Brand Tone of Voice:

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and tone of voiceparticular to specific brand positions. In some cases, I make reference to the useof colour and typography, but it is beyond the scope and intent of the currentwork to go further into the operation and significance of modes of meaningmakingbeyond the linguistic. It is the aim of the study presented here to addressin particular how brand values are communicated linguistically, with a view tosituating such research in the wider semiotic context.2 Brands and brand Tone of Voice2.1 What is a brand?According to Varey (2002: 152), a brand ‘is differentiated from a commodity byhaving associated with it, as an integral part of the total offering, values that aresignificant to the consumer and buyer.’ These values offer a larger perception ofworth, and therefore a higher profit margin, than the unbranded commoditywould have done. De Chernatony (1993) suggests some of the elements thatappear to consumers to add this value, including trust that the product willdo what it says, assistance in recalling and evaluating the commodity easilyby using the brand as a shorthand, and the symbolic role that the brand playsin building the identity of the buyer and appearing to help them achieve adesirable self-image.Many writers on brand agree, however, that creating these perceptions ofbrand value in the minds of consumers is not at all straightforward. As Varey(2002: 154) suggests, meanings and uses of a brand cannot be fixed by theprovider. Jeremy Bullmore of WPP Group 5 describes the process of mentalbrand-building as somewhat disorganised: ‘People build brands as birds buildnests: from the scraps and straws they chance upon’ (Bullmore, 2001: 5). Onthis view, brands are personal: a network of concepts and associations derivedfrom all kinds of thoughts and encounters, from things that the brand ownerseeks to convey (such as through advertising and packaging) to what is readabout brands in the media or heard from friends. The network of concepts thatconstitute one individual’s version of a brand may be anywhere from entirelyabsent – if they have never heard of the brand – through semi-developed on thebasis of a few encounters, to highly intricate and developed, as is the case, formany, with ‘superbrands’ such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, or old faithfulssuch as Marmite and Fairy Liquid (a dish-washing liquid) in the UK.The importance of the ‘scraps and straws’ view of brands is that, as Bullmorehas said elsewhere, ‘every brand encounter counts’ (Bullmore, 2000). Thismeans that both good and bad experiences contribute to an individual notionof a brand. While brand owners may strive to influence these encounters,
J. Delin they cannot keep control of them all. This is why, on Bullmore’s view, brandsare out of control: they are what people make of them. For this reason, hestresses the importance of ‘… recognizing that every corporate action, everycorporate decision, every corporate communication will be seen as a clue – asone of those all important scraps and straws from which people build brands’(Bullmore, 2001: 5).We can derive from this discussion a perception of brands not as static objects,but as sets of qualities that a provider seeks to project and which are interpretedby potential consumers both dynamically and partially. The appreciation isdynamic because it changes constantly and varies a great deal between consumers,and partial because the match between the intended values and the actualvalues perceived is not complete. Brand communications – visual, verbal, andphysical – are avenues through which providers can attempt to express intendedqualities, but consumers’ encounters with the different channels through whichbrands are communicated, the attention they pay them, and the meanings theyattribute to them are not under the control of the provider.2.2 Product and service brandsMuch of the attention that has been paid to brands in the branding literatureinvolves product brands such as Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, IBM, and Apple (seefor example, the collection of essays by Floch, 2000, on ‘industrial semiotics’).This paper, by contrast, focuses on service brands such as banking and insurance,mobile (cell) phone and other telecommunications brands, and domesticenergy (gas, electricity) brands. As branding guru Wally Olins (2003: 75) pointsout: ‘Product brands are about products. Service brands are about people.’ Thereason that service brands are potentially of more interest to linguists is thatthe experience of the brand is almost completely constituted in acts of communication.As Rob Waller and I have argued elsewhere (Waller & Delin, 2003),while the experience of a product is constituted substantially in other activities,such as the drinking of the drink or the wearing of the shoes, the experienceof a service lies in the kinds of interaction that the consumer has with itshuman representatives – in using the bank, in making the insurance claim, inordering the delivery. This relationship is not only constituted in face-to-face,telephone and internet encounters, but in documents such as the bills, letters,statements, brochures, and forms that remotely enact the relationship betweenthe consumer and the brand. This means that the communications surroundingservice brands are an important site for their expression.
Page 1 and 2: Journal ofAppliedLinguisticsjAL (pr
Page 3 and 4: J. Delin 4, I discuss conclusions,
Page 5: J. Delin positions do, or could, in
Page 9 and 10: J. Delin Other brand values that oc
Page 11 and 12: J. Delin 11cations. In fact, the ad
Page 13 and 14: J. Delin 13What is important for th
Page 15 and 16: J. Delin 15Brand elements are there
Page 17 and 18: J. Delin 17or through explicit asse
Page 19 and 20: J. Delin 19animate objects, we woul
Page 21 and 22: J. Delin 21Orange’s subordinate r
Page 23 and 24: J. Delin 23ProcesstypeMaterial:acti
Page 25 and 26: J. Delin 25Minimiser Action Results
Page 27 and 28: J. Delin 27The crucial point here i
Page 29 and 30: J. Delin 29many of the products and
Page 31 and 32: J. Delin 31And you don’t have to
Page 33 and 34: J. Delin 33relative absence in the
Page 35 and 36: J. Delin 35be part of brand positio
Page 37 and 38: J. Delin 37clients to further their
Page 39 and 40: J. Delin 39general impression. The
Page 41 and 42: J. Delin 41ReferencesAllen, T. and
Page 43 and 44: J. Delin 43John, O. P. (1990) The

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