Self-tanning brand St. Moriz needed tone of voice guidelines to take its brand to the next level. They asked me to give them a hand; here’s a sneak preview.
Brand narrative
Hands up if a flawless faux glow fills you with confidence?
Yep, us too.
That’s why we made our own golden formula, brimming with beautiful ingredients.
But we’re more than just a bottle of good vibes. We’re a lifestyle. A team. A tribe.
And together, we’ll strut our sun-kissed stuff in style.
We’re not just for anyone; we’re for everyone, baby.
We are St. Moriz.
Welcome to our #TanTribe.
The VIP section
If there’s one page in this document we’d like you to obsess over: you’re reading it. Below, we describe our official Tone Of Voice to help you to write lush copy, again and again. Like most great communication, ours is personable and conversational…
Personable
We’re warm, welcoming and always here to help. By staying true to our values, we’ve built a caring brand, inside and out; and use 100% vegan ingredients to develop skin type and tone-inclusive formulations. We talk passionately about our products in a concise way, and use inclusive terms like ‘you’, ‘we’ and ‘us’ – as well as contractions like ‘we’re’ instead of ‘we are’.
While we hold our heads high like a goddess, we know we’re only human. So, to show this, we share the good, the bad and the downright crazy times online with our tribe, to live, laugh and love together.
Conversational
We love a quick chat, whether we’re sharing the latest celebrity gossip or a handy tanning tip with one of our besties. By speaking to our tribe regularly on social media, we have the power to learn what they want and make it happen.
Being a young brand, we’re just as comfortable using the latest lingo, hashtags and abbreviations, as we are raising a glass of prosecco to the good times. At the end of the day, life’s for living…so we never take ourselves too seriously.
Then, we give it a unique St. Moriz twist with a cocktail of sass and wit…
Sassy
We want our tribe to live their best life, so we engage them with cheeky, sassy or punny headlines and social posts. We share stunning lifestyle snaps, behind-the-scenes footage and beautiful products they truly care about. And, while we’re not here to throw shade, we do know how to craft a clever come-back on demand.
Everyone’s here to play their own game – and we know the rules like the back of our bottle, hun.
Witty
Just because we use fake tan, that doesn’t mean we’re fake. Nor does it mean we’re airheads. Yep, we know the stereotype. Our communications sing with smart wordplay to give our tribe a reason to smile. In fact, we want to help them hold their heads high, dream big and be their best, most confident selves. Every. Single. Day. 💁
Here are a few examples of things we might say, versus things we’d never say in a million years.
Hot words
- Our Tan Tribe
- OMG
- Good vibes
- #GlowGoals
- Prep like it’s hot
- Sun-kissed
- Self-care
- Flawless
- Vacay
- VIP
Not words
- Our target audience
- Goodness gracious
- A positive atmosphere
- My ideal shade
- Slap a bit of fake tan on
- Brown’ish
- Self-preservation
- Unblemished
- A holiday destination
- You’re cordially invited
Our golden rules
Did you know, we’re one of the world’s most successful self-tanning brands? This has nothing to do with luck; it’s thanks to years of hard work and by staying true to our values. These values inspire everything we say and do on the daily. Take them all in, girlfriend. Or boyfriend.
- We promise to manufacture our products in Britain
- We promise to offer the best products at unbeatable prices
- We promise to share our knowledge
- We promise to inspire confidence and trust
- We promise to be inclusive and body positive
- We promise to be vegan friendly
- We promise to be 100% authentic, 100% of the time
