Petition to add voiceover to brand guidelines
When you see the words “brand guidelines”, what springs to mind? I’m willing to bet that most people are picturing a beautiful mood board of complementary coloured blobs, sat side by side; logos in their various forms to suit different scales and backgrounds; and maybe a few fonts.
It’s true. When it comes to branding, most of us focus on the visuals: from logos and videos to websites and images. Meanwhile, voiceover – the *literal* voice of the brand – gets neglected.
It seems to me that the actual sound of a brand’s voice has fallen out of the conversation, simply because audio doesn't fit as neatly onto a keynote collage.
The importance of verbal delivery
With almost half of gen Z regularly using voice notes as a substitute for texting, it’s clear that verbal delivery matters. It’s rarely the exact words we choose that matter most, but the values, intentions, and personality behind them. From voice note socialites to professionals who favour calls over email chains, we know that words are most effectively expressed verbally, as has been the tradition for millennia.
So maybe instead of rehashing the exact right shade of blue your company logo should be, the question should change to: “Can we imagine this tweet coming out of our Voiceover Artist’s mouth?”, and if not: “How can we improve our copy to maintain a consistent tone of voice?”.
Voice as the most recognisable identity marker
The purpose of branding is to make a brand stand out from its competitors with a recognisable identity. So when we know that voice is such a reliably recognisable element that it’s used for bank security checks, a good voiceover is a pretty good place to start.
Articulating a consistent narrative
At University, my creative writing professor would give us each an image of a different random stranger to write a short story about. This was because he knew a simple truth: if you don’t know the basics of your protagonist, you can’t expect to produce a consistent, believable narrative.
Of course it’s essential to know what your brand looks like, but you also need to know how your brand sounds. Who are they speaking to? What vocabulary do they use? What words do they emphasise? What’s their tone and emotional state? This is where you will find the answers to building a strong and recognisable brand personality.
