The Difference Between a Voice & a Vibe
A vibe is what your intern thinks your brand sounds like. A voice is what actually builds trust.
I’ve worked with brands that had the vibe down. And I’ve helped build voices that could hold the room—on every platform, in any tone, across any team.
The difference? A vibe is a mood. A voice is a strategy.
One Day, Seven Voices
When I was working with Razorfish, a typical day might include:
TikToks for Pop-Tarts
Instagram captions for Arby’s
Social media strategy for Sweet’n Low
Audi event invitations for a C-suite launch
MAC Cosmetics social content with tone dialed to full glam
UX copy for a CVS web replatform—functional, accessible, and human
Push notifications for Starbucks
Five radically different tones. One unifying skill: brand voice discipline.
Because while each deliverable had its own rhythm and energy, the underlying voice had to be intentional, aligned, and true to the brand’s DNA.
So, What Is Brand Voice?
Brand voice is not tone. Tone is how your brand expresses emotion in a moment. Voice is how it expresses identity—consistently.
Voice is what makes your content recognizable even when the logo’s gone, the visuals fade, and the platform changes.
Signs You’re Chasing Vibe, Not Building Voice:
Your social team sounds nothing like your product pages
You rely on trending sounds but can’t be quoted
You have content—but no system
People like your posts but can’t describe your brand
What Strong Voice Looks Like:
CVS: Functional, calm, confident—even in 40-character button copy
MAC Cosmetics: Expressive, rhythmic, empowered—swagger in sentence form
Audi: Understated luxury. Precision down to the word.
Chico’s (Carolyn-era): A narrative built around a single customer archetype. Every line passed through her filter.
Arby’s & Pop-Tarts : Tonally agile, creatively brave—but still grounded in voice frameworks that made the weird work.
Voice Is a System, Not a Feeling
At Wink, we don’t just write one-liners. We build the verbal architecture a brand needs to scale and stay sharp.
Voice is:
Modular enough for TikTok and Terms & Conditions
Clear enough for global teams
Strong enough to hold through market shifts
And most importantly, it’s consistent enough to build trust.
Because when you treat voice like a vibe, you get trends.
When you treat voice like strategy, you get staying power.
Need a voice that knows who it is—even when the tone changes? That’s where we come in.
