In our day to day lives, using language seems such a natural and automatic thing, a capacity we slowly acquire as we grow, while language itself evolves over time from generation to generation to meet our changing needs.

Language is pervasive throughout culture, and this makes it a powerful tool for brands. Using the right language is relevant whether creating social media posts, developing new pack copy & claims, writing radio adverts, formulating internal positioning statements, or crafting website copy, it is incredibly rare for brands to communicate without some use of language. Clearly defining your language offers a great opportunity for brands to create a distinctive signature that will work across media channels.

But despite its everyday and familiar nature across culture, human use of language is more than just a gradual outcome of evolution, something that has partnered with us as we have grown as a species. Language radically transformed our capabilities and capacities as a species, with words nothing we did would ever be the same, and we would be fundamentally changed. Humanity acquiring the ability to talk, write and reason in language is akin to Peter Parker being bitten by the radioactive spider. Language is our superpower.

But what opportunities does this power afford us? How can humans, organisations, and brands make best use of the unique capabilities that language offers them? There are three key language superpowers that we will explore in this piece:

  • Language as unconscious driver of action
  • Language as vehicle for symbolic meaning
  • Language as space for creative and distinctive voices

We will identify how each can be employed to superpower your brand…

Identify Unconscious Consumer Drivers

Language is so inherent in our being, that it carries with it our values and perspectives, even when we don’t realise we are communicating them. A close analysis of cultural and consumer language allows us to identify powerful unconscious frames and drivers directing our behaviour.

A key way to understand how language unconsciously guides behaviour is to look at the metaphors embedded in seemingly neutral everyday language and unpack how these influence our ability to reason, understand, and act.

For example, many concepts can be communicated in ways that reveal radically different underlying worldviews, for example an “argument” may be expressed using a metaphor of a “war”. This is evident in expressions like: “his position was entrenched”; “they dug in”; “his points reinforced her views”; “their theory was shot down”; or “your claims are indefensible”.

But, this is not the only way of describing an argument. An alternative metaphor of “building” is present in phrases like: “her argument had strong foundations”; “he built to his conclusion brick by brick”; “their argument was well constructed”; “her points built on his perfectly”; “their theory collapsed”; or “your claims don’t bear weight”. These phrases could all be used to communicate the exact same situation as the one described by the metaphor of war, but crucially each metaphor is a reflection of a very different mindset of the user.

This is not simply wordplay, the choice of metaphor used by an individual, actually governs what they understand as acceptable outcomes, directly influencing their behaviour. Someone who views an argument as “war” seeks to be a victor and looks to defeat their opponent, they see finding compromise as ‘losing’ and a sign of weakness.

For the person who uses the “building” metaphor, things are quite different, points of disagreement can be discussed ‘constructively’ in order to identify ‘builds’ that can result in a mutually beneficial collaborative outcome. This person will embrace compromise in the name of creating better understanding. The language used here is not incidental, it has a real effect on the behaviour of the user. If you want to change someone’s behaviour, prompting them with language that changes their framing of the situation, can be a subtle yet powerful way of doing so. This can be seen in the way that discourse concerning cancer treatment has tended to move away for using the metaphor of a battle (and all the destruction that implies) towards using the metaphor of the journey. Metaphors like these are particularly important in categories concerning taboo subject matter, or where benefits are more intangible and emotional such as political messaging, medical treatments, or even in the leisure sector.

   The Guardian                       Cancer Research UK

Create Cross Cultural Symbolic Meaning

We tend to think of ourselves as living in separate language communities, with certain meanings in one language difficult to translate into another. But this is not fully the case, there are many properties in language that can be used to communicate meanings that are understood across cultural boundaries and by people who don’t share a common language.

Sound symbolism offers a variety of means by which a brand can subtly embed cross cultural meanings that can reinforce the properties of a product or service they are offering. One example of this is called “magnitude symbolism” where words featuring ‘lower’ pitch vowel sounds (e.g. “o”, “u”, or “oo”) communicate a greater sense of size and heft vs words using ‘higher’ pitch “e”, “I” or “a” vowels which are associated with smaller or less weighty items.

While most people are not conscious of this tendency, this superpower is evident in a number of popular slang language modifications, such as the substitution of the word “chonky” (for chunky) to communicate a larger, more rotund animal. This can be seen being used for the “chonky boi” stress toy below. Due to sound symbolism, this meaning is possible to intuit, even if the reader does not have previous familiarity with the word “chonky”.

There are other sounds that can be used to communicate different sensory stimuli, one such example is displayed by the Kiki-Bouba effect, whereby when asked to assign the apparently non-sensical names “bouba” and “kiki” to two shapes, one bulbous and round, and one pointy, respondents overwhelmingly identify the pointy object as kiki, and the rounded one as bouba.

This indicates that the “b”, “ou” and “a” sounds, are perceived as ‘rounded’, while “k” and “I” are understood as ‘pointy’. As such, if a brand wants to communicate a soft and ‘cosy’ experience rounded sounds can be a great way to symbolically embed this meaning, while if looking for a sense of dynamic ‘cut through’, then the pointier sounds may be more appropriate.

The Kiki-Bouba effect is particularly powerful when coining new product names, or descriptors that can consistently communicate the product experience across markets. We can see how the name KitKat for example communicates the crisp snappy nature of their product, the perfect snack for a quick break, while Hubba Bubba instead embodies a sense of soft and enduring chewy fun in theirs. 

Create a Distinctive Voice

As seen in our examples of metaphors and sound symbolism, as a species we all can and do play with language. There is great licence to be creative with words, while still allowing us to understand each other. This is further evident with everything from cheesy puns, to spoonerisms, rhymes, and alliteration – we all have a creative language spirit within us.

In many ways using language is like jazz, we all implicitly ‘know’ the rules, but we all also know when we can break them for emphasis and poetic effect. In language you can create new words, phrases, and narratives that have never been heard before, yet will be entirely understandable to your consumer. This superpower represents a great opportunity for brands to drive distinctiveness and bare their creative soul.

But consistency is important. To enable the embrace of language play you need to determine your tone of voice. As a brand are you? Poetic? Funny? Formal? Quirky? Or imaginative? Identifying the key codes of your current brand, we can establish a tonal palette of language cues, metaphors, and sounds that can be drawn upon to develop new content that is distinctive, while working in harmony with pre-existing communications.  

For instance, Virgin Media, really dial up a sense of heightened sensory stimulation across their brand through the various ways they play with language. They frequently extend the evocative vowel and consonant sounds of key words in their taglines for example, such as; “smoooooth”, or “buzzzin’” effectively amplifying the sensory effect of these. Virgin Media also creatively employ innovative hyperbolic language to ‘gazump’ well known phrases, such as “blazing-fast”, “epic”, or “bags of brilliant telly”, or use a casual tone of voice that ignores formal grammar rules, again with “buzzzin’”, to communicate an energetic and informal identity as your hype man best friend.

Alternatively, another brand notable for their creative language use is innocent, who establish their persona immediately from their name, which suggests a sense of gentle family friendly humour and play, this is then reflected in the use of language on their website.

References to “telly”, “little bottles”, “plot twist” and “say hello” all suggest a sense of childlike play and creativity. Reinforcing the innocent persona regardless of whether they are talking about their great taste, latest advert, renewable packaging, or sustainable production practices. Every time innocent use language they are engaging and displaying their creative faculties while staying true to their voice.

As we can see, language represents a powerful force for communicating and creating meaning. Whatever your brand challenge, language is a superpower that can drive action, entice the senses, and playfully forge new meaning. Sign Salad’s language analysis approach can help ensure you are realising the full potential of this power.  

3 Key Takeaways for Brands:

  • Language is used across channels and is an opportunity to deliver a consistent and powerful message, yet all too often its powerful nature is overlooked and left as an afterthought.
  • Analysing the language used by consumers and competitors is deeply revealing of their underlying worldviews. Helping to change consumer language can directly change their behaviour.
  • Language has the capacity to communicate subtle and playful meanings that can both work across cultures and forge engaging new means of expression.

Mark Lemon, Director

Language is Our Superpower: How language can empower your brand