Companies compete with words (TM) So how do you know which words are competitive? That's why we invented brand language analytics. It's where words are 'maps to emotions (TM)'. Where brands and their audiences connect at deep emotional levels. We've mapped it and made it measurable and manageable. In a world where words are proliferating shouting louder is unsustainable. Discover how to have conversations that connect.

1. THE LOSTCONTINENTOFBRANDINGVERBAL IDENTITY

2. Verbal identity is the consistent delivery of competitive
brand language. We’re in a world where conversations and
emotional connections count.
So which words are competitive? And how do you deliver
them consistently?
You’re entering a future with less brand babble. Where words
become brand assets and language analytics link brand and
audience psychologies. Where your teams have tools not
rules.
It’s all in your hands, right now.
Companies compete with words ™Verbal identity now is where we were
with visual identity 40 years ago. But words
are just as important and brands need to
start taking them as seriously.
Michael Wolff - Visual identity pioneer

3. Visual design is the prince
Brands take design and visual identity seriously. Quite rightly.
It’s a market necessity.
In the 20th
century it was a source of competitive advantage.
Is that still true?

4. With verbal identity investment at just 15%, visual rules the
brand world.
But verbal identity is virgin territory. It’s yours for the taking.
We’ve charted millions of brand words and know our way
around. Get exploring by digging beneath the surface of
conventional thinking.
Verbal design is the pauper

5. Audience world is rich in words
Under the glass of mobiles and laptops, words are like plants
in a greenhouse. They’re proliferating in technology’s heat.
That means audiences cutting through more verbiage every
day. Brands are making their journey too difficult.
Verbal identity is about compelling conversations, not
shouting louder. The shortcuts are emotional connections and
clarity.

6. Brands are hard to reach
The FT writes to an audience of post-grads. But they talk to
them at high school level, because these are busy people.
That’s not dumbing down, it’s thinking up.
So why do most brands make their readers work so hard?
[ What you’re reading now clocks in at 13.6 ]

7. Humans act on emotions
Our feelings determine our actions. Yet we’re only aware of a
fraction of what we feel.
It’s pointless asking us why we do things. We just don’t
know. So we make up a ‘logical’, Spocky responses to avoid
sounding stupid. Are you acting on these?
Research treating humans as Vulcans is fair enough closer to
the point of sale. But it’s pretty much useless before that.
Linguabrand explores what makes Kirk’s emotions work.
© CBS Broadcasting Inc.

8. Words are maps to emotions ™
You open up the pathway to your unique verbal ID by mapping
the words in your market.
That needs quant analytics to read everything.
We reverse-engineer what customers and competitors are
saying to reveal their psychology. So you’ll understand what
they’re thinking better than they do themselves.
That goes to the heart of what you’re about, too.

9. Verbal identity maps 3 dimensions
Like all good map-making, identifying your route through the
Lost Continent involves triangulation.
The three dimensions are:
Your competitive environment
What your audiences want to hear
Your brand’s emotional truths
Everything we do is based on bottom-up evidence. So we’ve no
idea how your market will measure up until the listening starts.

10. Your competitors
What’s generic in one market can be distinctive in another. If
you’re in mining it doesn’t matter what airlines are saying.
Everything is relative.
So the first point of reference is to benchmark your market’s
language and thinking.
Which competitors are framing your market’s conversation?
How do your tone of voice and brand agenda compare to theirs?

11. Your audiences
Audiences are searching for emotional connections. They take
the path of least resistance, turning away from brands making
their journey more difficult.
As psychologists we’re interested in uncovering the reality of
their attitudes and actions. It’s about how people say things
rather than what they’re talking about.
If you want to pull emotional buying triggers just walk their way.

12. Your brand
Before it can communicate well, every brand needs a view on
why it makes the world a better place. And it’s got to fit with
its own emotional truths, not its aspirations.
There’s no hiding from this, because audiences really feel it
when your words don’t stack up.
That’s because your thinking patterns are put across sub-
consciously by the metaphors you use.
There’s good science behind this.

13. Metaphors are maps to mindsets ™
Metaphor is simply the description of one thing in terms of
another. Before we speak, we think in metaphors. No other
creature on our planet does this.
We all use 6-8 per minute in everyday speech. They frame
conversations, reflecting our thinking and feelings. And they
run much deeper than words.
Products are metaphors. So are retail environments. And the
biggest marketing metaphors of all? Brands.
Brains operate not by logic
but by pattern recognition. It is
likely that early human thought
proceeded by metaphor.
Metaphor is the stuff of thought.
Stephen Pinker - Professor of Psychology, Harvard
Gerald Edelman - Nobel Prize Winner

14. Growing brands don’
t meander
Brands often end up like tributaries feeding into the flow of
the leaders. That’s because certain brands frame market
conversations in their favour.
Followers unwittingly waste their spend, silting up their own
opportunities and helping the growth brands grow faster.
You’ll open up brand thinking by mapping your market’s
metaphors.

15. Precision mapping a new world
Co-ordinating verbal identity gives you a benchmark.
Once you know where you are, you can test where new
language will take you. We have a toolkit called ‘Our Brand
Voice’ which keeps all your teams on course.
These techniques are applied not just to brand language.
They work in research, CRM, HR and on sales proposals too.

16. Brand agendas are 54% generic
That’s quite a shocking statistic. It means that what brands
talk about is only 46% different from their competitors, on
average.
So lots of brands are creating more verbiage for their
audiences. While paying to say the same as everyone else.
You can move to being 66% distinctive by reducing generics
from 54% to 34%. That’s only a 20% re-weighting.
We can show you which 20%.
Selling art and history to Europeans? Visitor numbers have been falling.
The generic New World tourist agenda

17. Tone of voice: clearing a path
Frankly, there’s more hot air about tone of voice than on any
other verbal ID subject. It’s entirely subjective. One person’s
‘approachable’ tone is another’s ‘trustworthy’.
What does it all mean? And how do you replicate any of this
stuff?
Tone of voice is a really subtle area. But we’ve made big
strides by inventing tone of voice charting. We map brands as
though they’re a person.

18. Brand or bland?
The energy sector’s generic tone of voice is pretty good. But
despite the resources spent, the brands all sound the same.
It’s a really good example of how writers have come in and
‘de-cluttered’ the brands.
In the process, the reason for the brands existing has been
obscured.
High
Average
Low
250
200
150
100
50
0
Energy sector vs All business
British Gas vs Energy sector

19. Often words and pictures point in different directions.
We bridge this gap by analysing the market’s visual content
alongside its words.
Big picture semiotic stuff has its place. But science trumps
opinion every time in our world.
We give you bottom-up evidence that’s framed in a
competitive context.
Context is king
?
?
?

20. Linguabrand are London based verbal ID developers.
We’ve mapped millions of words, pioneering the use of
analytics and psychology. It’s a fertile mix that works across
brands, sales, strategy and corporate culture.
We work with great clients, agencies and their writers across
the world; opening up The Lost Continent of Branding.
You can find out more at linguabrand.com
Hear what we’re up to on Twitter @linguabrand
Email us at proactive@linguabrand.com
Start a conversation right now on +44 [0] 207 608 5077
Measure it to manage itSome brands we’
ve mapped
Logos TM of respective brand owners.

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