Tone of Voice, Branding & Strategy Blog

The day we went to Selfridges. To speak not to shop.

12 / March / 2012

Here’s Rob talking about stopping brand slop in Selfridges at an event set up by It’s Nice That. We were tickled that the soundbite flying around afterwards on Twitter was: ‘If you feel like a berk saying it you shouldn’t write it down. – Rob Mitchell’. We’re determined to bring the word berk back into […]

Once upon a time we didn't need strategic storytelling

01 / March / 2012

Once upon a time stories weren’t called ‘narratives’ and we didn’t need a process, archetypes or rules to help us tell them. And most authors of books, plays, films and the like (ie real stories) didn’t use them either. So why have so many agencies started banging on about the power of storytelling all of […]

A tea by any other name

09 / January / 2012

Spot the difference between these two boxes of Teapigs tea. They look the same; they taste the same. The only difference is their names. Once upon a time this ‘Everyday Brew’ was called ‘English Breakfast’. After all, this is Teapigs’ signature blend and their tea is fancier and tastier than PG Tips. But some of […]

Jargon isn't the problem and 'Plain English' isn't the answer

09 / December / 2011

About this time every year the Plain English Campaign has its gobbledegook awards. It goes roughly like this: they pick some prize pieces of incomprehensible twaddle, which fill some easy column inches in a few newspapers. We roll our eyes at all the rubbish jargon and business clichés we use at work nowadays and then […]

An open letter to Sir Richard Branson

18 / November / 2011

Hello Richard, A lot of newspapers this morning are talking about how you’ve bought Northern Rock for a bargain price at the expense of us taxpayers. We’ll grumble to the chancellor about that. But seeing as you (and some private equity suits) have bought it, we hope some good will come of it. Richard, this […]

Edit

20 / October / 2011

Sales are down. Research shows you’re squeezed on all sides. It’s getting harder to pigeonhole your customers into a neat ABC1234 PowerPoint. Meanwhile, brighter, smaller, more nimble companies are snapping at your heels and stealing your thunder. So what do you do? Outwit your competitors and start developing newer, shinier products? Or do you edit? […]

How to sum up your brand in a line

25 / August / 2011

How to describe your brand in a few words. How to make it really, properly, actually different. How to sell it in. We can’t really show you a lot of the work we do because so much of it is hush-hush. But we can tell you the sort of things we get up to and […]

Meet our new recruit

24 / May / 2011

DEAR VALENTINE, THIS IS TO TELL YOU ARE MY FRIEND AS WELL AS MY VALENTINE. AND THAT I INTEND TO WRITE YOU YOU LOTS OF LETTERS… (From the Olivetti Valentine user manual.) We just bought a Valentine typewriter. It was made over forty years ago. So why does its user manual feel (and sound) brighter, […]

Just don't do it

24 / February / 2011

We think we’ve uncovered a global conspiracy to make all straplines sound the same. American Express’ strapline used to be ‘Don’t Leave Home Without It’ and now it’s ‘Realise Your Potential’. They had a memorable line and now they could be anyone. If they swapped their line with Microsoft’s ‘Your potential. Our passion’ we bet […]

Two's company: our way of doing things

04 / January / 2011

This time last year we handed in our notice. It was bit scary, but we knew we wanted to run a company our way and do more of the sort of things that made us happy. One year on, we’ve learned a few things along the way, and we’ve got a bit wiser about what […]

Tone of what?

09 / December / 2010

Tone of voice. Writers, agencies and consultancies all talk about it. But what is it? What does it look (or sound) like and do you need one? Here’s a list of questions people often ask. With some answers. WHAT IS TONE OF VOICE? Most brands have a logo, a colour palette and typeface. Tone of […]

WTF?

03 / August / 2010

theres nuthin worse than a brand trying 2 get down with da kids. & its even worse when they try 2 write like them. like KitKat did with its ‘OMG! MY CHUNKY JUST GOT FUNKY!’ adz last yr. so when we came across an email the other day with da subject ‘Gr8 News‘ we thought […]

How to do brand naming

03 / May / 2010

How to work out what kind of name you want (and why that’s the most important bit). How to come up with the right name. How to get it through the trademark checks. Naming should be really simple. It hardly ever is.

Bad simple. Good simple.

31 / March / 2010

Bad simple: Good simple:

Would you ask a baker to fix your boiler?

17 / March / 2010

Here’s a true story. Big Client asks Agency A to pitch for a tone of voice project. “Yes yes!” They cry. Except they don’t do tone of voice. So they call us. We say we’ll pitch but we’d like to be honest and say who we are (and tell Big Client that we’re working together). […]

Oh no, not another theory about Apple

04 / March / 2010

Brands and agencies endlessly bang on about Apple’s brand in meetings. It’s boring. We think it’s time to to close the MacBook once and for all. Here are some Apple theories we’ve overheard (and why they’re not true). ‘We’re trying to be thought leaders, like Apple.’ (They’re not – Apple hardly ever say or give […]

Ten branding clichés

15 / February / 2010

‘I know everyone says this but…’ Here are ten things we’ve heard brands say umpteen times. (And a bit of advice at the end to help you say something that’ll make people sit up and listen.)

Cooking up a tone of voice (and a side of tips)

08 / February / 2010

Here’s how a recipe for ‘My Epic BBQ Sauce’ starts: ‘I really love this barbecue sauce. There are loads of layers of flavours that make it truly insane.’ Who wrote it? Here are a couple more tasters, this time from the chef’s restaurant menus: ‘Our tasty Cornish field mushrooms and our whopping great beef tomatoes.’ […]

How to write a strategy

01 / February / 2010

How to get to the point. How to structure your ideas clearly. How to involve the right people (without letting any of them mess it up). This isn’t a guide to doing a SWOT analysis or the McKinsey way. This is the bit they forgot to cover on the MBA course. How to write a […]