An aspect of branding that I found interesting is Tone of Voice. I have decided to discuss this in this short essay as I truly feel that tone of voice is one of the fundamentals of any brand. Tone of voice isn’t just another page in a brand’s guidelines, it is a key aspect off how people see a brand and the feelings that it provokes.

Tone of voice was one of the first things that we covered in this module, discussing them in week 1. Initially, I struggled to differentiate between tone and values, which I believe sparked my interest in tone (alongside values), as I had to do a little extra research before I understood the purpose of creating a brand’s tone. I view tone of voice as setting the entire theme of a brand, it impacts how a brand presents itself directly contributing to how people perceive it. Tone is essentially the desired perception that brands have, for example, a company who want to connect with their customers on a personal level may have a tone of voice of warm, friendly and casual. On the other hand, luxury brands who wish to remain more reserved and exclusive tend to pick more sophisticated brand values as this is how they want to be perceived.

Furthermore, a successful tone of voice should be consistent across all products and touch points. Failure to follow an overall tone of voice would likely make a brand seem inconsistent, reducing the connection with their target audience. For example, a brand with a sophisticated tone of voice would weaken their image and struggle to connect with their target audience if they began pushing casual products and changing their brand image. This is why tone is such an integral foundation of branding: it needs to align with all other elements. From colour to typography, a brands visual elements should always fit with a brands tone to ensure the tone of voice is effectively communicated with their target audience.

I felt that I truly gained a deeper understanding of tone of voice when establishing my own tone of voice for my brand ‘Open Books’. Having a firsthand experience of working with a brands tone showed me the complexity of tone and the vast range of things that it has an impact on. Having an unsuccessful tone of voice could destroy a brands image, particularly when it comes to incorporating it into touch points as this is where connections with consumers are built. A brand could have a strong structure, but without an impactful tone of voice it would struggle to reach and connect with the end user.

In conclusion, I truly believe that Tone of Voice is one of the most important aspects of branding. Tone of Voice may be played down as another way of describing values, but this is not true in the slightest. It is where brands really lay out how they want to connect with their audiences, directly determining how successful it will be. Thanks to this module, I can confidently say that I understand tone of voice on a much deeper level and will continue to value it as an integral aspect of branding throughout my future projects.