The Voice Of McDonald’s, Dairy Queen and The Grove.

Every blog, tweet, television spot or press release speaks in “the voice of the brand.” But who is the voice of the brand? The CEO sets the vision and the tone of a company, but rarely the voice. The founder sets the heritage which is a part of the voice, but Ray Krok would be flipping his current real estate if he saw the voice of his brand today. Is it the CMO, the brand manager, the advertising/digital/PR/media agencies, or some copywriter in a cube?

The truth is, it’s none of these people and all of these people. A company or brand isn’t one person or a logo, it’s every interaction a consumer has with the company. You might have the best CEO or marketing person ever, but if the woman behind the counter is chewing gum, with dirty fingernails, and an attitude most Yankee fans would find abrasive then the voice of the company plain sucks.

Social media works mainly in the same way. Plenty of people believe the only one who can write a blog about a brand is the head of the company. I don’t believe this is true. There are plenty of great people in and out of companies that can write about the culture, the passion, the fun, the quality and the products of a company. It’s how a business handles all these voices that matters.

There are a bunch of McDonald’s blogs. The official blog is the corporate do-good, responsibility blog crmcdonalds.com. The McChronicles.com talks about the food’s nutrition or lack there of. An employee blog called McDonald’s Talk narrates the life and times of a new employee. McDonaldsblog.com has one post “Come on McDonald’s--get your act together.” As a McDonald’s fan (Mmmmm, french fries) and stock holder (oooh, dividends), I agree, get your act together.

Dairy Queen, on the other hand, seems to understand that the brand is owned by everyone that wants to be a part of the conversation. They have the fan page, the blog, the twitter page, and more. Each update gives a bit of entertainment, or deals, or good information for the customers. The result is that they have 177,000 fans, over 2,000 comments, and truckloads of tweets--almost all positive. Bravo to the CMO, the agency, the copywriter, whomever else, etc.

So, what about my favorite neighborhood mom and pop restaurant, The Grove. They’ve got a friendly crew serving lunch and dinner. The nachos and wings are fabulous. The owners are behind the bar with a smile and small talk about college football. I would love to put all that into a podcast and broadcast it. That is the voice of their brand. It’s everywhere around their restaurant and should be on twitter, facebook, YouTube and their blog.

The only one who isn’t setting the tone, diction, color and wit that makes a brand unique is a company not speaking. Two things happen to that silence, it’s either filled by someone else or it’s forgotten.

Online Dating For Businesses

As a business, if you’re looking to meet new people, might I suggest online dating. Like the dating sites, eHarmony, Match.com, YahooPersonals, social media can work as a page for consumers and clients to find out more about your personality than a normal corporate web page.

Singles search for mates, much like consumers and companies search for brands. They peruse the profiles. Who are these people? What is their personality like? If I go out with them, what do they have to offer: humor, an interesting background, taste, or intrigue. Most important, are they like me?

Look at Graco? Graco is a company that makes strollers, cribs and other baby and toddler supplies. It’s a category where new parents compare and contrast all the competitors, wanting the best for their kids. They started a blog to court these consumers. Blog.gracobaby.com gives parents not only information about being a good parent, but shows the caring personality of the brand. It worked like any good profile, people related to it and it instilled trust. From this they’ve received over 55,000 visitors, inspired 2,000 comments, tons of mom blogs talking about them, and online parties with over 150 people attending each time. Every comment, blog statements, and party statement has been positive.

Of course, online dating online has it’s pitfalls. I’ve heard the stories of the pictures from 10 years ago. There are not-so-slight exaggerations when it comes to height, weight, hair, etc. that have people screening their calls the next day. Brands can learn from this as well, if people find you’re not honest, they’ll never go out with you again... and they’ll tell all their friends.