Transcript

CHRIS WEST

My name is Chris West. I’m the founder of a brand-language agency called ‘Verbal Identity’. And we say that we create language which creates value for our customers.

So, we’re called ‘Verbal Identity’, but the discipline of verbal identity is a distinct function within branding. It’s the way a brand uses language to make itself known and to stand for something. And the easiest way of understanding it, perhaps, is to say that verbal identity is the complement to the visual identity of a brand.

So, most people will know a brand logo, a brand colour palette, and a brand’s font, and they’re consistent, and they help people understand what the brand stands for.

In the same way we would look at language that the brand uses and makes sure that that language is consistent and distinct. The concept of ‘verbal identity’, as a discipline in branding, is relatively new. When I started in ad agencies at the beginning of the 90s, I was at Saatchi and Saatchi, one of the biggest and best ad agencies, and we were working on British Airways. And you didn’t really need a strong idea of a verbal identity for the brand. Because you would have a great piece of communication, because maybe the idea was great, or maybe the photography was great. So, tone of voice or verbal identity, you didn’t really need to have, because the ad would stand out anyway.

What we see now is nine out of ten channels that a brand communicates with a consumer are dominated by language. So it might be the email newsletter, it might be the customer-satisfaction survey, it might be a consumer looking for the consensus of opinion on social media. So, suddenly, a brand needs to understand: How does language work? How does language allow us to build bridges with people? How does language work to persuade people?

INTERVIEWER

So those are the three parts to verbal identity?

CHRIS WEST

Yeah. So the three parts to verbal identity are: tone of voice; the specific language that would be used – the key phrases, the key words; but also the messaging structure, as well. So, normally, when we talk to people about verbal identity, they say ‘What, like visual identity? The word equivalent?’ We say ‘Yes. Absolutely.’ And they say ‘Well, where does that make a difference?’ And, unfortunately, the answer that most people understand is ‘Innocent Smoothies’, because suddenly a mashed-up fruit product had this voice that would speak to you, and it’d be slightly cheeky and it’d say ‘Drop in at Innocent Towers’.

And the reason I say ‘unfortunately’ is that the best example of verbal identity was created about 15 years ago. So I sometimes think that our industry really needs a boot up the bum. Because we’re referencing something that happened 12 years ago.