't built overnight. It's earned in tiny, hard-won droplets, but lost in gushing buckets. My experience pioneering new technology categories has shown me that overhyping and under-delivering is a quick way for emerging industries to lose credibility.

That's why I champion honesty in every marketing project, collateral, and asset. For me, a truly great digital design combines compelling creativity with unwavering truthfulness to the marketing message. And if you want to see what that looks like in action, check out how we do it at Sanctuary AI.

6Describe your design style and its main characteristics.

Honesty isn't just a nice-to-have in communications for me; it's the bedrock. From launching groundbreaking tech products to navigating new industries, I've witnessed trust evaporate with a single misstep. Hype can get you so far, but delivery is the ultimate currency. That's why I judge design excellence based on whether it captivates while staying faithful to its promises. At Sanctuary AI, we've woven this principle into every thread of our communications, and you can see it shining through in our work.

7Tell us about your design process.

My career has been defined by pioneering new tech categories, and in that journey, I've witnessed firsthand how trust is painstakingly built, yet can be shattered in an instant. Overhyped promises and undelivered expectations are a quicksand for emerging industries. That's why, for me, the ultimate measure of a great design is its unwavering commitment to honesty – a quality that shines through every pixel, every sentence, every story.

8Where do you draw inspiration from?

For me, inspiration comes from the specific outcome I'm looking to achieve. I start by asking who the audience is and why they should care. Empathy is one of the most important and often overlooked elements. I ask: what do I want the audience to think, say, feel, or do?

9Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2023 Vega Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?

Sanctuary AI is bringing the incredible power of human-like, or general artificial intelligence to the physical world through its incarnation of Phoenix general-purpose robots. Unveiled in May 2023, this technology will help address labor challenges that are beginning to impact the success of organizations around the world. Many organizations have already become our paying customers to future-proof their operations and ensure their future sustainability against a shrinking workforce.

Sanctuary AI is leading an innovation revolution that will change everything in an industry that will eclipse not only the automotive industry but the entire labor industry as a whole.

We are creating a future where everyone can work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably. The use of human-like artificial intelligence in general-purpose robots will create the opportunity for people to take back one of the most precious things–time–by performing work that is unsafe or simply undesirable to people.

10What was the biggest challenge with this project?

As with any project, there will always be challenges, and this project was no exception. The biggest challenge was making sure that we were true to our values of honesty in technology communications, marketing, and storytelling. Balancing what looks good against what produces truth is something that all practitioners must deal with in their work. I think we ended up with something that both looks good, while it's 100% true product.

11Where do you see the evolution of digital industry going over the next 5-10 years?

With the explosion of generative AI tools over the past year, it's hard to predict, but I'm excited about the possibilities. Communicators, marketers, and storytellers of all kinds are likely to have an ever-increasing set of AI-powered tools to be more productive, creative, and impactful. What an exciting time to be alive!

12What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
One of my former mentors used to say quite regularly: "Don't mistake activity for achievement." The key for me is prioritization. There is always more to do than there is time in the day to do it. By prioritizing the most important and urgent things, I can ensure that what I'm working on is of the highest value.

Winning Entry

Unveiling Phoenix and Carbon | 2023

VDA-Karina-Kwok-2
The video was designed to unveil and amplify the launch of Sanctuary AI’s sixth-generation general-purpose robot, Phoenix™, and its accompanying ...
(read more at Vega Digital Awards)

Ben Reed

Sanctuary AI

Ben Reed is a multi-award-winning marketing and communications professional with over 25 years of experience in the technology industry. He values people's happiness and business outcomes and has led teams to deliver high-quality results while having fun. His work-life motto is, "Don't not do the right thing because it's hard."


Read more about this interview with Jesper Tielbeke of BoxPlay, the Gold Winner of the 2023 Vega Digital Awards.

Muse.World