Cannes Lions 2018: Wavemaker unveils WM Voicemaker to help brands find their voice

With the world on the verge of mass adoption of voice search, Wavemaker, the new media, content and technology agency, has unveiled a new digital tool at Cannes Lions that enables marketers to create the right voice for their brand.

In a session titled ‘The tongue paints what the eye can’t see: the power of voice’ at the Palais on Tuesday, Verra Budimlija, Chief Strategy Officer, Wavemaker UK and neuromarketer Thom Noble, Co-Founder, NeuroStrata, launched WM Voicemaker, Wavemaker’s new research product for testing and enhancing brand voice.

WM Voicemaker, which was created by Wavemaker in partnership with NeuroStrata-CloudArmy, is based on neuro-scientific testing of people’s conscious and unconscious reactions to a range of voices.

Wavemaker’s exclusive research suggests that human voices are better able to convey brand values and attributes than Alexa or Google Assistant, and has flagged that brands may need to revisit their brand values to see which are able to translate for voice. It also showed that Alexa struggles to trigger deep emotional responses in people, sounding too robotic in some contexts.

WM Voicemaker shows why people prefer some voices to others, the impact of male and female voices, what a voice can trigger in people’s minds and how it will resonate with a brand. For the first time, brands will be able to test their selected brand voices using an analysis which will help them to understand how well different voices convey their brand values and characteristics.

“Until now, traditional neuroscience research tools have not been available to do this at scale, so this tool is not only pioneering but will offer an online, agile, implicit-based product for evaluating and optimising brand voice. We’re on the cusp of a seismic shift in our ability to forge true customer relationships at scale; it’s a very exciting time,” said Budimlija.

Budimlija cited Wavemaker’s research which found that when interacting with brands on voice assistants, 47% of people said they’d prefer a human voice to the standard voice assistant and 38% said they’d interact for longer if a human voice was responding. Meanwhile, 37% believe brands with voice assistant apps should use a unique brand voice. The WM Voicemaker research also found that with deeply emotive issues or topics involving personal risk, there is more of a call for a human touch.

“Not all core brand values translate well into voice,” said Budimlija “Work out which brand values you want your brand voice to convey.”

The full results of this research will be published later this month.

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