Posted by: @toodles

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The branding is therefore more to do with the installer’s skills and abilities to carry out work efficiently the in my opinion.

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That is where I both agree and have the biggest problem with corporate marketing.

If I think about anyone I know well and have a personal connection with, part of my knowledge of them is what their values are and how they will react in certain situations. It's not unreasonable for me to think, "Of course; that's very Steve". In effect, that person has a public image or "brand" that is the sum of my understanding of them, and that builds confidence in how genuine and sincere they are; how much I can trust them is heavily linked.

Marketing departments, of course, know this perfectly well and try to craft an image not of what the company is but of how they'd like us to think they are. If, after some time, I find the real company and the brand match up then great, but if not then in effect I've been lied to. Unfortunately, I have found very few companies where the brand feels deeper than a cynical facade.

With Heat Geek, the branding is a bit clumsy which, to me, tends to confuse a bit (a negative) but also add weight to their sincerity (a positive). On balance, it means I'd be positively inclined to at least start a discussion with them if I were needing what they provide, but I'd also drop them pretty quickly if their impression from that first discussion didn't match what I expected from the "brand". Members here so far have tended to suggest Heat Geek are who they appear to be, which is a good thing in my mind.

Posted by: @prunus

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More generally, the initial pitch for HG in terms of doing things properly was good and it made them attractive to me as someone considering the next heat pump install. But the more they turn into an AI-focused venture capital funded startup the more they send the message that they are actually drifting away from my interests as a potential customer.

I am not here to defend Heat geek or anyone else, but I think it that's perhaps a bit harsh if its intended as a criticism as opposed to an observation that their approach is not to your personal liking. 

Its clear that Heat Geek initially started doing everything more or less bespoke based on well trained engineers.  Now they are trying to use the accumulated experience together with their understanding in a productive way to simply the sales, design and install processes whilst maintaining end quality.  More or less uniquely they also specify their product based on achieved efficiency (which the customer cares about) not a load of design detail which the customer does not (and should not have to) care about.  Thats how innovation happens, and the heat pump installation industry desperately needs innovation because the current way of doing things is not even faintly scaleable and not particularly customer focussed iun the way it specifies its product.  Of course it remains to be seen whether the way Heat Geek have chosen to innovate ultimately plays a part in delivering the sea change that the industry needs in order to become mainstream, but they should not be criticised for having a try.

Of course some customers may not like it and that is their prerogative.  In a mature (or maturing) market there is both space and the need for a variety of approaches to suit different customer types and different house types.