To be credible, a brand needs to be consistent not just in how it looks – but how it sounds. The tempo, emotions and values evoked by a brand’s look and feel must be consistent with the way it speaks and what it says. This includes both internal and external-facing material.
Dana Petroleum Brand Identity Guidelines
1. Our tone of voice should reflect our brand proposition
‘At Dana Petroleum we are at our very best when we combine our people, our partners, and our respect and understanding of the environment in which we operate. The driving force behind our brand is mutual advantage, and the benefits created through trust, integrity, technical excellence, expertise and partnership.’
2. What are we like?
We are a highly motivated, professional and confident group of people. We are diverse in our backgrounds, experience and disciplines, but united in our purpose, outlook and culture.
3. How does this influence our tone of voice?
Our writing should reflect these characteristics:
Enthusiasm – we work in an exciting industry, doing great work.
Confidence – we are a community of highly capable, intelligent people.
Relevance – our communications should be interesting and engaging for our audiences.
4. What is our narrative style?
In general we should use the first person plural, that is to say, ‘we’, as demonstrated by our brand proposition.
5. How do we express ourselves?
We should always express ourselves clearly, which means using recognised practices of good communication, such as short sentences, avoiding jargon, acronyms and slang. Our materials should never be plain; engaging our readers means writing in a lively, interesting and well-crafted manner.
6. We are communicating with an international audience
We must always remember that our audiences don’t necessarily share the same culture, values and our way of doing things. Many will not speak English as a first language and may understand different things by the words we use.
Simplicity, clarity and using real, practical examples can help ensure our messages are clearly understood.
7. Where do we apply our tone of voice?
We apply our tone of voice principles in all our communications – internal and external, including newsletters and advertising, but not technical documents.
8. What about our digital communications?
Communications published online and offline should follow the same tone of voice principles, whilst recognising that writing for online should be shorter, punchier and structured to suit the device (laptop, tablet or mobile).