Purpose This paper aims to explore the characteristics of a brand spokesperson’s voice that are the most valuable for consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and evaluates various explanations in previous research regarding the influences of a speaker’s voice. Design/methodology/approach Brand identities can transfer their associations and affect as well as influence brand recall, thus contributing to CBBE. In addition, the pitch and gender of a speaker’s voice are considered as key characteristics of voice perception. This experimental study exposed 521 respondents to 12 different voices and measured the effects of a spokesperson’s voice pitch and gender on associations, attitude toward the voice and brand recall. Findings This study presents a model that explains the influence of a brand spokesperson’s voice on CBBE. The findings show that low-pitched voices induced distinctive, positive associations and led to a more positive attitude toward the voice and greater brand recall, regardless of the gender of the spokesperson and that of the respondent. Moreover, voice associations partially mediated the effects on attitude toward the voice and completely mediated the effects on brand recall. Originality/value While numerous brands have resorted to specific voices to represent themselves, brand spokesperson’s voice and its associations have not been studied. This study highlights the importance of a spokesperson’s voice pitch and its associations in building CBBE and nuances the roles of spokespersons’ and respondents’ gender.

Voices are present in most communications. Yet, the literature on voice persuasion is astonishingly limited and fragmented, focusing on certain voice characteristics (e.g. pitch), contexts, and providing mixed results. This research attempts to integrate the various constructs and mechanisms involved in voice persuasion as a result of the cross-fertilization of the disciplines having studied voice (psychoacoustics, cognitive psychology, anthropology, psycho-sociology, marketing, and politics). Study 1 manipulates via acoustic software the key voice characteristics (i.e. pitch, roughness, and brightness) and gender of a speaker heard in a radio advertisement for a neutral, non-gendered product category. Study 2 explores a potential boundary condition of the effects of voice, the presence of context-specific expectations toward the speaker (i.e. gender and competence level), by manipulating the voice of a political candidate. The effects of the voice characteristics are consistent in both contexts: speakers with low- (vs high-) pitched, dull (vs bright), and smooth (vs rough) voices are the most effective. Speakers with high-pitched, dull, and smooth voices are perceived as the most competent. Finally, speaker gender plays a secondary persuasive role; listener gender only plays a role in the absence of context-specific expectations toward the speaker. Implications for voice and speaker persuasion as well as for voice casting and coaching are discussed.

The present research aims to explore the effects of advertising music components (MCs) on brand perception, attitude, and purchase intentions using the cross-fertilization between research in marketing and musicology. Previous research has shown that the MCs (e.g. tempo, mode, and timbre) of advertising music can influence brand perception. However, few MCs have been studied and without controlling the influence of all MCs. In addition, existing categorizations of MCs are not applied to advertising music and mainly focus on classical music. A preliminary study analyzing 125 advertising music pieces with musicologists provides a typology of advertising MCs and of induced brand perceptions. Four experiments then explore the effects of advertising MCs in different contexts (music in the foreground, music in the background with a neutral message, music in the background with a non-neutral message, and replication with a real, well-known brand). The research indicates the influence of each advertising MC on brand perception while controlling for all MCs. In particular, some MCs induce the same brand perception. Their perceptual influence remains the same when they are in the background or when they are incongruent. They can even change the perception of a well-known brand, as well as influence brand attitude and purchase intentions. Conceptual and methodological implications for research on music and brand management as well as managerial implications are discussed.

Metaphors appear frequently in marketing communications. Prior literature evokes various positive outcomes of using metaphors to promote products but offers relatively limited insights into the potentially negative effects of this rhetorical figure on product perception, product choice, and adoption intention. Building on processing fluency theory, the authors investigate benefits and drawbacks of using metaphors to promote products. The results of eight studies reveal that, compared with literal claims, metaphors can make products appear more innovative but also less socially responsible. A dual process explains these effects on product perception: consumers tend to view products promoted with metaphors as more unfamiliar and thus innovative, but also as more untrustworthy and thus less socially responsible. In a further step, by examining whether using metaphors to promote products increases or decreases product choice and adoption intentions, the authors find increased product choice for brands with innovative personalities but diminished product choice for brands with socially responsible personalities. Using metaphors also boosts the adoption intentions of consumers who value innovativeness in products but lowers these intentions among consumers who value social responsibility. These findings offer novel insights into the effects of metaphors, along with actionable recommendations for practitioners.

A large and growing number of brands use music in their marketing communications to influence consumer perceptions. This article offers an answer to how brands can leverage the characteristics of music pieces to convey an innovative image and boost brand evaluations among consumers. The authors bridge prior research in psychology, marketing, and musicology to demonstrate that using music pieces with an irregular contour or unstable tonality in communications can make brands appear more innovative. The difficulty that consumers experience in cognitively processing music pieces with these characteristics (disfluency) mediates these effects. Additionally, this research shows that branding with music that has an irregular contour or unstable tonality can either positively or negatively impact brand evaluations. This is contingent on whether brand communication includes information about brand innovativeness or brand liking. This article identifies the characteristics of music that influence perceived brand innovativeness and brand evaluations and offers a theoretical lens for understanding these effects. It also reveals which brands can benefit from using music pieces with an irregular contour or unstable tonality, as well as when they can benefit from it. Additionally, it provides practical recommendations for music selection.