Luxury skincare brand - Tone of voice

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Creme du Loch came to me with a big dilemma: how to sell anti-ageing skincare while uplifting customers and promoting age positivity. The team were worried about appearing hypocritical or promoting unrealistic beauty standards.

Another question was how to present their vast knowledge and scientific processes while retaining a relatable, small business feel. They wanted to project the luxury nature of their brand and their ingredients without slipping into stuffiness or exclusivity. As founder Honore said, “We needed something consistent and engaging to show our customers that we’re good people who genuinely want them to feel good in themselves.”

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My first step as their beauty copywriter was to review customer feedback. It was clear that this was a much loved and trusted brand with some very impressive products. I researched competitor copy to help identify a path forward that was unique to the brand. Then, I looked at brands outside of the beauty space who combined being an international success story with a family feel. Brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Whole Foods. I also explored brands who put a welcoming arm around the ‘problem’ they were made to solve. Persil and dirt. Sure and sweat. If they could do that, I felt that Creme du Loch could certainly embrace the beauty of ageing without appearing hypocritical.

After this research phase, I delivered 12 brand mission statements to really explore the language in a practical way. Did we want to go for caring, friendly and humble or scientific, progressive and confident? Our chosen boilerplate then formed the jewel in the crown of our Verbal Identity guidelines.

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Creme du Loch emerged with a tone of voice that is warm and uplifting with a refreshing and confident twist. Gone are words like sag, bag, dull and ageing. Instead, we talk about glow, plumpness and hydration. As a luxury brand with stunning packaging, it’s all about the experience, the ritual. So we set out ways to make the copy as expressive and sensory as possible.

I designed a tone of voice guideline that would help the team and their writers to maintain this tone of voice throughout their written communication. It created a bedrock for the brand’s entire culture and has infused everything from their social media to their hiring process. I added a special anti-hypocrite guide covering language to choose and avoid as well as general brand behaviours to strengthen and support their message of age positivity. Out with the exclusively young models, in with the focus on skincare as a ritual of pleasure, not an obligatory chore attached to growing older. It reminds the team to seek opportunities for the customer to have a voice and always use language to uplift and inspire, rather than criticise or harm.

Following our work together, Creme du Loch has launched an exciting new product range on their e-commerce store to great acclaim and won their second Beauty Bible award. They also added an ingredients glossary to their website demystify the magic behind their creams. Evidence of brand values in action if ever I saw it!

“We have loved working with Sally. Not only is she very friendly, organised and professional, she completely understood our concerns with formulating our brand voice and has honestly put our minds to rest. She has exceeded our expectations and we couldn’t be happier.
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— HONORE WHEELER - CREME DU LOCH