Lesson from Deepseek AI for Marketers

In the early spring of 2025, when the AI ​​world was gradually being dominated by familiar names such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, DeepSeek suddenly appeared and quickly emerged as a “phenomenon”. From a latecomer, DeepSeek rose to the top of the global application rankings, shaking up the “giants” in the AI ​​industry. This was created not only thanks to its outstanding products but also because of the way DeepSeek shaped its brand story and took advantage of its differences.

1. What is Deepseek?

The starting point is similar to other AI startups, Deepseek has developed and tested a variety of AI models, but not really impressive. It was not until the launch of AI model named R1 at the end of 2024 and officially released to users from January 20, 2025, Deepseek created a fever and recorded his name on the map of AI model. bridge.

Deepseek opens a cheap AI investment opportunity for the agencies When providing solutions to develop a strong language model with significantly lower costs than rivals like Openai. Even large Advertising corporations are making strong investments in AI. In 2024, WPP, Publicis and Havas spent more than $ 300 million to integrate AI into the working process. But instead of just applying AI platforms, they can now consider developing specialized models to serve customers at a more reasonable cost thanks to Deepseek.

However, The rise of Deepseek is facing uninterrupted controversy. Deepseek is becoming a threat of technology giants, for example, NVIDIA. On January 27, NVIDIA shares fell nearly 17%, equivalent to US $ 592.7 billion in market capitalization “evaporated” in one day. Not only NVIDIA, American technology giants such as Openai, Microsoft, Google and Meta are also having to reconsider their AI strategy to the rise of Deepseek. As Mr. Trump spoke on a trip to Florida on January 27: “The fact that a Chinese company releases Deepseek who is a wake -up scene for our technology industry, that we need to focus high levels. In competition “.

Besides, the relationship between Deepseek and the Chinese government made the US and the world wary. In fact, Deepseek has faced many ban in the US and many other countries. Specifically, NASA, the US Navy and the US House of Representatives banned employees from using Deepseek on public -service devices. The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, also issued a ban on Deepseek and other applications such as Rednote and Lemon8 on state -owned devices. Or on February 3, 2025, Taiwan officially banned all government agencies using Deepseek AI services, citing a security risk. Or the Italian data protection Agency (GPDP) has also asked Deepseek to restrict the processing of data from Italian users to protect privacy.

Although the controversy and concerns about Deepseek are completely grounded, it is difficult to deny the great differences to help the AI ​​model become a “formidable opponent”.

2. Outstanding ability and cheap price is Deepseek’s competitive advantage

Compared to other AI chatbots such as chatgpt, gemini, claude and meta, Deepseek is noticed with outstanding features such as:

• Development and use costs: Deepseek is developed at a cost of about US $ 5.5 million, significantly lower than other leading models such as Openai’s GPT-4. This leads to lower use costs, helping technology companies, especially in Europe, have the opportunity to compete in the field of AI.

• Performance and speed: Deepseek V3 processes information at 60 tokens per second, three times faster than the previous version. This model is trained on a huge data set of 14.8 trillion tokens, surpassing many other AI models.

• The architecture “Mixing expert” (MOE): Deepseek applies the Moe architecture, including many specialized neural networks for specific tasks, helping the feedback system more effectively and more accurately.

• Open source: Deepseek is an open source AI model, allowing anyone to access, modify and develop further, facilitating transparency and cooperation in the technology community.

• Limitations on sensitive topics: Deepseek tends to avoid sensitive political topics, possibly due to compliance with Chinese censorship rules. This may limit the ability to discuss some problems compared to other AI chatbots.

• Programming support: DeepSeeK provides specialized language models for programming, supports many programming languages ​​and provides assistance in creating codes, debugging and completing codes.

In particular, experts and users even evaluate Deepseek R1 to give a smart, accurate answer and feedback faster than other AI tools such as chatgpt, gemini or LLAMA … The point makes Deepseek cause menstruation. The most surprise is that this model only takes $ 5.6 million to build and operate, while US technology companies are spending hundreds, even billions of dollars to develop and operate the model. Who of their own. “Deepseek R1 is one of the most incredible and impressive breakthroughs I have ever seen. Being developed open source, Deepseek will be a profound gift for the globe,” said Marc Andressen, a technology investor. Famous, sharing about the outstanding ability of Deepseek.

3. Differences: Logo design “Blue whale” – The break between a “ocean” technology

Not only is the trend with a powerful product, Deepseek also impresses with a different Brand identity. Deepseek’s logo is the image of a friendly blue whale, as if trampling in the ocean. Accompanied by the brand name designed with rounded Sans-Serif font with unique broken strokes. While most AI companies pursue abstract, minimalist images or inspired by robots, Deepseek chose a mascot that feels close and warm. This can be considered a bold step, challenging the design trend that is dominating the technology industry today.

Designer Martin Grasser – the “father” of the Twitter blue bird logo – said that the technology industry has gradually lost the “personality and joy” in brand identity. AI companies like Openai, Deepmind or Stability all use abstract vortex icons, while names like Relika or Jasper AI chose to design a robot. In the middle of a homogeneous AI market and lack of creativity, Deepseek has “come back” with the image of a chubby whale full of sympathy, creating a unique impression.

Meanwhile, according to Teemu SuViala, Creative director of Landor, whale images have many symbolic meanings. “Many cultures consider whales as a symbol of wisdom, strength and prosperity. In some cultures, the seeing whale is considered an omen of good things coming. ” SuViala also said that the image of whale swimming in the ocean is a powerful metaphor for Deepseek users. “The concept of navigation can be associated with the open source nature of Deepseek, which makes it different from rivals,”. However, the Deepseek logo still has some points that need to be improved, such as whale eye details are lost when shrinking or the typeface has not really been in harmony with the brand style.

Choosing a cute whale as a logo is a calculated and reasonable strategy of Deepseek. Instead of a powerful, mysterious or ambitious appearance, Deepseek chose an inspiring image and evoked imagination – an approach that could help Deepseek locate himself in a competitive industry.

3 lessons for marketers from Deepseek’s story

Deepseek – Despite giving birth late, but with outstanding products and calculated strategies, it is still strong enough to reach and make the technology wobbly. The story of this AI model not only makes experts admire but also leaves valuable lessons for marketers.

Lesson 1: If your brand is not a market leader, then become a challenge by telling a different story.

Because if you only create a better product, it is not enough. To attract attention, the brand needs to be positioned as a “broken” rule, challenging what is having or creating a new trend. Deepseek not only attracted attention thanks to advanced technology, but also because it appeared at the right time when people were worried about AI race, high costs and approach to AI open source.

=> Lesson learned: A good product is difficult to succeed if not put into a fascinating and meaningful story. Users not only care about technology but also strongly react to changes in power, price and competition in the industry.

Lesson 2: In the brand strategy, understanding how different groups of subjects receive and respond to information is very important.

For Deepseek, AI researchers and industry people have predicted the success of this AI model while investors were surprised, leading to slow market reactions but booming. Therefore, the brand needs to be uniqueness and convey the message at the right time to have an advantage and be more likely to achieve success.

Besides, creating attention among the favorite and loyal user group is necessary, but long -term success comes from connecting this group with a large number of public. Like DeepSeek, its impact in the original industry has made a great reputation for researchers before spreading to investors and markets. Successful brand stories are when they know how to expand their influence while retaining the original identity.

Lesson 3: Deepseek is a clear example showing sometimes, The difficulty is the motivation to promote creativity. Although there is no technological advantage due to being banned from the export of advanced AI chips, Deepseek still finds a way to optimize the training process to achieve high performance with weaker hardware. “The difficulty of the wisdom” – many great inventions do not come from abundant resources but from making the most of what is available. This lesson is not only true for AI but also in marketing. Instead of seeing limitations is an obstacle, consider it an opportunity to think of a difference.

For example, not all brands have enough money to pay for celebrities or run a large multi -channel ad in their campaign. But they can still attract attention by creating funny content or taking advantage of social networks. Instead of spending a huge amount of money on Super Bowl advertising, some brands have succeeded when creating fun advertising (like Amazon Prime with The Boys last year) or participating in hot trends to attract. public interest.

Conclusion:

Deepseek’s story is a clear evidence that a brand does not necessarily have a huge resource to create a great influence. For marketers, Deepseek is not only a technological phenomenon but also a practical lesson on how to make a difference and breakthrough in the competitive market. Whether it is a young Startup or a long -standing business, understanding the context, building a strategy to approach the right object and knowing how to seize opportunities will be the key to creating a strong impression.