There is a growing conversation happening at the edges of the sustainability and strategy world, and it goes by the name of Low Tech. Not a retreat into nostalgia, but something more considered. A framework that asks three quietly radical questions of everything we build and everything we make: Is it truly useful? Is it genuinely accessible? Is it actually sustainable, not just in what it produces, but in what it costs to exist?
Those questions were at the heart of a roundtable organised by Antoine Bonel and Andrea García Portolés at Equinox, the annual festival hosted by AwareNest in Stockholm. Now in its 5th edition, Equinox brings together industry peers and professionals to think seriously about where things are heading. The low-tech conversation was one of the most quietly radical reframes of the day, genuinely asking whether the way we build and communicate is serving the people it is meant to reach.
At Etho, those questions landed close to home.
The study that changed our thinking
While reflecting on the low-tech conversation, we came across a study published in the Journal of Marketing Research that stopped us in our tracks. Its findings feel almost counterintuitive at first glance, but once you sit with them, they make complete sense.
The research found that consumers tend to believe employees of smaller firms are more intrinsically motivated, more passionate and personally invested in their work. Crucially, consumers place significant weight on that perceived motivation when evaluating low-tech products. Low-tech products from smaller companies are consistently perceived as higher quality than equivalent products from larger competitors. Smallness, it turns out, is seen as a signal of quality.
The logic flips for high-tech products. Consumers assume larger firms have deeper R&D budgets and therefore superior capability. But in low-tech categories, the advantage belongs to the small, the human, the genuinely motivated.
For purpose-driven organisations, this is not a consolation prize. It is a strategic asset.
The cost of communicating like a giant
So much of modern marketing, even for organisations that are inherently human-scale and values-led, pulls in the wrong direction. Automation, algorithmic content, high-gloss production, reach-at-all-costs metrics. The aesthetic and logic of big tech is applied indiscriminately to brands that have nothing to gain from it and potentially even a great deal to lose.
Think about the sectors where purpose-driven organisations tend to operate: health, education, culture, community. These are spaces that are relational by nature. Trust is built slowly, through consistency and genuine care, not through optimised funnels and content velocity. And yet the marketing playbook most readily available, most heavily promoted, is the one designed for scale, not depth.
The research suggests this mismatch has real consequences. When a small, values-led organisation communicates like a tech giant, it may actually be undermining the very perception of quality and motivation that gives it its edge.
What low-tech communication could look like
This is where the strategic question gets interesting. If smallness and intrinsic motivation are signals of quality in low-tech categories, then communication should make those qualities visible, not obscure them behind a veneer of automation and polish.
That might mean fewer touchpoints, crafted with more care. It might mean long-form content that trusts the reader’s attention rather than fighting for a three-second scroll. It might mean showing the people behind the work, the thinking behind the decisions, the values behind the strategy, not as a branding exercise, but as a genuine expression of how the organisation operates.
It almost certainly means resisting the pressure to produce more for the sake of producing more. Less content, more resonance. Less automation, more intention. Less reach for its own sake, more depth with the right people.
None of this is anti-ambition, but a different kind of ambition. One oriented around lasting trust rather than momentary attention.
The low-tech framework is not a niche concern for off-grid enthusiasts. It is a coherent strategic lens that asks whether what we are building, and how we are communicating it, is genuinely serving the people it is meant to reach.
An open question
For the brands we work with at Etho, this is an open and ongoing question. Not a finished answer, but a direction that feels more honest, more human, and more aligned with what we believe good communication actually stands for.
We think that is worth exploring. We hope you do too.
If you are curious about bringing low-tech values into your communication strategy, we would love to talk: hello@etho.agency.