Welcome to Vocal Branding Australia and the Vocal Branding Blog, where we speak about all things Voice. Vocal Branding realizes the intrinsic capacity of the human voice to transmit emotion, and its extraordinary potential to create compelling, durable and trusted brand relationships with customers.

“A beautiful voice (and beautiful means a great deal in this context, for it means that the man who has such a voice is beautiful himself) remains so through coughing and stammering. An ugly voice, on the contrary, can become soft, scented, humming, singing like the flute. But to no purpose. It stays ugly just the same.” - Jacques Lusseyran, And There Was Light: Autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance

View and Listen to Tim’s award-winning presentation on the relationship between the human voice and trust

These Vocal Branding Australia Case Studies demonstrate some of the many applications of our voice and Vocal Branding services.

This article contains links to most of our company features, services and our unique approach to voice. If this is not your first visit to our site, the latest articles are immediately below this introductory welcome message. Alternatively, if you are seeking information on our accessibility services, please visit the Tim Noonan Consulting site.

I’m Vocal Branding Australia’s Managing Director and lead vocal consultant and as I cover in “About Tim”, I literally live and breathe voice. All aspects of voice fascinate me, but my core expertise and study centres around the natural and the contemporary speaking voice. That is the voices each of us use and encounter every day in real everyday spoken communication. Having grown up as a blind person in a sighted world, I’ve had to learn to reliably assess – and interpret – people’s voices as my foundation for ensuring trusted and reliable interactions with others. I sometimes describe this skill as ‘reading’ body language with my ears.

Vocal Branding is the strategic and purposeful use of voice to strengthen and enhance brand experiences, so your products, brands and customer experiences sound as compelling as they look and feel! Modern branding is shifting from Telling to Conversing, and Vocal Branding is an essential element of this accelerating trend.

Our unique approach and suite of premium vocal consulting services is built on over two solid decades of research and experience on numerous voice and vocal branding projects.

Welcome to Vocal Branding Australia and The Vocal Branding Blog!

This site is a blending of Vocal Branding Australia’s voice consulting website and our voice and branding blog, reflecting the intrinsic conversational character of voice. This conversational platform also feels better suited to introduce and speak about the fresh ideas and unique voice services we are offering – such as voice audits and Vocal Branding research, branding strategy and voice user interface design consulting, through to brand voice casting/matching as well as our proprietary in-studio vocal direction approach.

The site is also home for our specialist spoken-word voice talent agency The Expressive Voice Agency.

You can Also check our audio and voice samples and resources page.

the Vocal Branding blog offers a relaxed space to more expansively explore and talk about the theory and the practice of voice, Vocal Consciousness and Vocal Branding. For example, the challenges addressed and the possibilities which arise through effective uses of voice to strengthen and enhance brands and brand experiences – in short, all the benefits that arise when brand voices are completely and precisely On-Brand. It is also a place where I can share my passion and continually expanding appreciation for the magic and mystery that is the human voice, and I hope, also leave some interesting voice insights with you along the way.

Presentations at conferences and workshops for agencies and organisations are another way I am spreading the word about Vocal Branding and using the voice to increase trust in business. If you are planning a conference, please contact us about including an engaging Voice and Vocal Branding presentation on your program.

“@timnoonan giving great talk as usual.” - @artywah tweet

Vocal Branding is a major paradigm shift in how voice is viewed and how it is applied in branding and marketing! Because of this, the role of Vocal Branding Australia and this blog is as much to explore, inform and raise awareness around use of brand voice in products and in marketing, as it is to explain and promote our unique vocal consulting services to corporations and agencies.

Please contact us or leave a comment with a question or share your thoughts. In this way we can open up genuine discussions about voice in general, and the emerging field I have coined Vocal Branding.

Vocally yours
Tim Noonan
Director, Vocal Branding Australia
Transforming products, brands and user experiences so they sound as compelling as they look and feel!

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We are often asked for examples of how Vocal Branding is enhancing communication between businesses and their customers.

Here are some Vocal Branding case studies and projects we’ve recently been working on here at Vocal Branding Australia:

NSW Department of Health

Vocal Branding Australia worked closely with the Department to develop a Vocal Branding strategy and support the implementation of the harmonisation/integration of a previously regionalised telephone health service throughout the State.

We conducted all the voice-related aspects of the project including:

Australian Electoral Commission Telephone Voting Standard

Over the last couple of months we have researched and developed an automated Telephone Voting usability Standard to provide a flexible and consistent experience for voting in elections via just the standard telephone.

This Standard is applicable to Federal, State and Local elections, as well as for Industrial elections which are conducted on a fee-for-service basis by the Commission.

This initiative is an international first, and builds on Tim’s previous work developing a Standard for accessible telephone banking services for the Australian Bankers’ Association and his key involvement in the Standards Australia Interactive Voice Response and Speech Recognition Australian Standards.

Vocal Branding Australia is also assisting the Commission in writing and refining call centre scripts associated with phone-based voting support activities.

Leading Property Auctioneering Company

We are working with one of the leading auctioneering companies to develop their corporate Vocal Brand to create greater trust in their services and to positively set them apart from their competition.

We have also been working with this client to develop a company-wide voice care program, to ensure that all staff know how to protect and develop their most vital asset – their voice!

Solotel Hotel Group Staff-Training Video

Earlier this year we partnered with Jason Jelicich from Barmetrix Training to refine the scripts for, and direct staff narration for two in-house staff training videos.

The client determined that they wanted real staff to deliver authentic messages to their new and advancing employees, so we took our mobile recording equipment to the workplace and captured a natural-sounding spoken soundtrack for the project.

Community Service Announcement for Royal Far West Children’s Charity

Late last year Vocal Branding Australia worked with Royal Far West, a NSW-based children’s charity to develop the vocal branding strategy, including voice talent direction for a television commercial to be played as a Customer Service Announcement.

The aim was to produce a contemporary soundtrack with authentic voices and to respectfully convey emotionally rich messages to their potential donors and sponsors.

Vocal Branding Audit of the Leading Telephone Dating Service in Australia

Maxus recently engaged Vocal Branding Australia to undertake a detailed Vocal Branding audit of the leading telephone dating service in Australia.

The audit included a range of distinct elements presented in an interactive workshop for Maxus and the client.

  • Competitor analysis;
  • Exploration of online trends and how they are increasingly impacting phone-centric services;
  • The vocal branding ‘fit’ between the scripts and voices used in service advertising and the ‘voice’ of the phone dating service itself;
  • Analysis of callers including their use of the service and their attitudes towards it and to one another.
  • Consideration of service features, technological developments and recommendations on future service shaping and expansion.

NSW Electoral Commission

Earlier this year the NSW Premier announced the State’s intention to provide blind and vision impaired voters with an independent and secret vote in the 2011 NSW election. Vocal Branding Australia has been consulting to the NSW Electoral Commission on accessibility and vocal branding issues to make this a reality. Subject to legislation being passed, it is intended to provide an automated telephone-based voting service for blind and low vision voters, as well as an internet-based voting system.

Please contact us to find out how Vocal Branding Australia can strengthen your spoken communications with customers, staff and clients.

Some Recent Voice and Vocal Branding Australia Case Studies

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Some Voice Examples: What products and Brand Voice Situations Can Benefit from Vocal Branding?

Advertisements and Sponsorship
Television, Radio and online;
Script Writing and Voice direction for Telephone Services
IVR, ‘on hold’ messages and call-centre scripts;
Customer Experience
Call centres, face-to-face customer communication, staff training, sales teams;
Audio Announcements and Safety
Transportation & Location information, Instructions, Alarms, Emergency Messages, Aircraft Safety Announcements, Evacuation Procedures etc;
Talking Devices
In-car devices, GPS navigation, home appliances, PDAs and SmartPhones, ATMs, Voting machines, point-of-sale devices;
Executive
Voice mail messages, live and recorded presentations by high-level corporate representatives;
Videos
Educational and promotional;
Recordings
Audio books, Tutorials, Audio training programs, Corporate podcasts, Meditation programs and Workshops;
Interactive
Computer based training applications, augmented reality and mobile applications and other media applications involving voice.
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Voice Audits and Vocal Branding Research: Via VocalPoint Research

Our Vocal Branding methodology is deeply grounded in eclectic voice and sonic research, as well as continuous exploration of the continuously evolving vocal patterns in current usage.

One of our key Vocal Branding services for companies, government departments and small business is conducting a Voice Audit. A voice audit is a bit like mystery shopping, where we investigate and report back on how positively and effectively your organisation is presently employing voice across its different communication channels.

VocalPoint Research contributes to the quality and effectiveness of Vocal Branding by

  1. Monitoring and reviewing the latest voice and sonic research from around the world;
  2. Partnering with and Providing voice-related input to market research organisations undertaking product development or brand research activities;
  3. Undertaking vocal research, surveys and usability studies in-house and for clients.
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IVRs, Usability, script refinement & User Interface Design

At Vocal Branding Australia we fully appreciate the importance of creating highly intuitive, effective and enjoyable user experiences through strategic and creative use of voice and sound. Our usability and human factors experience includes conceptual design and development of automated telephone services, such as telephone banking, telephone voting,

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A Poem, Author Unknown, “It’s not so much what you say, as the manner in which you say it …”

There is so much truth and subtle wisdom in this short poem about speaking and our tone of voice.

It’s not so much what you say As the manner in which you say it; It’s not so much the language you use As the tone in which you convey it; …
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These Are a Few of my Favourite Themes (and Accessible WordPress Plugins)

Introduction This particular post isn’t about voice or Vocal Branding, it is an informational article for people interested in making their WordPress installations more accessible to develop and update, as well as producing a site that is as accessible and intuitive as possible for visitors. By accessible I mean that people with a range of [...]

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Voices, Relationships, Trust and Time Travel – Notes and Resources

Voices, Relationships, Trust and Time Travel is a conference presentation by Tim Noonan about the power of voice to strengthen business and personal relationships, build trust, and the power of telling stories to change our perspective on the world.

View and listen to Tim’s presentation

I consider the paradoxical interplay between Truth and Tale; Proof and Possibility; Thought and Feeling; Speech and Listening; Trust and Healing.

I pose two questions:

  1. What fresh ideas, solutions and opportunities might present themselves to us if we experienced life through a clearer sonic lens? and

  2. Might more of our relationships and communities blossom and flourish if we were more attentive and mindful about how we use our voices in business and in everyday life?

I was delighted and quite excited to have been voted as the 2010 Australian Big Thinker in the Story Telling category by 54 % of SMS votes by the audience of approximately 200 folks at the APG’s “Battle of Big Thinking” event.

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What People Are Saying About Tim Noonan’s Conference Speaking Presentations

Tim Noonan was voted as the 2010 Australian Big Thinker in the Story Telling category in the APG’s & Communication Council’s Inaugural ‘Battle of Big Thinking’ event in Sydney.

“Amazing talk from voice expert Tim Noonan, audience visibly moved!” - Tweet by Abigail Thomas, ABC Innovation
“Tim Noonan is a fantastic performer and can read people’s voices as a way of knowing more about them (vocal, instead of body language)” - Lauren Brown Blog
“Tim's got such great ideas and experience and a cheeky sense of humour that is highly contagious. He's the complete package!” - Robin Dickinson
“Tim, I have to tell you, I am in awe of your Sydney speech. It was a magnificent effort. I think you struck an ideal balance between sunlight and substance. Now working on the audio/video files, and you really are a fab speaker. I hope we can do a lot more together in future.” - Jed White (PubCamp Event organizer/sponsor.)
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Emotional Engagement: The Emphasis on colour Versus the Importance of Voice and Vocal Color and expression in Branding Theory

The blog post The Emotional Impact of Colour has an interesting coverage of the importance of colour choice for brands and products. Once again, though I was reminded how visually-dominant the marketing and branding world so often is, for I hardly ever encounter articles on the importance of the right voice in marketing, business communication [...]

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