Tone of voice

We work with consultancies to create tone of voice guidelines for brands. The aim is to manage that part of the brand experience influenced by language. For more about what tone of voice guidelines can do and what they typically contain, see our tone of voice guide content suggestions.

Most tone of voice guidelines contain sensible advice on writing well. You want to stop bad copy undermining the brand. More ambitious claims are made for brand language but much of this is wishful thinking. For a full review of what is and isn't possible, see our thought piece.

Because creating a unique tone for a brand is far harder than creating a unique visual identity, tone of voice guidelines are starting to suggest certain messaging. e.g. Lloyds TSB: 'for the journey'.

Another route is to copy Innocent. But when a mainstream brand starts trying to be trendy it can sound false. See this blog discussion about the irritations of 'chatty packaging' and how the new funky Barclays is going down.

Our aim, when preparing tone of voice guidelines for a brand, is to:

• See if there are ways language can be used to achieve a distinctive tone which conveys the brand's essence
• Offer practical advice to in-house writers on how to write well so their writing doesn't undermine the brand
• Provide guidance on the writing requirements of different media (writing for the web demands a completely different approach to writing a sales letter, for instance)
• Set this advice out clearly and briefly so it is useful for an employee in a hurry who needs some prompts to improve their writing.

The need for training
Many companies are starting to recognise that language is a key part of the brand experience. Tone of voice guidelines are getting larger and more prominent in brand books. But how do you help in-house employee writers change ingrained off-brand habits? We believe it requires more than asking them to read a few pages in a guide: you need a structured training programme. This must be designed for your company writers' particular levels of skill and the media they're writing for. Applying insights from his professional postgraduate teaching qualification Barnaby Benson has designed such programmes for clients. They really do improve the writing for the brand and sales effectiveness.

Tone of voice development clients

P&O Cruises

Created a distinctive tone of voice that captured the brand's essence. Wrote the TOV guide and then designed/delivered a 12 month training programme for in-house writers.

Xansa

Wrote a guide to writing well for this business-to-business brand who wanted to make their writing more benefit-led.

Unilever Corporate

Developed a new tone of voice, defining it and expressing it by creating an example of best practice.

GAM

Advised on the development of a tone of voice system for this asset management company.

Lloyds TSB

Created the first materials using the new tone of voice: over 30 product branch booklets.

NatWest Offshore

Created the first materials that also defined a tone of voice for the brand