Verbal Identity Guidelines for start-up Brand Share

Introduction

SHARE is a hybrid app and tangible-product platform. The app guides users to the most photo-worthy spots in an area, helps them capture the story of an experience, and then creates postcards from favorite photos and automatically sends them to loved ones.

USERS: iPhone users between 30 and 45 years of age.

OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT: Connecting with people who we love makes us happy, and reliving our shared special moments allows us to continue to keep our bonds alive.

Introduction

BRAND PURPOSE STATEMENT: Share helps people reconnect to the joy and bonding felt during special experiences with special people at special places.

BRAND TAG LINE: Connecting you to what matters.

verbal identity VERBAL LEXICON A verbal lexicon is a system of language. It can be thought of as a specialized, open-ended dictionary containing key words and phrases to be mined for the creation of any messaging and verbal branding. It allows brand messaging to stay true to the values and persona of the company.

ADVENTURE: a special or remarkable experience BONDING: the formation of a close relationship CONNECTION: the state of being linked or in a relationship

EXPERIENCE: an instance of participating in an event, or the event itself INTIMACY: suggesting a warm, personal relationship JOY: a state of delight and happiness

verbal identity VERBAL LEXICON A verbal lexicon is a system of language. It can be thought of as a specialized, open-ended dictionary containing key words and phrases to be mined for the creation of any messaging and verbal branding. It allows brand messaging to stay true to the values and persona of the company.

CHARMING: that which is extremely pleasing

SAVOR: to enjoy through the use of the senses

ENDURING: the quality of durability and continuation

SPECIAL: having an unusual or superior quality

MEMORY: recalling experiences, people, or feelings

WONDERFUL: excellent, or that which causes a sense of wonder

verbal identity Key Themes Key themes are the core or a verbal identity system. All naming, tag lines, and messaging should consider these key themes as guiding principles. Just as with the brand lexicon, the key themes steer messaging to stay true to the values and persona of the company.

Collect moments, not things: Our philosophy is that spending money to enjoy new experiences with important people will give us more satisfaction and longer-lasting happiness than buying an abundance of non-essential material objects. This can also be expressed in alternative ways such as “spend on experiences not things” or “experience over things.”

Family and friends improve life: Adventures are made all the better when they are shared with important people. However, try to steer clear of clichés, such as “the more the merrier” and “man’s best friend.”

verbal identity

Key Themes

Share experiences, create connections: This is similar to the idea that friends make life better, but it looks at this concept from the perspective that new experiences can help you make new friends.

Be present in the moment. This is a core tenet in mindfulness meditation and yoga, and it’s also an important belief in our company. Staying present in the moment allows us to get more satisfaction from our experiences, which is one of our main goals with Share.

verbal identity Brand voice + tone Our voice reflects the persona and values of our brand and should stay consistent. It is friendly, genuine, and inclusive. Our tone of voice changes based on the audience and medium. This is true for all of us. For example, we speak in a slightly different tone when we are talking to our best friend than to a group of colleagues. Our in-house tone of voice is more casual than our B2C tone.

Be genuine but not cheesy. Share is endearing and emotionally intelligent, but not earnest nor desperate. We always want to highlight the importance of love and friendship but we don’t want to be your mom’s Special Moments figurines.

We might say: “Remember how you felt that first summer after college?”

We would not say: “We can help you relive those wistful emotions from your first summer after college.”

verbal identity Brand voice + tone Our voice reflects the persona and values of our brand and should stay consistent. It is friendly, genuine, and inclusive. Our tone of voice changes based on the audience and medium. This is true for all of us. For example, we speak in a slightly different tone when we are talking to our best friend than to a group of colleagues. Our in-house tone of voice is more casual than our B2C tone.

Families are what we make them. Most of us have created bigger and better families for ourselves that includes (possibly) our nuclear family, relatives, friends, neighbors, significant others. These new families aren’t limited by the bounds of race, sexuality, nationality, or gender expression. And even when we look at nuclear families, we see every possible variation of diversity. Therefore we never expect nor desire homogeneity. To stay true to this aspect of the brand’s identity, verbal and visual elements must work together.

We might say: “Have you shown your sisters how much you miss them?”

(Visual element shows a group of college-aged women of various races and degrees of femininity.)

We would not say: “Is it time to show your daughters how much you miss them?” (Visual element shows a white mom and her two grown white daughters.)

verbal identity Brand voice + tone Our voice reflects the persona and values of our brand and should stay consistent. It is friendly, genuine, and inclusive. Our tone of voice changes based on the audience and medium. This is true for all of us. For example, we speak in a slightly different tone when we are talking to our best friend than to a group of colleagues. Our in-house tone of voice is more casual than our B2C tone.

Don’t shy away from the real moments. Sure, sometimes we have perfect vacations and perfect weather. But from our experience the most meaningful vacation days are those when the motel room smelled like mildew and the car got a flat tire but you watched your son befriend a stray kitten and then magically saw the sunset over the mountains. And you felt just so very lucky. This is the truth we want to remember to capture.

We might say: “Last year’s family vacation? Rainy, windy, and awesome.”

We would not say: “Last year’s family vacation? Sunny, 79, and perfect.”

verbal identity

Key Stories Our key stories, including the CEO’s personal story, are conversational in nature. Our stories focus on human elements, first person accounts, and concrete examples. They are welcoming, inclusive, and genuine.

“I’m a father, and my favorite thing to do is travel and spend special days out with my family. When we travel our relationships grow closer while we enjoy even small moments together.

However, once we get home and return to regular life we tend to fall back into our negative patterns— we rush around and end up taking each other for granted. One thing that helps us recapture our strong bonds is looking at photos or mementos from the experience. It gives us the opportunity to reflect back on our adventure and savor the joy we felt. Now when my 10-year-old daughter has a rough day she will pull out our photo postcards and ask us all to sit together to look at them.”

verbal identity

Key Stories Our key stories, including the CEO’s personal story, are conversational in nature. Our stories focus on human elements, first person accounts, and concrete examples. They are welcoming, inclusive, and genuine.

“Last month I went to Spain with my mother, my brother, and his wife. It was the first time we took a family trip since I left for college seven years ago. We drank bottles of cheap wine, played loud games of Scrabble, and learned that our mom still manages to catch the eye of many older gentlemen. Last week, when my mom received the first photo postcard from the trip, she called me crying.

They were tears of joy.”