Branding

Our discussion of audio icons leads to one of the primary uses of such icons: branding , the unique identity that a company, product, or service holds in the mind of the consumer. Most clients looking for a speech-recognition system have an application need in mind; they're not thinking about how that system will function as an extension of their brand. The telephone is a communication medium, just like TV and radio. In fact, the telephone can even be considered superior to those other media because it offers true, one-to-one interactive communication ”and best of all, you can count on customers having a phone. Clients need to understand that ”and to realize that a speech-recognition system can be as effective a marketing vehicle as any radio spot or TV commercial.

Branding Basics

Brand identity allows similar companies to compete ”and to market themselves to different groups of people. For example, the brand identity of Volvo automobiles is safety. Over the years , Volvo has invested millions of dollars promoting the safety of its cars . It doesn't really mean a Volvo is a safer form of transportation than any other, but it does mean that people may choose to buy a Volvo ”without having done any comparative research ”because they've been led to believe they are safe vehicles. That's effective branding.

Likewise Apple Computer. Apple has distinguished its products in the PC marketplace by emphasizing their ease of use, innovation, and great design. That's the essence of its branding ”which is why we don't see iMac commercials that stress processing speed or other technical attributes.

FedEx is another great example of a strong brand identity. FedEx has become so synonymous with the delivery of packages that " absolutely positively" have to be there the next day, that people now use the brand name as a verb ”"I need to FedEx this package tonight" ”even if they're using a different carrier! In doing so, FedEx has joined the small club of brands whose names are used interchangeably with the product category, just like Kleenex (tissues) and Xerox (copiers).

Having a strong brand is a powerful competitive advantage ”but it can't be taken for granted. Smart companies continuously protect and reinforce their brand identities via every communication medium at their disposal.

Many companies have great Web sites, strong marketing collateral , compelling advertising, top- notch customer service representatives ”and really bad touchtone phone systems. Perhaps they don't care. Perhaps they don't think of their phone systems as a marketing channel. Perhaps they don't even realize how powerful a tool their phone systems can be. Whatever the reasons, these companies are missing out on an important opportunity ”to strengthen their customer relationships, improve customer satisfaction, and build their brands among the people who matter most.

Most companies pay a great deal of attention to how their brands are communicated in their advertising and marketing literature. But these are outbound communications with no direct, interactive connection to the customer. An advertisement can be ignored or turned off. A brochure can be left unread. But when a customer calls a company, it is one of the most direct and personal contacts that company will ever have with a customer.

Contrary to popular perception, customers don't always object to using an automated system. In fact, they often prefer the anonymity it provides for more private transactions, such as selecting a PIN for a brokerage system. (Do you really want that customer care representative knowing that your password is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4?) Telephones are also ubiquitous ”unlike Internet access ”enabling customers to call from anywhere at any time. A speech system can handle many types of interactions ”from sales to service ”and it can be customized to reinforce the company's brand at the same time.

By taking branding into consideration from the beginning, companies can ensure that their phone system handles customers the right way all the time ”in a manner that's consistent with its brand identity.

Branding over the Phone

There are two primary questions to answer when contemplating how a company's brand should be manifested over the phone.

• What kind of brand does the company have (or want to have)?

• What role will the application play in expressing the brand?

The answer to the first question is sometimes obvious ”particularly for companies that already have strong brands. We can imagine how a speech-recognition system for, say, the Gerber baby food company might sound (or might not sound). I would imagine that we'd all agree that it shouldn't sound like an aggressive ruffian.

But sometimes it's not as simple as determining what it shouldn't be like. Often you have to dig a little deeper, especially if a company's branding is based more on its aspirations than its current reality. You can begin to get an accurate depiction of a company's messaging by collecting as much corporate communications material as possible ”from brochures to videos to press releases. In addition, talking to the company's marketing executives will provide further insight into the intent of those marketing messages. Often companies can supply internal documents or research materials that discuss the company's positioning in the marketplace.

The answer to the second question will vary greatly, depending on the company and the application. The application might be just one of the company's several customer service channels, such as a flight information system for a large airline. Other times, the application is the brand ”for example, a voice portal. A voice portal has no customer service representatives behind it, and no real product other than the information that callers receive. While the flight information line needs to have a personality that is helpful and reflects the brand of the rest of the company, the voice portal can (and probably should) be more entertaining, fun, and upbeat. Why? Because the portal may also be designed to sell products and services and who wants to be sold experiential entertainment consumer goods by a sad sack? Even a casket company doesn't want to sound morose over the phone ”professional, but certainly not downbeat.

In the process of digesting all this information, you should begin to develop a sense of the brand's personality ”and how it should be expressed over the phone.

Choosing the Voice of the Brand

Choosing the voice of a brand can be a challenge, since it involves considering not only the gender of the voice (and any accompanying stereotypes), but also the type and texture of the voice. An important question to ask is "Who should the voice personify?" Should it be the voice of the very best customer care representative in the company? Or a voice like the one featured in the company's TV and radio spots?

There are two ways to think about the personality behind the voice.

• The feeling that the voice conveys ”no matter what they are saying

• The character or social environment evoked by the voice

We've all heard voices that sound unusual or grating or smooth or sexy. These voices convey a particular feeling ”no matter what they are saying. I imagine James Earl Jones sounds authoritative even when he's ordering a pizza. Melanie Griffith still has a naive, teenage quality to her voice ”even though she's been an adult for decades. And who can listen to Lauren Bacall without visualizing a luxury Park Avenue apartment ”even when she's selling cat food!

Designers need to consider these impressions when they choose a voice. You probably wouldn't select Melanie Griffith as the voice of Dodge Ram Trucks, nor would we be likely to hire Rosie O'Donnell to record audio prompts for the National Gallery of Art. And James Earl Jones might be a disaster as the voice of Blind skateboards.

But when the voice and the company are matched ”like Tom Selleck and AT&T for the "You Will" ad campaign ”the designer's branding work practically takes care of itself. In this case, the quality of the advertisements was futuristic in concept and look but very accessible in tone and text. Selleck's voice was warm and conversational, which could easily lend itself to be used in a speech-recognition system.

Advertising Voices

Sometimes the casting of the voice can be easy, especially if the company has an existing advertising campaign that features a recurring character or a consistent voice-over (not that a designer would always want that particular voice). A good example of this is Bank of America TV advertisements. In one series of advertisements they used a child with an unusually raspy but obviously young voice. A designer might choose to imagine how this child will sound when he's grown up a bit, and then cast a voice that is a little raspy but also has other qualities that reflect other aspects of the company. The designer could cast someone in his late 20s to early 30s to keep the "feel" youthful, but with added "depth" to convey trust.

Just because a company has an identifiable commercial spokesperson doesn't mean the designer should use that same voice in the speech-recognition system. Because of the limitations of telephone audio, some TV voice talents may not sound as good ”or even recognizable ”on the phone. The designer should feel free either to choose a different voice with similar characteristics or to try something completely different. If we were casting a voice for Verizon, for example, we might avoid their spokesperson, James Earl Jones, entirely and go with a female voice talent ”akin to a TV co-host. The only criterion that matters is to choose a voice with a personality that works in accordance with the company brand and complements the commercial spokesperson.