Alreet?
In our Newcastle office you can hear a big range of different accents and tones, even from people who were born just a few miles apart. The language can differ quite a bit too, especially on a Friday afternoon. Yet when it comes to the voice of many brands, they often sound uncannily similar. Right now there seems to be two distinct trends of voice fighting for supremacy – and each seems to be polar opposite of the other.
Iiiiiiiiiinnn the red corner, wearing gaudy golden gloves and shorts covered in rhinestones is the EPIC voice, filled to the max with awesome.
And Iiiiiiiiinnn the blue corner wearing hand-stitched, non-bleached, organic cotton shorts is the authentic voice (est. 2015).
Where one is overblown and shouty, the other is discerning and detailed. One has superpowers, the other is handmade in a little village in Yorkshire. One has purple hair. The other has a beard.
Yet from breakfast cereals to insurance companies, coffee chains to car brands, everyone seems to be talking in one of these voices or the other.
Which is fine, if your brand actually has some of the personality or attributes that these voices convey. If not, then you might as well talk to your audience in Swedish. Actually, that could work…
You see the most important thing about tone of voice is to be true to your product or organisation.
Otherwise you’re just talking in a funny accent.
