Tone of Voice, Branding & Strategy Blog

HOW WE WORK WITH START-UPS

12 / October / 2020

When we work with start-ups, we close Word and PowerPoint and begin where they need our words-and-thinking combo the most: the front page of their website. So we sum up what they’re about in a wireframe, not a Word doc (it forces you to write in a different way), and play with how we can pitch […]

ONES THAT GOT AWAY PART THREE

14 / July / 2020

This time we’re heading to the Barbican… “Less is more” is a classic graphic design mantra. It looks good: I’m typing this on a MacBook, with a Muji notebook by my side, opposite some Vitsoe shelves, so I’m all signed up. But this style does a funny thing to words – mostly not very many […]

A non-essential word or two from us

14 / April / 2020

Back when London’s lockdown was beginning, writer and journalist Rhymer Rigby tweeted that his daughter described his job as ‘the opposite of a key worker’. Well, quite. It feels odd to take the coronavirus on as ‘content’ with tips and tricks on other ways to write about ‘unprecedented times’. And yet it feels just as […]

ONES THAT GOT AWAY PT 2

15 / May / 2019

Museums and galleries have a tried-and-rarely-strayed-from formula for campaigns. There’s nearly always a lead picture (that has tested well with focus groups), alongside the exhibition’s title. Any five-star reviews get added on later and there’s a last “final weeks” push before the exhibition closes. Often, though, that way of doing things preaches to the converted […]

ONES THAT GOT AWAY

02 / May / 2019

The first in an occasional series of ideas clients didn’t go for. This one’s for Duppy Share rum and shows you how we write stuff on social. You can read more about the tricky business of content in our new how-to guide. Our take is that a lot of what brands post on social is […]

MAVERICKS: ELLA'S KITCHEN IT AIN'T

28 / January / 2019

“Would you like to try our new snacks for kids?” said the nice man with a big pot of tasters, somewhere on a high street in south-east London. We had target audience written all over us: on the school run, in a hurry, pushing a buggy. Small child hears the magic word SNACKS, sticks her […]

BUSY BUSY BUSY

13 / February / 2018

“Are you busy?” It’s the meeting equivalent of being asked “Going anywhere nice?” in the hairdresser’s up-and-downy chair. And the answer’s yes. We have been busy. Too busy to update our blog for a while, in fact (at least that’s our excuse). Here’s what we’ve been up to:

PURPOSE: SELF-HELP FOR BRANDS

19 / June / 2017

“Find your love”, “Be driven by a higher ideal”, “The sky’s the limit”… These smoochy words aren’t a pep-talk from a well-meaning, high-fiving parent. To find these – and many more like them – go to a bookshop. And while you might think you’re heading straight for the self-help section (via a pit-stop to buy […]

Famous for 15,000 likes

16 / January / 2017

We’ve seen the future and it’s a selfie starring a mum, a dad and some screaming kids with the hashtag #parentingtheshitoutoflife. But this is no ordinary post from one of your real-life friends (remember them?). This has 32,000 ‘likes’ from some 400,000 followers and counting. It’s A Strange Thing for our times when ordinary people […]

When charity isn't a quick fix

11 / January / 2017

Every marketing department has a sacred cow. In charity fundraising, it’s the image of the doe-eyed child asking you for help. Charities go back to this image again and again because they know it works. But for children’s charity Railway Children, getting kids off the street is only the start.