Giving brands a voice: study on the branding of voice assistants and bots
With its recently published study, MetaDesign highlights the importance of brand personalities in the context of developing bots and voice assistants.
Observations have shown that although there are many different use case-specific bots and voice assistants, they only work on their own. The brand itself remains unnoticed here. Moreover, it will not be possible to differentiate such offerings purely on the basis of functionality for long due to rapid technological progress. What then remains as a distinguishing feature is exclusively the brand personality. With voice assistants and bots, this can be defined more precisely than ever before. Companies will very likely have to think about what personalization means for them.
Together with end customers, branding specialists, research experts and psychologists from the renowned market research institute Eye Sqare as well as UX experts, developers, sound and language specialists, strong brands were transformed into prototypical voice assistant personalities in an experiment.
The results of the study are based on three pillars: firstly, on the findings of speech effects and personality research. Among other things, this shows that it is indeed possible to draw conclusions about a person's personality based on their voice. The second point: a sophisticated methodology. Explorative, explicit and implicit quantitative methods were used to approach the brands. Last but not least: the user. A process that must be interdisciplinary and consistently user-centered.
- Invisible Interface is not faceless
- Speech and voice effects send clear codes and can thus - just like visual brand appearances - convey brand messages im- and explicitly, make them recognizable and distinguishable.
- User-centric - but brand first
- Digitalization relies on maximum personalization. In the future, however, those who can do both will make the difference: Create points of identification with the brand AND serve user needs in real time.
- Personality is the brand experience
- In a world of "digital equalization", the brand's unique personality profile is the only way to differentiate itself. Their attitude, behavior and way of speaking make the decisive difference. The encounter with it is the brand experience.
- Attitude - a true brand commitment
- Attitude manifests itself in words and proves itself in deeds: Opinion, voice, language, speech content, thoughts, feelings, ... Brand must expand its self-image to become a true personality.
- Perfection is not likeable
- What makes the people who are close to us or with whom we can identify special are also their rough edges. Brands should therefore also acknowledge this and not just their strengths: The courage to have rough edges is also what rounds out a brand's personality.
- Context equals empathy
- Conversations and relationships take place in contexts: You adapt to your counterpart and the situation. In the same way, brands and voice assistants should naturally behave empathetically and adapt their behavior to the mood, the context of use and the needs of their user.
In user workshops with brand users, the brands were first transformed into personality and voice descriptions using projective-associative techniques. With the help of a live sketcher, a profile picture of the respective brand character was created based on the test subjects' input. Based on the results of the focus groups, a character profile of the brand personality was created and a voice profile derived. Based on this, the identification of suitable brand voices began. As part of an online survey, 2000 panel participants were then asked about personality traits, voice profiles, voice and conversation samples of the brands.
The primary aim of the study was to develop a process that makes conversation branding possible in the first place. At the same time, it is important to show that brands need to think further in light of the new possibilities and turn them into human-centered, conversational personalities. The insights gained from the study are immensely valuable, MetaDesign writes in a press release.
Interaction through language is one of the predominant topics for the coming years. Whether search, purchase or control - such a crucial touchpoint must represent the brand. So far, the debate on this has tended to be technically and functionally driven. It's high time for marketers to get involved in the debate.
Download the study:
MetaDesign is a global brand consultancy with offices in Beijing, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Geneva, San Francisco and Zurich. Since 1979, the company has developed and maintained brands such as Apple, Carl F. Bucherer, Mobiliar, Four Seasons, Intel, Jaeger-LeCoultre, New York Philharmonic, NZZ, Swiss Life and Volkswagen.
