The Inherent Flaw in Back Market’s “Tech to the People” Ad
By: Hunter Freeman
Tags: Content Marketing, Technology, Big Tech, Environmental Issues, Consumerism

Maybe your screen has been blessed with this anxiety-causing, seizure-inducing advertisement from Back Market. Sorry, it’s infectious. The Arby’s-like voice tells us Back Market is a “People’s Tech Revolution” and also an “online marketplace that is ruining Big Tech’s day.”

But, how true is that, anyway?

“Did we mention Back Market likes to make Big Tech Billionaires cry?”

That sounds great. Let’s take our money back from these trillion dollar companies. Lay down your pitchforks people, this is much more convenient. Okay Back Market, how are you going to “make Big Tech billionaires cry?”

What’s that? Speak up, Back Market. It sounded like you said you are going to ruin Big Tech’s day by just getting their products into the hands of more users. Well, okay, not just that. You are selling them at a discount. It is “renewed” merchandise after all. That’s splendid! What a great idea. No more premium prices for premium products. Surely their margins will drop now.

That is, if software and services weren’t driving the unprecedented growth — even during the pandemic — these companies are seeing.

Services are the Revenue Streams of the Future

When Apple’s iPhone growth started to slow in 2015, CEO Tim Cook reprioritized services as something valuable for investors. On August 2nd, 2018, Apple’s market cap closed at $1 trillion — with a t — for the first time. Just over two years later, on August 19th, 2020, Apple closed at $2 trillion.

How did Apple double their market value in two years? In part, they leveraged their services to drive profits. In 2017, Tim Cook set the goal of doubling their revenue from services by 2020. Not only did they hit that goal early, Apple’s services now make up over 20% of their total revenue.

To be fair, around half of Apple’s revenue is in hardware, but even if you aren’t buying from Apple, that iPhone that Back Market just sent you is still locked into the Apple eco-system. You still shop on the App Store, use their digital card services, purchase software, and ultimately, give Apple your money.

The same is true for the other Big Tech companies Back Market is pledging to fight against. Do you now have an Alexa-enabled device? You are using Amazon’s services. Are you shopping on the Play Store with your refurbished tablet? That’s money to Google. About to unbox that used Surface laptop? Microsoft has a whole suite of software for you. You get the point.

None of this is Back Market’s fault. They aren’t a government body failing to regulate the Big Tech companies. I even agree with the heart of their message. Something should be done so that consumers can take a little power back.

However, I fail to see how this is at all related to that movement. If anything, Back Market makes entering those services cheaper for the Big Tech companies. Apple doesn’t even have to manufacture a new phone, Back Market can just get the old ones in the hands of new people.

The Cultural Chameleo — er, Gharial?

Digital Image: “Tech to the People” ad, produced by Falon

I think I understand where this advertisement is coming from.

Do you remember when Nike announced a partnership with Colin Kaepernick (side note: he is also on the Medium Board of Directors now) and opinions were split about billion dollar companies tipping the scales in social issues?

And even back then, industry insiders like Scott Galloway were calling it a smart calculated risk that resonates with young people (a sentiment he probably didn’t receive enough credit for at the time):

And because Nike is such a large and successful company, and probably one of the best marketing brands on the planet, other companies took up the tactic, pushing marketing campaigns that were steeped in social reform while also posturing themselves as good companies to spend your money with.

This ad is essentially that, but less a calculated risk based on consumer data and more of a globally relatable argument. After all, lawsuits in the EU have proved that lawmakers across the pond are becoming a little fed up with the power Big Tech companies wield on commerce, governments, and citizens.

Thibaud Hug de Larauz, one of Back Market’s co-founders, did an interview back in 2017 discussing where his team sees Back Market going in the future. He said at the time:

We have many challenges, like any startups that scale. On the marketing side, we need to build a brand that resonates in many countries, to craft a message that will be efficient in different cultures.

Then consider that Back Market didn’t make its way to US markets until 2018 when it created a New York office. Before that, the French company operated in five countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium. Thibaud Hug de Larauz spoke to that transition too, saying:

We are heading to the US. It’s amazing to think that a European company will go and conquer the US and not the other way around.

Now, I’m sure this comment is said tongue-in-cheek, but to me, it reveals probably just as much as what launching a start-up does: the people behind the curtain want to “revolutionize” and “disrupt” the status quo. You know, startup speak. And they need a brand and message that appeals just as much to US markets as it does to the European ones.

Hence, in rides Washington crossing the Delaware, this time with a little more pizazz and some smart phones in the frigid waters (side note: don’t worry, they will renew those). And thus another Revolution begins under the sponsorship of our French allies.

“We do not sell digital freedom or tech equality, but we do fight for these things.”

Sure, the ad doesn’t explain how they are going to “fight” for digital freedom or tech equality (whatever that means), but it does make spending money on Back Market feel culturally important and closely ties consumerism into a way we can #Resist, something Americans love — Thanks, Nike.

Back Market needs you, and you probably also need Back Market.

Don’t let my cynicism dissuade you from believing in one the causes Back Market does seem more aligned with: reducing e-waste. In fact, one of the co-founders, Vianney Vaute, writes about the topic extensively for Forbes. Whether this should count as, like, guerilla advertising or something, I’ll let you decide, but having skimmed a few articles, it seems the founders (or at least one) of the company do at least care about reducing e-waste.

If we are to take the above as true, it follows that Back Market needs consumers to be interested in renewed technology. And if the old tech choking our Gharials and filling dumps in low- and middle-income countries is any indication, maybe Back Market is right, we probably do need them — or at least something like them.

“This is a call to action.”

Perhaps we have come to a crossroads here. I’m not entirely convinced Back Market is the end all solution for e-waste, or fighting Big Tech, or solving tech inequality (again, whatever that is). But they can be part of a new consumer-led movement about the importance of accountability.

As Scott Galloway later wrote in his blog about the Kaepernick situation:

Actions that address social justice are powerful messages. Messages about the importance of social justice are just messaging. We are the sum of our actions, not our words. Firms, and all of us, are learning we need to be more.

Amazon started as a humble online retailer too and ballooned from there, so who knows? Hopefully Back Market can reduce e-waste and play some role in fighting Big Tech before they become one of the villains — assuming the gharials don’t revolt first.