In July, I spoke to our Head of Digital Innovation (Mark Naylor) about the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). After Mark’s article was published I found this piece on the Forbes website which spoke of the surge in AI usage for content production. The article posed a question – ‘How can brands maintain their unique identity and voice?’ It’s an interesting question for any marketer, but certainly not a new one.
Back in 2012, a Marketing Week article discussing tone of voice, spoke with representatives from BT, PwC and Innocent. Dan Germain, of Innocent, argued at the time that ‘Our tone of voice is unique because it’s not consistent.’ I happened upon something similar when arriving at Exyte Hargreaves two years ago.
150 Years and Counting
I joined Hargreaves little more than two months before the business celebrated its 150th anniversary (a sesquicentennial, I was interested to discover in the research for an Intranet article). Colleagues were working on a commemorative book at the time. The book described the history of the business, from a family run bicycle shop, through several acquisitions and into one of the leading specialist HVAC contractors in the country. The longevity of the Hargreaves brand remains a key asset.
Structurally, there are differences too in the workforce. There are Manufacturing, Projects and Office support teams based all around the UK. There is an international connection too via our parent company, Exyte. A new Managing Director, James Bevis, followed me into the business by October 2022. Even as I started work, the story of the business was evolving, and it offered plenty to intrigue me.
Charting a Course
Earlier in my career I worked as a Copywriter and I fell back into that wheelhouse during my initial months at Hargreaves. I must share kudos with my predecessors for the creation of the Hargreaves Intranet Portal (cleverly known as the HiP). It was one of the more established marketing channels (internal or external) when I arrived. It also became a place for me to test the impact of my own voice within the business.
Early articles about the anniversary, current or past projects and new employees gained pleasing traction. The lightbulb moment came with the posting of an article about one of our southern Defence sector projects. Subject-wise it was about team achievements, and though I’d written the piece I decided to add an authorship alias from our Operations Director. Immediately, the engagement level doubled. Ghostwriting, it appeared, had given a clue to the business’ future communications roadmap.
Putting Personality into Brand Voice
Returning to the Innocent quote about a non-consistent brand voice, I think the same is true of Exyte Hargreaves. As a business, there is a strength in the diversity of our people (cultural and demographic). This month we welcomed 16 new apprentices. Some of those will be working in our factory alongside experienced professionals with 30, 40 or 50 years’ in the job. We have project teams in the South, in London and all the way North to Bury. Some of our people work remotely (almost never seeing Head Office), some were born in the UK, others have travelled the world. Shoehorning that diversity into a homogenised voice would be a challenge, so we don’t.
We’re lucky too to have the support of our colleagues in Exyte. Brand guidelines and styles help us set the tone and shine a light for best practice.
With more than 200 colleagues to choose from at Hargreaves, I consider one of my most important remits to be that of a storyteller. What we do as a HVAC business, from concept design to commissioning is remarkable. But importantly, it’s the people we employ who make that happen. So I prefer to feature their personalities and experiences as much as possible in our marketing. There’s evidence to suggest that it works too. We attracted more than 230 applications for the 2024 apprenticeship scheme after a promotional storytelling campaign featuring our 2023 apprentices. I’m proud of that.
The Evolution of Brand Voice
In the introduction to this piece I referred to the way that Exyte Hargreaves has changed. You can see that in the way we communicate today. We’ve changed from having a LinkedIn channel to now becoming active on Instagram too. Our new website is almost a year old, and we have our new magazine (1872). There’s more opportunity to interact with Exyte Hargreaves today and our people feature heavily.
One of the greatest strengths to a brand voice built by people is its ability to evolve. Our #24In24 series is highlighting some of the new faces who have joined the team this year. They’re changing the business and in so doing, altering its personality. It’s a treat when marketing. Every day is different and so are our stories.
