What If Brands Literally Had a Voice?

We’re living in a time where our computing experience is no longer bound by a keyboard and mouse. Today, we navigate digital life through touch screens, voice assistants, and wearables, sometimes with just a flick of the wrist or a spoken word. We are now entering the era of conversational computing.

And as we explore the early stages of this shift, something fundamental is already changing: the platforms we choose are becoming less about interface and more about interaction.

Now We're Talking

Now, imagine taking that one step further.

What if the way we interact with technology shifts entirely, where our primary interface with computing isn’t a screen or keyboard, but a conversation? We might be on the cusp of this shift, or we might still be years away. Either way, it’s worth asking: what happens when brands start to talk back?

This isn’t a prediction. It’s a thought experiment.

As large language models (LLMs) become more accessible, more embedded, and more fluent, we may start choosing platforms less for what they do and more for how they feel.

That means not just functionality, but personality. Whether you ask ChatGPT to draft an email, prompt Gemini to plan your day, or use Claude to write a policy memo, the experience already varies by how each platform listens, responds and converses.

What if that became the norm across all our brand interactions?

Rise of the Brandroids

Today, creating a brand includes an exercise in personification. We give brands names, voices, values, even wardrobes. It’s part strategy, part psychology. And we already see glimpses of this in the real world.

Think of restaurants that intentionally brand their experience with rude wait staff, where the performance of hostility is part of the charm. Or immersive experiences where staff speak only in the dialect of a pirate, a 1950s soda jerk, or a medieval lord. These businesses don’t just have a brand voice, they have brand characters, performing live and in real time.

As AI continues to shape more of our interactions, this process might become even more literal.

If conversational computing becomes our dominant mode of interaction, brands won’t just have personalities. They’ll need to perform them. This means turning voice and tone guidelines into something more dimensional: a scripted, responsive, interactive character.

Apple might have a calm, minimal confidence. Nike might talk like your gym coach. Gucci might deliver insight with elegant restraint. As these voices take shape, the differentiator won’t just be product or service, it will be presence.

Brand Voices Without Borders

This scenario gets even more interesting when we think globally. AI is inherently multilingual. If every brand has a voice, that voice will need to flex not just across languages, but across cultures.

Tone, inflection, humour, rhythm, these are all deeply cultural signals. And a brand’s ability to resonate will hinge on how fluently it can adapt to the expectations of its audience. A French teenager and a Brazilian entrepreneur could interact with the same brand character but experience totally different vibes, expressions and stories, all tuned to their unique norms.

Let’s Talk About the ‘What If’

Because if it happens, it will reshape branding, marketing and customer experience. It’s not just about functionality. It’s about identity. It’s about how brands show up in people’s lives, and what kind of interactions they make possible.

This also raises questions: Who writes the brand character? Who trains it? Who’s accountable for what it says? How do we make it equitable, ethical and useful?

We don’t have the answers. But the questions are already worth asking.

Final Thoughts

Conversational computing might be the next big interface, or it might not. But entertaining the possibility reveals where the lines between brand, technology and identity could blur.

If this future comes to pass, the brands that thrive won’t be the ones with the flashiest ads. They’ll be the ones with characters people want to talk to. And remember.