How Light Is Breaking Big Tech by Creating an Anti-Attention Smartphone

Check out our new podcast ‘Ripples’ on Microcultures from the links 🔗 below 👇

• 🎙️ Listen on Apple podcasts here
• 🎧 Listen on Spotify here here

In this episode, Kaiwei Tang, CEO & Co-Founder of Light, reveals how a 10-year-old “anti-smartphone” brand has cultivated a dedicated community by doing less. Light’s flagship product, the Light Phone, eliminates data-hungry apps, social media, and constant notifications—replacing them with practical tools and pure utility. Kaiwei shares how organic word-of-mouth, celebrity shout-outs, and unwavering brand values fuel Light’s growth in a world where “paid ads” often dominate the startup playbook.

From experiencing the anxiety of leaving your smartphone at home to feeling the freedom of minimal tech, this conversation uncovers how Light stands apart from Big Tech’s attention-driven business model. If you’ve ever wanted a more balanced relationship with technology—or you’re just intrigued by how a brand can shape culture through less, then this episode is for you!

Watch the video version of this podcast on Youtube ▶️: https://youtu.be/3hXkhcYlNlc

          📚 Chapters:

• (00:00:00) – Intro 🎙️
• (00:04:01) – Meet Kaiwei Tang and the Light Brand 💡
• (00:17:02) – What Marketing is for Light 🚀
• (00:24:51) – Jobs to be Done for Light 📢
• (00:34:03) – The Future for Light 🔮
• (00:40:00) – Lessons from a Product-Led Mindset 🛠️
• (00:47:13) – The One Thing to Do Differently ✅

🖊️Mentioned in the show:

• Remarkable
• Aaron Paul’s Endorsement on Light Phone

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities to help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Eric Fulwiler, and in this episode, he’s joined by Kaiwei Tang, CEO & Co-Founder of Light.

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn, Twitter. 

Find Eric on LinkedIn.

Find Kaiwei on LinkedIn.

Say hi at [email protected], we’d love to hear from you.

Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗  https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024