What exactly is this high-end “brand tone”?

At the last meeting, the boss brought up the concept of "brand tone" and asked us to think about it. He also emphasized that our brand tone should be determined after the Chinese New Year, and we will need to give specific opinions at that time.

After that, with an academic research attitude of seeking truth from facts, for "brand tone", I first need a relevant definition, and then figure out its historical origins, development process, trends, classic cases, etc., so that I will have a specific guiding ideology in the execution of my work.

So, with a series of questions, I logged into "CNKI" and "Wanfang" to conduct academic searches, but after the search I was confused.

Oh my god, there isn’t one?

In recent years, there has not been a single academic research paper on "brand tone", so two conclusions can be drawn: ① "Brand tone" is a new concept; ② This concept has not yet had a unified definition and academic consensus in the academic community. In this situation, I turned to the omnipotent "Baidu Dad" and finally got the answer.

This is the concept explanation from "MBA Think Tank Encyclopedia": Brand tone refers to the unique language identification used by the brand in the market. The main components of brand tone include the definition and interpretation of brand core values, brand value appeal, brand logo, brand story and brand main slogan. The Think Tank Encyclopedia did not indicate who explained and proposed this concept, and used a series of more high-end terms, which made me feel very high-end after reading it, but I had no idea what it was talking about.

Well, since there is no clear definition, then think about it the other way around. From the perspective of the problems that need to be solved, what problems does brand tone mainly solve? After some rigorous brainstorming, I found that the brand tone is mainly to solve these three problems (use "erase" to make sentences):

①Erase the company's logo, and their products still look like the same company;

②Erase the company's logo, and their promotional posters still look like the same company;

③Even if you erase the company’s logo, their copy still looks like it’s from the same company.

Following this line of thought, I came to the conclusion: the so-called brand tone is actually a company's long-term, stable and unified style. The ultimate goal of this style is to enable consumers to quickly and accurately identify the brand and form cognition, thereby cultivating a fan economy and generating economic profits.

Other noun concepts similar to brand tone include "brand personality", "brand gene" , etc. For example, when you mention Gree Air Conditioner, your first reaction is definitely Dong Mingzhu ; when you mention Jumei Youpin, your first reaction is Chen Ou; when you mention Apple, your first reaction is Steve Jobs... There are many similar ones, so "brand personality" is to associate a cold brand with the image of the founder in order to give it personalized characteristics.

Okay, let’s not go too far and continue to talk about “brand tone”. Now that we know what “brand tone” is, the question is, how should companies cultivate their own “brand tone”? (It would be embarrassing if you only know what "pretentiousness" is but don't know how to "pretend to be pretentious")

………………………………………………………………Dividing line…………………………………………………………………………

Let’s go back to the problem we want to solve: if we change a product manager , the overall style of the product will change; if we change a graphic designer, the overall style of the pictures will change; if we change an editor, the overall style of the copy will change (parallelism)…

So isn’t this the problem that the “brand identity system” is meant to solve? What is a brand identification system: See the picture below. Anyway, I didn’t quite understand this concept. In short, it means that consumers can quickly recognize your brand symbols and perceive what you want to express. For example, when you see three stripes, your first reaction is: Adidas, youth, vitality, passion; when you see double R, your first reaction is: rich people, middle-aged and elderly people, luxury...

So, what parts does a brand identity system include?

Specifically, there are four aspects: ①MI-concept identification system; ②BI-behavior identification system; ③VI-visual identification system; ④HI-auditory identification system . These four words are a bit obscure, so I will translate them into plain language:

① Concept identification: What is the guiding ideology of the company? For example, Apple’s guiding ideology is to develop innovative products, earn high profits, and leave the hard work to Foxconn.

②Behavior recognition system: This is the company's unified behavioral norms for both internal and external parties. For example, if you see a man in a suit on the street, he is either selling insurance or working in real estate. This is behavior recognition.

③ Visual recognition system: This will be discussed later;

④ Auditory recognition system: Just by hearing certain language voices, you can quickly know which brand it is. For example, I say "Hello", you say "Moto", I say "I won't accept any gifts this year", you say "I only accept Melatonin", I say "Wash", you say "Be healthier"...

Among the four systems of brand identity, the scope of "concept identity system" and "behavior identity system" is relatively broad, and it is difficult for entrepreneurial enterprises to standardize them too early. The "visual identity system" is the core of the brand tone that we really talk about. It determines how different product managers can make products with continuity and how different designers can design works with a unified style...

Now, here comes the key point. From the boss' initial question about "brand tone", to what is brand tone - the core of brand tone - the problems that need to be solved - brand identification system - visual identification system, the answer to the question has gradually surfaced: For entrepreneurial companies, the so-called "brand tone", when implemented at the execution level, is to design a set of "visual identification system" specifications so that product managers, designers, copywriters, operations , sales, etc. can quickly understand and follow this set of specifications. This enables the company to work within the same framework from the outset, and eventually, after long-term accumulation, to develop a brand personality and culture.

………………………………………………………………Dividing line…………………………………………………………………………

If I just complete the above thinking, it is obviously not the final answer, because the boss did not ask me to explain the concept to him, but to give a specific solution. Next: The visual recognition system specifically includes two aspects: "basic system" and "application system". The basic system is the specific design specification, and the application system is the actual scene application (see the figure below for details).

Up to now, "brand tone" has evolved from an initial vague concept to a specific detailed breakdown. It can be seen that it includes detailed specifications such as "universal standard fonts", "standard color matching", "white space ratio", etc. It is under the premise of such specifications that different designers can design continuous works, and companies can gradually establish their own style and tone.

………………………………………………………………Dividing line…………………………………………………………………………

Then, the final execution level can be divided into several steps: ① Write a VI plan for the boss to review; ② After the boss's approval, send the plan to several designers in the company; ③ The company's designers design a set of VI standards and reference renderings in their own style; ④ Determine the final VI through the company's evaluation; ⑤ Use this VI as the benchmark design principle, and incorporate it into the company's future designs.

OK, here, the task is preliminarily completed...

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @杨杰 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!