The brief was to develop a distinctively urban tone of voice and capture Prahran’s unique spirit for  The Luxton, a contemporary apartment and retail development to be located right in Prahran’s heart. The brochure is complete and is currently in production.

This Melbourne-based retailer has a particularly warm style and an enthusiasm for the origins of their merchandise that they wanted to capture in the language for this promotional postcard.

This client requested a specific language for their range of Winter footwear based on capturing a cool, wintry take on the Australian landscape. See more of the results here.

This recently launched company aims to present architectural services in a fresh, more accessible way to a mainstream market. My task was to develop a positioning statement and a language for all collateral that was clear, accessible and inspiring to this market, while explaining the details of My Architect’s approach in an engaging way. The language also needed to move away from the design-speak of architectural magazines and pivot the message away from ‘presenting what we’ve created’ to an emphasis on ‘what we can do for you’.

This Singapore-based company needed a brochure that created a sense of seriousness and urgency about the ever annoying problem of spam.
I was approached to create a brochure that cut through the tough competition in this sector. My solution was to create a tone of voice that treated spam like a life-threatening virus and got straight to the point with an effective solution.

Of all the writing tasks I’ve been asked to work on, naming is probably the trickiest.

Despite the common perception that naming is only worthy of the ‘hey! let’s hold an office naming competition’ approach, coming up with a great name is a rigorous process that involves patience, many hours of researching the market, understanding your competitors, a dogged determination, a healthy imagination, not to mention a fearless ability to explore the twistiest tangents on the path to a killer name.

And after all that, you still have just single words on paper. Sometimes 10, sometimes up to 100 single names. Then, you need the ability to rationalise, explain and convince your client like crazy. Trouble is, single words on paper aren’t always the easiest things for clients to fall utterly in love with. And that’s exactly what they need  to do to find their new name sitting there, furiously waving at them in your foggy list of maybe names.

You can rationalise, cajole and convince all you like. Ultimately, though, your client needs to be able to make the leap between the undressed, undesigned name they see on paper and the powerful potential it represents.  To do that, clients need to be absolutely crystal clear about their vision of who they are and/or who they want to be. They also need to be prepared to jump into the unknown.

With this in mind, I bow down to the inspired individuals (both writers and clients) who have triumphed  to bring us the following:

Spearmint Rhino – Easy to say, easy to read, and, um…easy to visualise. A name that makes this ‘gentlemen’s’ club impossible to forget.

Ocado – Taken from the word avocado (the avocado is the hardest fruit to protect through the food chain). It’s strongly evocative of fresh fruit and crispy freshness, generally.

Google – those endless ‘o’s suggest an infinite amount of data, which sums up its benefits nicely. Easy to say, read, remember and has evolved effortlessly into a verb, much like ‘hoovering the floor’ once did.

The right words can transform your business. They can define your difference (see Innocent Drinks). Explain why you’re better in a way your customers will remember (see Apple). Or reflect your take on the world and what you value. (see Howies).

Words are powerful. They can win pitches, customers, investors, loyalty, supporters and more. Of course, the power of words can be described however you like. Personally, I like to think it’s best explained when you consider whether a person appeals to you or not.

Sure, the way they look might attract for a while. But if someone isn’t interesting, or charming, or intriguing, or funny, or understanding, or wise, or inspiring, you’ll be heading for an escape route soon enough.

Whether you use words well, or otherwise, they say everything about you.

When most pasta makers promote their product, images of plump, rosy-cheeked Italian mamas in gingham aprons usually aren’t far away. Not this pasta maker. Pagani wanted to approach it in the way that designers of high performance Italian cars regard their latest creation. Like a science. With absolute attention to detail. And an inexhaustible drive for perfection.

During a comprehensive brand repositioning phase, Brand Instinct appointed me to visit the Pagani factory, located in the Italian region of Lombardy, to interview key people within the organisation and gain insights into the brand’s essence.

From this, as well as finding inspiration from the style of language used at the premium end of the European automotive industry, I developed the overarching tone of voice. This was then applied to the website and promotional brochure.

Nokia was seeking a way to promote greater ‘cross pollination’ between the various departments of their company. I was commissioned by Nokia Design, London to develop the main concept and a 4-minute voiceover script for an animated film that broached this aim in a simple, powerful and intriguing way. The booklet was produced to accompany the CD of the film and contains key excerpts from the film script. The film can be viewed on request.

Nokia Design approached me to write this 114-page internal document about User Guidance for use within the Nokia company. I was able to tap into months of research into mobile phone users, the different ways they use mobile phones and the possibilities for the future. The project involved working with a team of designers to develop the flow of ideas and create a cohesive narrative that explained the motivations, thinking, actions and resolutions of the project.