Updated November 2026
Brand Voice and Messaging
Brand voice and messaging sets how a product brand sounds wherever it is read: the traits of its tone, the lines it repeats, the names across its range and the claims it leaves out. It is one stage of the MarkaWorks brand strategy work, and 11 of our published case pages name it, for ten brands.
Some of this work starts from material the brand already has: for Nutrio we began from its own manifesto. In other projects the voice was set together with the visual identity, as for Rally, where the central idea “Shift the Day” runs through the script wordmark and the badges as well as the copy lines.
Four kinds of output on our case pages
- A tone of voice
- Messaging rules
- Copy lines and taglines
- Names, when briefed
What the voice work covers
The tone of voice is named in a few traits. Nutrio’s is nurturing, empowering and authentic; YU’s is calm, grounded and gently empowering.
Messaging rules say what the brand talks about and what it leaves out. For YU, the messaging speaks about performance through purity rather than through claims.
Copy lines carry the idea in one sentence, as the Rally and Birtz cases further down this page show. Names come in when the brief includes them: the YU name itself, and a distinct name for every product in the Serenique range.
How a voice project runs
Two of our case pages show how the work runs from the start. For Birtz it began with a workshop on the emotional and functional sides of the brand. The main insight from that workshop was that the women the brand serves are looking for understanding as much as solutions. Strategic pillars were drawn from it, and the same pillars set the tone of voice and the visual behavior.
For Serenique the starting point was the market. An analysis of consumer needs came before the positioning and the tone of voice were defined.
In the published cases the voice then appears on the pack, the website, social templates and campaign layouts, as the Awelly, Evernate and Nutrio examples further down show.
What the work starts from
Some of our voice work has started from material the brand already had. For Nutrio we began from the brand’s own manifesto and carried that idea through the packaging and the digital side. A founding idea, early lines or working product names are a useful starting point for the voice.
Voice and identity decided together
In several of our projects the voice was set in the same project as the visual identity. Rally shows how the two meet. Its central idea, “Shift the Day”, runs through a custom script wordmark, motorsport badges and checker patterns. In the art direction we developed for Rally, phrases such as “Prepared for the everyday push.” and “Spark the comeback.” turn the brand voice into part of the visual identity.
The link also runs the other way. On the Birtz packaging a color code separates the stages of the range, so the shelf answers a question the copy would otherwise have to answer.
Lines, taglines and names
For YU we handled the project from naming through art direction. The name carries a double meaning in Japanese, and it was chosen to stay short, memorable and pronounceable across languages.
Naming also works at range level. For Dose Herbal Tea, clear product naming sits beside bold colors and playful illustrations, so a shopper can tell the flavors apart at a glance. Birtz carries its line, “Nourishing women, inspiring lives”, on a secondary mark that works as a seal and a statement of purpose at the same time.
One voice from the pack to the screen
A voice has to hold on every surface the customer meets. For Awelly we kept the tone of voice warm and informative inside the website as well, because a brand that reads as a reliable partner on the pack cannot read as a form on the site. Evernate’s tone stays informative and supportive across its digital touchpoints. For Nutrio, social templates, educational content and campaign visuals share one language with a warm, supportive tone.
If your team is writing the voice in house, our guide to tone of voice for a product brand covers the steps one by one.
Voice decisions in published work
These are the voice decisions as our case pages describe them, brand by brand.
| Brand | Voice decision | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|
 Rally | Lines such as “Spark the comeback.” made part of the identity | Art direction |
 YU | Calm, grounded tone; messaging about purity without claims | Name, packaging and art direction |
 Birtz | Tone of voice set from the same pillars as the visual behavior | Packaging, website and campaigns |
 Awelly | Warm, informative tone kept inside the website | Website |
 Dose Herbal Tea | Upbeat, encouraging tone with clear product naming | Packaging and brand assets |
 Evernate | Informative, supportive tone | Digital touchpoints |
 Serenique | Positioning and tone of voice defined after a market analysis | Product names and packaging |
Frequently asked questions
Voice is how the brand sounds in every sentence: its tone and its word choices. Messaging is what it says: the ideas it repeats, the lines it uses and the claims it leaves out. In the YU project both were defined together, a calm, grounded tone and messaging about purity rather than claims.
Yes, when the brief calls for them. We handled YU from naming through art direction, and its case page sets out its tone, messaging and taglines. In the Serenique project every product in the range was given a distinct name.
Yes. For Awelly we kept the tone warm and informative inside the website, Evernate's tone runs across its digital touchpoints, and Nutrio's social templates and campaign visuals share one language.
Voice and messaging is one part of the brand strategy and visual identity work MarkaWorks does. In our published projects it sits inside a full identity project, as it did for Birtz and YU, so the voice and the visual system come from the same strategic work.
In our published cases it has started in two ways: with a workshop on the emotional and functional sides of the brand, as for Birtz, or with a market analysis, as for Serenique. For Birtz, the workshop produced the strategic pillars that set both the tone of voice and the visual behavior.
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