What’s the voice of your brand?

Not only do humans have their unique voices, brands have them too. Imagine everyone having the same look, the same voice, and the same personality — that would be pretty boring, right? But most importantly, no one would recognize your unique features. The same goes for brands.

As a brand, you must differentiate yourself from your direct competitors. You can do this through your logo, visual identity, tone, and building your brand personality. An increasing number of brands are also using on-brand audio to achieve this. Think, for example, of a sound logo, a brand score, or that famous waiting music during a phone call or in stores. These touchpoints are becoming increasingly top of mind for brands that want to stand out. However, a distinctive brand voice-over often needs to be added. And here lies an opportunity: You don’t want to sound like a jeans brand in the same commercial break when you’re a mobile service provider.

A recognizable voice-over can help build brand recognition and is just as important as anything that belongs to your brand personality. When consumers hear the voice, they can immediately recognize the brand and associate it with its product or service. This can be invaluable for brands seeking customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

In practice

So how would that work in practice? Check this out. If you read the following sentence, we bet you can imagine the voice to it, and even the person starring in their commercials since 2006. Let’s try it:

Nespresso, what else?

You are right if you have George Clooney’s voice in your head. Maybe you even have a picture in mind of him sipping a cup of coffee. That shows that Nespresso did a great job finding their perfect voice companion and brand ambassador that made coffee, let’s call it what it is — sexy. The brand got so successful because of its brand ambassador that sales in 2016 soared despite pods costing up to fifteen times as much as instant coffee, and the market even coined its word for this consequence: the Clooney effect. Another example is actor Tim Allen who voiced the Pure Michigan commercials for ten years, from 2008 until 2018. According to Michigan’s tourism website, Allen’s distinct voice-over helped drive the economy. Forbes, meanwhile, ranked the ad as one of the top travel campaigns of all time.

Another advantage of working with a recognizable voice-over is that it can help build emotional connections with consumers. A voice consistently used in all the brand’s advertisements can evoke a sense of trust and reliability in consumers. This can ultimately lead to a stronger brand and consumer bond. However, it is essential to remember that working with a well-known voice-over talent is unsuitable for all brands. The brand needs to choose a voice that fits its values, the target audience, and the message it wants to convey. For example, a voice that works perfectly for a fast-food chain like McDonald’s may be less effective for a luxury brand like Chanel.

But which voice suits your brand? How should an insurance company or supermarket sound? To determine this, as a brand, you need to delve deep into who you are, your brand values, your tone of voice, who your target audience is, and through which channels you reach this audience. This is the starting point for finding the right voice for your brand.

The team at Amp.Amsterdam can help you with this process. In the past, our team helped brands such as Interpolis, TeamNL, and Zilveren Kruis, to find their voice-over: unique, distinctive, and above all on brand — because let’s face it, no one wants to sound like everybody else, right?

Curious about who the voice-over of your brand should be? Then don’t hesitate to contact our brand client manager Maurice Paans.