Wouldn’t you think a global retailer’s tone of voice brand guidelines would have much in them? Looking at Starbucks’ example of tone of voice guidelines, it appears not. What’s going on? And what’s the impact? Starbucks, Mallorca: I count 4 different languages in the description of their product. I was shocked when I saw how brief Starbucks’ tone of voice brand guidelines are. I know, having done this for 15 years, that their brevity is creating needs elsewhere. I’ll come to that in a minute. But for now, here’s what they look like. The Intro: brief and to the point. But too brief? Five lin ..read more

I moved my business’ banking to Monzo because of their brand tone of voice guidelines. Not just for that reason, but when it was time to move, their voice (like the rest of their UI) was simple, colourful, and approachable. And when you look at their brand tone of voice guidelines for a neobank, you realise they’re pretty good. (My score for them is at the end if you want to see how I rated them.) Even their brand tone of voice guidelines have a strapline! I’m a sucker for good, bright layout. And Monzo makes their brand tone of voice guidelines enjoyable to read with bright colours, a few fri ..read more

Ever wondered what goes into a creating a verbal brand? Is it just a great name or tagline? Or maybe a great piece of packaging copy? Think about it like this: you can recognise a carton of Oatly from across the supermarket. Even without seeing the logo or the name. There’s something very, very Oatly about the colour palette, the font, the graphic design elements. And when you walk up to the carton and read what it says on the packaging, it sounds very, very Oatly: It seems to conjure up a strong sense of who Oatly is, what they stand for, what they stand against. If you go onto their website ..read more

This is the first in an occasional series where Chris West looks at good and not-so-good examples of brand tone of voice guidelines: what makes them work and what they could do to make them work harder. First up is something for anyone looking for financial services brand tone of voice guidelines examples. In particular, an insurer. Lloyds tone of voice guidelines. A bit of context before we start. Outside of fintech, the brands in Financial Services don’t evolve very fast. So we shouldn’t expect financial services brands tone of voice guidelines to evolve too fast, either. And that’s my excus ..read more

This is an extract from the book about tone of voice, Strong Language, by Verbal Identity’s founder, Chris West. It became an instant best-seller on brand tone of voice. This extract shows how to make an authentic tone of voice. This works as a copywriter’s exercise as well. Buy a copy of the tone of voice book Strong Language: the fastest, smartest, cheapest marketing tool you’re not using. (Affiliate link).   The post Chapter 17: The ‘5 How’s Exercise’ from STRONG LANGUAGE, the #1 best-selling Tone of Voice book appeared first on Verbal Identity ..read more

In case we never told you, there is a best-selling book on creating a tone of voice with examples: The post #1 appeared first on Verbal Identity ..read more

Often, before we’re engaged with a client, there’s one big question we have to answer: Why have a brand tone of voice? The background is usually that the brand already has great writers in social media, blogs, e-comm, online and ads. And when the CMO looks around, the other great brands seem to effortlessly win customers, build loyalty and outperform their competitors. They look great and their language is ‘okay’. The truth is, any apparently effortless success of a brand depends on a lot of hard work early on. That hard work has gone into defining how the brand appears in all of its touchpoin ..read more

This is an extract from Strong Language, by Verbal Identity’s founder, Chris West. It became an instant best-seller on brand tone of voice. This extract shows how to make sure the nuts and bolts of your brand’s language also help to convey its identity.       Buy a copy of the tone of voice book Strong Language: the fastest, smartest, cheapest marketing tool you’re not using. (Affiliate link).   The post Chapter 19: “The Ground Level Details” of a brand’s tone of voice. From STRONG LANGUAGE, the #1 best-selling Tone of Voice book appeared first on Verbal Identity ..read more

This is an extract from Strong Language, by Verbal Identity’s founder, Chris West. It became an instant best-seller on brand tone of voice. This extract discusses how the “10,000ft” level of their brand voices come to life in the narratives of Tesla and Google.             Buy a copy of the tone of voice book Strong Language: the fastest, smartest, cheapest marketing tool you’re not using. (Affiliate link).   The post Chapter 8: “Tesla and Google’s brand narratives.” From STRONG LANGUAGE, the #1 best-selling Tone of Voice book appeared first on Verbal Iden ..read more

The UK’s Marketing Society asked our CEO, Chris West, his views on what happens when a brand’s tone of voice is out of date. We’re very grateful for the Marketing Society’s coverage, please read more on the value of brand tone of voice here: The post How much money does a brand lose when its tone of voice is wrong appeared first on Verbal Identity ..read more