Brand Tone vs. Brand Personality
Benjamin Edgar, 2009
First of all, why?
A brand is not just a logo, a color palette, and some typefaces. Good brands are much more complex than that and connect with their audiences in a more personal way.
Consider the following ads:
Miami Ad School, 2020
Agency59, 2020
Canvas, 2020
The Creative Circus, 2021
Miami Ad School, 2020
All of these advertisements are more than just a product with a logo and a color scheme. They each have very distinct voices. They’re speaking directly to the person browsing the aisle as if they were in the same room as them.
Brands Talk
The most common way that brands talk is through advertising and, these days, advertising can range from emails, SEO keywords, and landing pages, to Instagram posts, and even texts and DMs.
And any time a brand speaks, it is important to ensure that the tone of the messaging matches that of the brand. The text messages to lapsed customers should sound just like the newsletter popup on the website, the DMs to influencers, and the Facebook re-targeting ads.
What is a brand’s tone?
The tone of a brand’s voice (it’s email and advertising copy) is the subtle way in which it speaks. The way it sounds, the words it chooses, the punctuation, can all contribute to a brand’s tone. For example, Nike has a very passionate tone of voice. They use strong verbs, bold, dynamic typography, and are almost like cheerleaders for their customers, inspiring them to push further and do more. Nike is never lukewarm, wishy-washy, and very rarely uses the passive voice.
Wieden + Kennedy, 2020
Which of the following tones of voice does your brand have?
It usually helps to select 3 or 4.
Accusatory
Acerbic
Aggressive
Amused
Authoritative
Benevolent
Candid
Caring
Casual
Cautionary
Celebratory
Cheerful
Coarse
Compassionate
Conservative
Conversational
Curious
Dignified
Direct
Dry
Edgy
Enthusiastic
Formal
Frank
Friendly
Fun
Funny
Humorous
Informative
Irreverent
Joyful
Light-Hearted
Loving
Matter-of-fact
Nostalgic
Otherworldly
Passionate
Playful
Professional
Provocative
Quirky
Respectful
Romantic
Sarcastic
Serious
Smart
Snarky
Solemn
Sympathetic
Thoughtful
Trendy
Trustworthy
Unapologetic
Upbeat
Uplifting
Urgent
Virtuous
Whimsical
Witty
Worried
Sometimes it helps to consider thinking of the brand as a single person, some made-up person in the office, who is sending out all of these emails and Facebook ads. It should be that specific.
Think about how that person might talk, what kind of colloquialisms they might use, are they a bit of a low talker or more bold? If you were to hire a voice actor to read your website aloud, who would make sense for your brand? Will Arnett (Reeses) or Rashida Jones (Citi)?
What is a brand’s personality?
Again, let’s think about brands as people. A person’s tone is how they speak and is a part of their personality. A person’s personality includes their values, their history, their motivations, their characteristics - it’s who they are, in a more general sense. And the same goes for a brand.
A brand’s personality has to do with their character. What does your brand stand for? What has it been through? Who does it serve? Why does it do what it does?
Patagonia, 1998
Which of the following words best describe your brand’s personality?
It usually helps to select 3 or 4.
Adventurous
Affectionate
Agile
Agreeable
Alert
Altruistic
Ambitious
Analytical
Argumentative
Artistic
Assertive
Astute
Balanced
Brave
Calm
Candid
Capable
Careless
Caring
Cautious
Charismatic
Charming
Chatty
Chic
Child-like
Classy
Clean
Clever
Coherent
Compassionate
Competent
Competitive
Confident
Conservative
Consistent
Controlling
Cooperative
Courageous
Crafty
Crazy
Creative
Critical
Curious
Deep
Defiant
Delicate
Determined
Devoted
Diligent
Diplomatic
Disciplined
Discreet
Disruptive
Dramatic
Eager
Easy-going
Eccentric
Efficient
Emotional
Empathetic
Energetic
Enterprising
Enthusiastic
Exuberant
Fashionable
Fearless
Feminine
Fervent
Fiery
Flashy
Flirtatious
Formal
Frank
Friendly
Funny
Futuristic
Generous
Gentle
Grumpy
Handsome
Happy
Hard-Working
Helpful
Hip
Humble
Idealistic
Impetuous
Impulsive
Incisive
Independent
Indiscreet
Ingenious
Innocent
Innovative
Insightful
Inspiring
Intellectual
Interesting
Joyful
Keen
Kind
Knowledgeable
Laid-back
Liberal
Lively
Local
Logical
Loud
Loyal
Masculine
Maternal
Mature
Methodical
Meticulous
Mischievous
Modern
Modest
Motivated
Mysterious
Natural
Naughty
Neat
Nostalgic
Nosy
Nurturing
Obstinate
Old-fashioned
Optimistic
Outgoing
Outspoken
Passionate
Paternal
Patient
Patriotic
Peaceful
Pensive
Picky
Playful
Polite
Popular
Practical
Precise
Proactive
Proficient
Profound
Proud
Provincial
Prudent
Punctual
Reassuring
Rebellious
Refined
Reliable
Religious
Reserved
Resolute
Resourceful
Respectful
Responsible
Restless
Rowdy
Safe
Sarcastic
Sassy
Scientific
Sensitive
Serene
Serious
Sexy
Sharp
Silly
Sincere
Sloppy
Smart
Snobby
Sociable
Solemn
Sophisticated
Soulful
Stable
Strong
Studious
Subtle
Systematic
Tactful
Talented
Thoughtful
Tidy
Traditional
Trustworthy
Unassuming
Unconventional
Urbane
Versatile
Warm-hearted
Watchful
Wealthy
Wise
Witty
Youthful
The Point
A brand’s personality and a brand’s tone can be easy to mix up and blur together and that’s okay. Maybe your brand is brave and your brand also sounds brave - Great!
The important point is to consider how your brand talks to its customers and maintain consistency across all channels.
We recommend starting with crafting your brand’s personality first, as you work to define your mission, vision, values, customers, etc. And to then define your brand’s tone, as it is a part of your brand’s personality.
Hope this has helped!