Brand Tone of Voice:

40 brand tone of voiceNotes1 I am grateful to several people, linguists and others, who have helped refinethe framework reported here, particularly those who have helped apply it tocommercial branded texts. Thanks in particular to John Bateman in Bremen,Susana Murcia-Bielsa in Madrid, and David Lewis of Enterprise IG InformationDesign. I would also like to thank four anonymous reviewers for theirdetailed and most helpful comments on a first draft of the paper.2 Personal communication, Enterprise IG internal presentation, 2001.3 Design Week, 26 January 2006, page 6: ‘Building Society strategy by LloydNorthover’.4 Design Week, 2 February 2006, page 4: ‘The Core tries to instil personalityinto Argos brand’.5 WPP is a group of more than 125 communications services companies(including, but not limited to, marketing, advertising, branding, and media)in 106 countries, employing over 91,000 people worldwide. Key office detailsand contacts can be found from the WPP Group company directory at www.wpp.com/directory.6 TXU Energi’s brand values are no longer available on-line, due to its mergerwith Powergen (now E.ON) in the UK. Orange brand values are available onthe Orange web site. http://www.orange.com/English/aboutorange9/philosophyandvalue2.asp?bhcp=1.7 See for example http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=281 for a description of brand Tone of Voice from the branding agencyInterbrand.8 Research undertaken by Enterprise IG Information Design in 2003 with 120users of a government service, involving detailed language questionnairesand interviewing of both department staff and the public. The research is,however, subject to confidentiality.9 Although the brand is not explicitly named in this case, this kind of referentiallink only works when the concept that is being re-specified is active inshort-term memory. This accounts for its categorisation of ‘strong evocation’– it can only be successfully used when the concept is strongly evoked.10 Interestingly, BT Cellnet has three explicit mentions in running text. Theyoffer a free dedicated phone to HSBC customers. BT Cellnet is therefore theonly brand name mentioned in body text.11 Stubbs (1996) discusses a judge’s use of these forms in a courtroom and ajury’s likely interpretations of them: you may think that… for example, isinterpreted as I am allowing you to think that… rather than you might thinkthat…because of the jury’s assumptions about the authority of the judge andtheir uncertainty about their own role and rights.12 I am grateful to Alastair Gill for introducing me to this literature.