EXAMPLE: BRAND GUIDE

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DEFINITIONS

BRAND GUIDE

TERMS WE USE

WHAT YOU TOLD US ELEVATOR PITCH BRAND STORY PERSONALITY + BEHAVIOR HOW YOU SPEAK HOW YOU LOOK

BRAND GUIDE WHAT’S INSIDE

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ELEVATOR PITCH

BRAND GUIDE

WHAT YOU DO

HOW YOU DO IT

WHY YOU DO IT

BRAND STORY

HOW YOU SPEAK

PERSONALITY + BEHAVIOR

HOW YOU LOOK

A foundational tool that drives marketing execution and ensures communications are telling one singular story.

The shortest, most concise way to describe the category of what you are selling, and the one thing that makes it unique.

Three sentences that clarify what, how and why you do what you do. It ensures everyone who communicates about you is saying the same thing.

What your product or service is and does.

How you deliver what you do.

Why you matter to your target audience.

The traits that communicate who you are to the world, and how you act.

Direction and inspiration for the writers responsible for crafting verbal tonality and style in all communications.

Direction and inspiration for the designers responsible for expressing how you look in all communications.

DEFINITIONS TERMS WE USE

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YOUR IMAGES

WHAT THEY MEAN TOGETHER

BRAND GUIDE WHAT YOU TOLD US

Optimistic Inspiring Innovative Inventive Empathetic Empowering Disruptive Pioneering Refreshing

Sees the bright side Shows and tells and shares Thinks outside the box Realizes ideas fully Understands and validates Encourages action Changes the conversation Blazes new trails Springs to life

BRAND TIP These are the words and images you chose. Together, they begin to tell a story.

YOUR WORDS

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BRAND ELEVATOR PITCHCATEGORY

BRAND TIP Many start ups and small businesses are breaking new ground—and often have a hard time articulating what they do.

Your elevator pitch should be clearly understood in one sentence.

Using a familiar category reference is essential to explaining your business quickly. If people are tracking with your category, they can focus on how you’re different within that category.

POINT OF DIFFERENCE

WeFestival is an event for women entrepreneurs, designed for sharing and validating.

BRAND GUIDE ELEVATOR PITCH

6 BRAND GUIDE BRAND STORY

BRAND STORYWHAT YOU DO

BRAND TIP Your brand story is the foundation for articulating your brand’s best self - in clear, concise language. Your story acts as an internal script so that everyone is communicating the same ideas about your brand and business. Your Brand Story language can be used directly as-is, or massaged for specific communications. It’s here to help ensure consistency in everything you do, say, create.

WHY YOU DO ITHOW YOU DO IT

We support, celebrate and validate women entrepreneurs who are in the trenches of their business.

We create a safe place to connect and be heard.

We believe the best way for women to fuel creative fires and move their business forward is to learn from other women’s experiences - and share their own.

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WeFestival listens intently because everyone’s experience is worth sharing and learning from

BECAUSE YOU ARE

BRAND TIP As people, our personality and behavior transmit who we are to the world. The same is true for brands.

These personality ideas were crafted for you based on what you told us. The specific words we’ve chosen are less important than the ideas behind those words. Feel free to change out any of the primary words with the alternatives listed below. Whatever you decide to change, just make sure to stay true to the big ideas.

YOU ACT IN THIS WAY

BRAND GUIDE PERSONALITY + BEHAVIOR

MOVE FORWARDMOTIVATING

VALIDATE EXPERIENCESEMPATHETIC

LIGHT FIRESREFRESHINGSpirited, optimistic, energetic

safe, generous, supportive

Inspiring, guiding, empowering

WeFestival creates a lively dialog that sparks thought and action

WeFestival inspires, providing a leg up for the journey ahead

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BEHAVIORS

BRAND TIP Tone of voice is a guide to help ensure you write and speak with consistency. If you remember one thing here, remember Tone Style. It’s your rudder.

For super-important communications, we highly recommend hiring a writer if you don’t have one on staff.

TONE OF VOICE WRITING STYLECasual and colloquial

Because we...

Because we...

Because we...

BEFORE + AFTER

We altered the language of “designed for you” into “we’ve got you covered” to say the same thing - customization - but in a way that’s empathetic with colloquial enthusiasm.

BRAND GUIDE HOW TO SPEAK

MOVE FORWARD

VALIDATE EXPERIENCES

LIGHT FIRES We ask questions, listen and share

Reference the experiences of WeFesters - What’s the best advice you ever got?

We’ll post in “what you said” tomorrow...

website copy before website copy after

No matter what stage your business is in – just starting, recently launched, ready to scale – this year’s festival is designed for you.

There is nothing more important to an entrepreneur than good information, sound advice, a supportive and generous community of peers, and great conversation. This year we focus on the nuts and bolts: what you need to know to make your business a success from people who have been where you are now.

We know one-size-fits-all isn’t great for business. So no matter where you are in yours—just starting, just launched, or just about to scale—we’ve got you covered at WeFest.

We’re here to bring you the conversation, sound advice and support you need from women like you who are building businesses from scratch.

This year, it’s all about nuts and bolts, the biggest “need to knows” from women who have been there already.

We connect warmly

We motivate with vibrant enthusiasm

Write with encouraging positivity - Browncow just launched their site!

If you’ve got a sec, show some love..

Write and speak like real people speak because you know WeFesters personally

- We’re so glad you came...

Instead of being preach-y “there’s nothing more important” we are motivating with encouraging positivity like real people speak “we’re here to bring you ....support you need.”

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BEHAVIORS

BRAND TIP All color has meaning. But there’s a difference between universal meaning and personal meaning. The right color for your brand is not about personal like or dislike - it’s about what works to communicate who you are.

…AND MORE This collage was created for designers. It acts as inspiration and direction to ensure they translate your brand cohesively and consistently across whatever medium they are designing for.

NOTE These images are ONLY for your internal purposes. You do not have any commercial rights to use these images for external or promotional purposes.

EXPRESSION

Because we...

Because we...

Because we...

BRAND GUIDE HOW YOU LOOK

MOVE FORWARD

VALIDATE EXPERIENCES

LIGHT FIRES This orangey-red color family represents powerful optimism today. Because you fire things up, your base colors are less-heavy red or gray tones that can be layered with modern, light-weight colors to create action and a bit of levity

COLOR

PHOTOGRAPHY

GRAPHICS

TYPOGRAPHY

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TYPO

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PHO

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Because we validate and share, we show real people interacting in frames that capture the moment—in true-to-life color or black-and-white

Because we build and move forward, we use layers of directional curves and lines that show movement

Because we validate and ground, our typefaces are approachable, clean, modern san serifs

Because we light it up, our environments are built for fluid conversation and feel bright and uplifting

ENVIRONMENT

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AFTERBEFORE

BRAND GUIDE HOW YOU LOOK: BEFORE & AFTER

The Women’s Entrepreneur Festival is a premiere event organization solely committed to bringing women entrepreneurs together to connect and be heard — to support and inspire each other to be impactful leaders and to propel their businesses forward.

The goal the Women Entrepreneurs Festival is to sow the seeds for a community of women entrepreneurs in NYC, to expose women who have not yet taken the entrepreneurial leap, the pre-entrepreneurs, to women who have.