Idea Spark: Voice of the Brand Pt. 1—Who Is Talking?

This Idea Spark blog post is the result of the discussion during our Friday morning Creativity Coffee. If you’d like to join us (in person or via web/phone conference), please sign up here. There’s no charge or obligation. We just love ideas and open discussion!

During our previous Creativity Coffee, we continued the discussion about online communities by talking about the Role of the Community Manager—what does a community manager do? What are the objectives? What kind of skills does he/she need? We expanded on that discussion this week by focusing in on the voice of the brand. While the community manager is the person behind a brand’s social presence, is it important for that “real life” person (and personality) to shine through? Or are consumers not concerned with the “man behind the curtain” but more focused on interacting with the brand and the brand’s personality on its own? Should the person behind the brand’s social accounts be “transparent” to consumers? Should there be a name and a personality tied to the brand?

1. The case of Dunkin’ Dave.
• Dunkin’ Donuts Twitter account was managed by Dave Puner AKA Dunkin’ Dave. During that time, Dave put a personal voice on the Dunkin’ Donuts Twitter account and provided interactive customer service and brand conversation. People started to respond to Dave’s friendly, conversational and helpful tone and the Dunkin’ Donuts Twitter following blossomed.
• But Dave moved on to another position. Did it hurt Dunkin’ Donuts to equate their social presence to a single person’s identity? Would it have been better to have masked Dave’s identity and let Dave’s personality become the brand’s personality?
2. Social media is a case of mixed norms.
• Economic Norm. In the case of advertising (TV, web, etc.), people understand what’s going on. They are being presented economic incentives of some kind; the messaging is about product value, special deals, etc. The media is in charge of the message.
• Social Norm. In a social (face-to-face) communication, the boundaries and rules are clear. Social etiquette (hopefully) drives the tone and flow of conversation.
• Social Networks Use Social Norms. In social networks, conversations are “owned” by the participants and are governed by the communication “rules” of social norms.
• How do brands participate? Businesses who have traditionally worked by the rules of economic norms are now faced with a different set of rules of engagement. So how does this apply to the question “who is the voice of the brand?” If you’re engaged in a situation where the rules are governed by social norms, it makes sense to put a “person” in front of the brand.
• But it’s not that simple. Like the Dunkin’ Dave situation, people change jobs. If a brand equates its social identity with a specific person and that person leaves the company, the social equity built by that person walks as well.
3. The voice of the brand should be a reflection of the brand’s image.
• Brand Personality/Image. The personality of the brand’s social account should not be a reflection of the specific personality of the employee but a reflection of the brand’s image.
• Mascots. A brand’s personality can also be tied to a mascot (e.g. Chester Cheetah). The mascot drives much of the brand’s identity (“It Ain’t Easy Being Cheesy”) and the voice of the social account can be that of the mascot.
• Strong Personality Embedded in the Brand. If a brand has a strong personality attached to its identity (e.g. Ben & Jerry’s), the voice of the brand MAY be associated with that personality. Even if that person isn’t driving the brand’s social engagement, the brand’s social voice may need to reflect the personality associated with the brand.
4. In most cases, consumers are looking to connect with the brand—not the person(s) manning the social account(s).
• Following a Brand. In general, consumers are looking to following a brand, not “Dunkin’ Dave.” That is, unless the brand makes the person the spotlight.
• Customer Service is the Exception. When it comes to customer service, it’s important for individuals to identify the person addressing their concerns; consumers want to know who they are dealing with.
• Personally Identifiable Content. When the content itself is identified with an individual (e.g. blog post by a specific author) it’s less important to specify the author of the person sharing that content. But if the content itself isn’t personally identifiable and there’s authority/credibility associated with it…then exposing the authorship of the person sharing the content can be important.

Is your brand being represented by a specific person? Is their name or personality exposed by your brand?

In Part 2 of the Voice of the Brand discussion, we’ll talk about tone of voice of the brand. We hope you can join us!