Creating a New Brand Voice

Challenge and Selection

My challenge is to define and develop a brand voice for a new app for a Fortune 500 hospitality  company that will engage an international audience ranging from millennials to our oldest, most loyal  guests, encouraging an ongoing conversation and relationship with them. I have selected mind  mapping as my tool to identify the various elements that create this voice. Moreover, this technique  will be used to encourage collaboration and build consensus between ten stakeholders with divergent  opinions about how the voice should be articulated – taking us from “what is” to “what if” and finally, to  a voice that will wow our audience. I will need to dissuade stakeholders’ attention from their individual  guest segments so they can view the audience holistically as real people with real needs and  expectations. This mental model was emphasized during Professor Jeanne Liedtka’s lecture on  mindsets and the video from Sue Falcon on the prepared mind. I have used this methodology in  the past, which includes 1:1 interviews, card sorts and a group visualization exercise that proactively  involves the stakeholders in illustrating how guests should be addressed at the various stages of their  journey with us. This technique is effective in breaking brand voice into smaller, more digestible  chunks, giving stakeholders an element of control and a constant flow of feedback from their peers.  Ultimately, it allows for a smoother path to solutioning and identifies ‘future state’ opportunities for the  backlog.     Application

First, I interviewed each stakeholder individually, asking for the words they felt applied to the new  brand voice they envisioned (e.g. approachable, helpful, professional, etc.). They were then asked to  prioritize these words in order of importance. Once all stakeholders went through this exercise, I  tallied the results and identified the top six adjectives before bringing the group together.     For the next activity, a large guest journey map was hung on a wall that showed major milestones  such as hotel search activity, booking path, check-in and checkout options, and the moments of  delight in between. Each of the six adjectives were assigned a unique color to create a legend  (‘efficient’=blue; ‘polite’=yellow, etc.). Each stakeholder was then given a supply of color-coded sticky  dots to represent each adjective. En masse, they then placed the appropriate sticky dots at those  moments of the guest journey when the various adjectives apply, creating a ‘heat map’ of the brand  voice. For example, for check-in, the voice might be color-coded for warm, approachable and  professional, while the reservations form would be color-coded as straightforward and intuitive. At the  end of this exercise, the stakeholders had a powerful visual map of how the voice is articulated  throughout the guest journey.    For the final stage of this process with the stakeholders, each was given a pad of sticky notes to write  a sentence or two about how they now envisioned the brand voice. These will be collated and a brand  voice manifesto created and submitted for their final approval.

We will then go into our research lab with the final results translated into actual guest-facing language  to test the impact of our new brand voice, first in English and then the various languages our app and  website support. Undoubtedly, issues will be surfaced and adjustments will be needed to the new  brand voice during this phase to bring it to a place where it is most effective in communicating with  our guests.      Insight and Approach

While I have used these techniques in the past, professors Liedtka and Moore provided some key  insights I had not considered. Primarily, Professor Moore spoke about the importance of looking for  patterns and insights that will “lead to creative solutions”. As I moved through the exercises with our  stakeholders, definite patterns emerged; such as reoccurring themes in the adjectives they used to  describe brand voice and concerns they had about guest impressions. My awareness of this helped  to smooth over more heated discussions during the guest journey map exercise; by calling out the  patterns and feedback they provided me, I was able to pave the way for consensus to be reached.    In “Designing for Growth” by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie, the ten tools of design thinking were  discussed. I was able to leverage these for this exercise, relying heavily on visualization, journey  mapping, value chain analysis, mind mapping, and brainstorming a concept (or, in this case, a brand  voice) development. We will move to user testing and rapid prototyping during these lab sessions to  create messaging that resonates with the test subjects – or the customer co-creation the authors  discussed. Finally, when the new app is launched with this new brand voice, a steady stream of  metrics will inform us as to when and how the voice needs to be altered so we can continuously  engage and inspire our global audience.


Creating a New Brand Voice Challenge and Selection My challenge is to define and develop a brand voice for a new app for a Fortune 500 hospitality company that will engage an international audience ranging from millennials to our oldest , most loyal guests , encouraging an ongoing conversation and relationship with them . I have selected mind mapping as my tool to identify the various elements that create this voice . Moreover , this technique will be used to encourage collaboration and build consensus between ten stakeholders with divergent opinions about how the voice should be articulated – taking us from “ what is ” to “ what if ” and finally , to a voice that will wow our audience . I will need to dissuade stakeholders ’ attention from their individual guest segments so they can view the audience holistically as real people with real needs and expectations . This mental model was emphasized during Professor Jeanne Liedtka ’s lecture on mindsets and the video from Sue Falcon on the prepared mind . I have used this methodology in the past , which includes 1:1 interviews , card sorts and a group visualization exercise that proactively involves the stakeholders in illustrating how guests should be addressed at the various stages of their journey with us . This technique is effective in breaking brand voice into smaller , more digestible chunks , giving stakeholders an element of control and a constant flow of feedback from their peers . Ultimately , it allows for a smoother path to solutioning and identifies ‘ future state ’ opportunities for the backlog . Application First , I interviewed each stakeholder individually , asking for the words they felt applied to the new brand voice they envisioned ( e.g. approachable , helpful , professional , etc . ) . They were then asked to prioritize these words in order of importance . Once all stakeholders went through this exercise , I tallied the results and identified the top six adjectives before bringing the group together . For the next activity , a large guest journey map was hung on a wall that showed major milestones such as hotel search activity , booking path , check - in and checkout options , and the moments of delight in between . Each of the six adjectives were assigned a unique color to create a legend ( ‘ efficient’=blue ; ‘ polite’=yellow , etc . ) . Each stakeholder was then given a supply of color - coded sticky dots to represent each adjective . En masse , they then placed the appropriate sticky dots at those moments of the guest journey when the various adjectives apply , creating a ‘ heat map ’ of the brand voice . For example , for check - in , the voice might be color - coded for warm , approachable and professional , while the reservations form would be color - coded as straightforward and intuitive . At the end of this exercise , the stakeholders had a powerful visual map of how the voice is articulated throughout the guest journey . For the final stage of this process with the stakeholders , each was given a pad of sticky notes to write a sentence or two about how they now envisioned the brand voice . These will be collated and a brand voice manifesto created and submitted for their final approval . We will then go into our research lab with the final results translated into actual guest - facing language to test the impact of our new brand voice , first in English and then the various languages our app and website support . Undoubtedly , issues will be surfaced and adjustments will be needed to the new brand voice during this phase to bring it to a place where it is most effective in communicating with our guests . Insight and Approach While I have used these techniques in the past , professors Liedtka and Moore provided some key insights I had not considered . Primarily , Professor Moore spoke about the importance of looking for patterns and insights that will “ lead to creative solutions ” . As I moved through the exercises with our stakeholders , definite patterns emerged ; such as reoccurring themes in the adjectives they used to describe brand voice and concerns they had about guest impressions . My awareness of this helped to smooth over more heated discussions during the guest journey map exercise ; by calling out the patterns and feedback they provided me , I was able to pave the way for consensus to be reached . In “ Designing for Growth ” by Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie , the ten tools of design thinking were discussed . I was able to leverage these for this exercise , relying heavily on visualization , journey mapping , value chain analysis , mind mapping , and brainstorming a concept ( or , in this case , a brand voice ) development . We will move to user testing and rapid prototyping during these lab sessions to create messaging that resonates with the test subjects – or the customer co - creation the authors discussed . Finally , when the new app is launched with this new brand voice , a steady stream of metrics will inform us as to when and how the voice needs to be altered so we can continuously engage and inspire our global audience .