Marketing

Shaelyn Digos

Manufacturing Belonging: Brand Voice and Implicit Communication in Fashion Branding

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Shaelyn is a fourth-year Professional Communication student at Toronto Metropolitan University with a strong interest in branding, digital media, and audience engagement. Through her studies, she has developed skills in strategic communication, content creation, and media analysis. Shaelyn is particularly interested in how brands communicate identity and cultivate relationships with audiences across digital platforms. Her work explores how visual aesthetics, messaging, and brand voice shape audience perception and influence how consumers interpret belonging and identity in contemporary brand environments.

This research examines how fashion brands use explicit and implicit communication strategies to construct identity and cultivate audience belonging. Focusing on Brandy Melville and Aritzia as comparative case studies, the project analyzes TikTok content to identify patterns in brand voice, visual tone, and messaging practices. Through discourse and visual analysis, the study explores how aesthetic consistency, tone, and strategic omission shape brand identity and influence how audiences interpret brand culture. The research aims to highlight how belonging is communicated through both overt messaging and subtle visual branding strategies.

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A headshot of a young woman with warm skin, long brown hair parted down the middle, and brown eyes. She has a small silver stud piercing on her right nostril and a gentle, natural smile. She is wearing a white button-up shirt with thin dark vertical stripes, unbuttoned at the collar to reveal a black top underneath and a silver necklace with a small smiling figure pendant. The background is an out-of-focus indoor setting.

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