Verbal Identity

'Verbal identity or verbal brand identity is the linguistic component of an organisation's brand. It incorporates brand language, the terms in which an organisation describes itself and its products, but also covers the names of corporations and the products they sell, taglines, and the “voice” of the brand, defined as the personality and tone discernible in its communications. In conjunction with visual and sensory identity, it is a key component of overall brand identity.

Verbal identity has traditionally been considered subordinate to visual identity due to the monodirectional nature of conventional advertising. However, the increasing importance of a two-way conversation between brand and consumer, for instance that of social media, has led to a sharp rise in its prominence over the last decade. This ability to engage in an ongoing dialogue with customers provides an opportunity for companies to more firmly cement their products and services into the consumer consciousness, but doing so successfully requires a consistent, well-defined approach to the use of language.

Verbal Identity was originally defined by John Simmons, a writer and marketing consultant, while working at the brand strategy agency InterBrand The concept and strategies for its cultivation were developed to address a lack of coherent treatment within the advertising, marketing, and branding industries of the language used within brand implementation. The concept of positive verbal identity management has seen a rapid upsurge in popularity since it was first introduced to marketing in 2003 . As of 2013, many larger agencies have begun to offer tailored verbal identity services to their clients, with a number of smaller boutique consultancies also emerging to cater for the increasingly high demand. In addition, since the concepts inherent to verbal identity creation and management have always been key skills in copywriting, a number of freelance copywriters have begun to reposition themselves as “verbal identity specialists”. In 2016, the London International Awards introduced a Verbal Identity category where entries were judged upon their naming and tone (linguistics) of voice, among other linguistic qualities.

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