After launching .coms in the '90s, building LinkedIn's presence in the Netherlands mid 2000's, leading global corporate communications teams, and launching and building the MACH Alliance since 2020, I've discovered this truth: words are every company's free and most scalable yet undervalues asset. As a linguist turned brand builder, I've watched companies invest in visual identity while their verbal identity gets little attention. It's a hard sell, because words are 'free'.
Beyond Nice-to-Have
Language shapes perception. Apple sounds like Apple. Nike sounds like Nike. Not by accident – through deliberate choices in how they express themselves. Having 'done' brand voices for tech companies over two decades, I know: verbal identity either strengthens or dilutes with every communication. And often it is an area nobody seems really aware of.
People are Bad at it
Human brains are fantastically equiped to learn any language on the planet - babies learn the language they are born into, naturally. People are pretty good at recognizing style elements, tone and discrepancies by intuition. They trust people (read: entities) less who switch between styles a lot without even knowing it. Yet we - all of us - struggle with complex language instructions. We can not remember them and we fail to apply them. Most times we don't really understand grammar and language well enough to really understand differences between words and formulations - we feel it, or we don't. As part of my linguistic master studies I had to train explaining to someone new to the language why certain words could only be used 'like so' and let me tell you: it is the hardest thing.
More practically: hand someone a 50-page writing guide, and guess what happens? The most compliant people will read it (once) and then get going. Others will skim it and trust they get it. Give them a one-pager instead - guess what happens. It is too vague to be useful and they'll just use whatever instinct they have. In both cases the writing is unguided. AI can unlock tone and writing guidance in many ways.
Understanding Brand Voice Science
With AI analyses and building on Aaker's groundbreaking 1997 brand personality model, we started to map distinct voice dimensions that reveal where brands stand out – or could stand out:
We used the top framework and added underlying elements to judge each dimension on. Each dimension is judged on specific linguistic elements: word choice, sentence rhythm, narrative structure, metaphor use, technical precision, and emotional markers. Take 'Sincerity' – it manifests through personal anecdotes, vulnerability in storytelling, direct address, and carefully balanced informal language. This becomes a 'Tone of Voice' when these elements align consistently.
The AI Breakthrough
Remember when nobody counted words? Then word processors added that counter. Suddenly, everyone knew their count instantly. Today, AI transforms tone measurement the same way. For the first time in my 25 years of communications work, we can relatively easily quantify what was previously unquantifiable. When you talk and program AI with linguistics, some tasks that were impossible in the past, become very easy.
Corporate communications teams finally have tools to:
- Track tone consistency
- Spot voice drift early
- Guide writers effectively
- Scale voice across organizations
Moving Forward
Your brand voice evolves with every piece of content. As someone who's built and managed corporate voices globally, I know the impact of getting this right – and the cost of getting it wrong.
Next up: How AI is transforming brand voice measurement.
Aaker's Brand Personality Framework (1997) pioneered the systematic analysis of brand character traits and their impact on consumer perception.
