4 Examples of Self-Aware Brands & What You Can Learn From Them

June 12, 2019

In just one minute, today’s digital world generates:

  • 87,500 tweets;
  • 2.1 million Snaps;
  • 41.6 million messages via WhatsApp and Messenger;
  • 188 million emails;
  • The results of 3.8 million search queries on Google.

As a business competing in digital space, it’s all too easy to get lost in that chatter — especially if you don’t have a strong brand voice.

Your brand voice plays a big part in how people recognize your business. It encompasses the words you use in marketing materials, the attitudes and values you communicate, and how your brand personality is shared with your target audience.

Here are 4 examples of brands that have developed a cohesive and unique brand voice, which has allowed them to break through the noise and reach their customers effectively.

1. DiGiorno: The Casual & Funny Friend

This frozen-pizza maker often gets overlooked on lists of brands with excellent social media channels. But DiGiorno got a lot of things right in conveying its brand voice online.

First, they don’t take themselves too seriously. DiGiorno content on social media employs a casual brand voice that reflects the equally-casual feel of their product.

Second, they focus heavily on generating relevant content for their audience by consistently incorporating trending topics — like this tweet about IHOP’s latest announcement — as well as asking engaging questions and resharing posts from fans.

This content resonates well with most social media audiences. But it especially fits a target audience of teenagers, college students and 20-somethings, all of whom consume frozen pizzas as a regular part of their diets.

2. Charmin: Frank & Funny

Charmin touts an unabashed embrace of bathroom humor, puns and related hashtags such as #tweetfromtheseat and #enjoythego. They simply aren’t afraid to own the fact that, like a well-known children’s book proclaimed, “Everyone Poops.”

The brand also finds a way to incorporate trending topics, like the “Game of Thrones” finale, and they have even started working with influencers to create interesting (and slightly unnerving) video content like, “Wipe It or Wear It.”

In some ways this content shouldn’t be a surprise since Charmin has always thrived on its playful voice. In the past, they even sponsored an annual contest inspired by the wedding shower toilet paper dress game.

The humor and banter of its unembarrassed brand voice make the brand hard to ignore – including their TV commercials, which feature the Charmin Bears enjoying the qualities of Charming toilet paper.

3. Old Spice: Disarmingly Macho

For most of us, Old Spice conjures up memories of our freshly-shaven father or grandfather. Old Spice, however, rose to the challenge of marketing to a new generation with a series of commercials featuring a buff, smooth jazz-voiced, shirtless actor traversing through outdoor adventures and romantic scenarios, even riding a white horse — sometimes backwards.

The contemporary positioning of a product introduced in 1938 targets women with a tongue-in-cheek Harlequin romance-worthy cover model, as well as the men who want to please them. Its latest ads position it with the simple tagline, “We make scents for men.”

Their clever approach recently played out with the creation of a customized pair of boots promoting the brand in the shoe tread. Sales of the boots will be donated to Trailkeepers of Oregon, while Old Spice gains a nice boost of brand awareness in a unique way.

View this post on Instagram

On your next hike, Old Spice and Danner encourage you to take only photos and leave only footprint ads. Available now.

A post shared by Old Spice (@oldspice) on

This and other promotions across platforms continually remind today’s generation that Old Spice is not your father’s aftershave. Then again, as one of its digital ads points out: “If your grandfather hadn’t worn it, you wouldn’t exist.”

4. MoonPie: Strange, But Endearingly Humorous

MoonPie’s online brand voice reminds us of that strange friend we can’t help but love. The Tennessee-based graham-cracker-and-marshmallow sandwich maker creates content across platforms that employs irrational trains of thought, snarky and kind responses to people tweeting about MoonPies, hilarious graphics and reshares of user-generated content.

Because MoonPie itself is such an unusual, niche brand, the quirky voice makes it stand out on Twitter, where the brand appears most frequently.

However, while the company doesn’t spend a lot of money on advertising, it is a customary part of Mardi Gras festivities in Mobile, Alabama, as well as supplying a 600-pound electronic MoonPie to ring in the New Year in in the city. And both of those things fit right in with MoonPie’s brand voice.

Tackling the Challenge

Breaking through the digital content flood requires a finely-tuned brand voice that remains cohesive across traditional and digital channels. And while it can be challenging to uncover the voice that’s right for your brand, it’s not impossible.

Not sure how to develop your brand voice? Here are a few resources to get you started:

Have more questions about your brand voice and what the next step is for your business? Fill out this form to start a conversation with an account manager today.

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