Brand Tone of Voice:

J. Delin 33relative absence in the HSBC texts, do seem to suggest that Orange is seekinga more personal, ‘who we are’ position for the Orange brand than HSBC.This brief overview allows us to suggest a fourth hypothesis for furtherresearch, which allows us to bring in some specific brand qualities that may beassociated with close social relationships.Hypothesis 4: Conversationalization. The greater the frequency of ‘conversational’linguistic features and their written correlates in a brand text, themore socially close the reader will feel to the brand, and the more likely theywill be to associate the brand with ‘human’ brand qualities such as ‘warm’and ‘approachable’.Testing such a hypothesis would require careful control of the content of texts andperhaps presenting consumers with different versions to rate for ‘humanness’.3.5 Orange and HSBC brand positionsThe analysis reported in this paper does seem to support the view that Orangeand HSBC language establishes them in different positions on the BrandAnalytics continuum. Orange language positions its brand as offering services,help and support, and being in close connection with its customers’ lifestyles.The texts strongly associate the Orange name with its services, and thoseservices as belonging to the consumer. This creates a chain that encouragesthe consumer to have ownership of what Orange offers, rather than Orangeowning the services itself. While the Orange brand aspires to occupying therightmost intangible position on the continuum, however, its language does notcompletely support this. The texts do not explicitly foreground its values andpeople, do not make claims for its staff, and do not repeat any set of beliefs aboutwhat it stands for. The language simply positions the brand as a supportive presencethat does not differentiate between people, phones, and services – all areinterchangeable. Inanimate and ethereal services are personified, sharing thehuman qualities of the company and the brand. For Orange, it is as if phones arepeople. This places the customer, who has his or her hand on her phone most ofthe time, in physical proximity with the brand identity and values. Orange doesnot therefore need to talk explicitly about its employees, having successfullyturned services into people. The brand speaks informally, even conversationally,perhaps much as customers might do to their friends on the phone.The HSBC texts position the company as a provider of services that enjoys alarge infrastructure. The infrastructure and services clearly belong to HSBC, butit allows its customers to use them subject to certain conditions being met. Thelanguage does not suppose any particular qualities about consumer lifestylesbeyond that the customer wants the services to be accessible. It claims posses­