The importance of copy in branding

Notice we said the importance of copy not the impotence of copy. We would always argue that copy is the most potent tool in your brand’s armoury.

Its job is to help you cut through, stand out, connect with your audience, and maintain a distinct personality. Whatever the time, place or stage in a customer’s journey.

It’s easy to underestimate the importance of copy in branding. And many do. After all, in an attention-short world, the pictures can often take precedence. Visual elements catch our eyes, and the words can often be seen as secondary.

It’s a big mistake.

Half of your brand’s identity is the way it speaks, otherwise known as your brand voice. It couldn’t be more important.

Even more important than that, the words can set the direction for every element of your brand identity. We recommend you start with words first, before you move onto logo, colours, typography and any other visual elements such as iconography, photography or illustration. That way you give your design people more of a direction to head in, rather than an open-ended brief.

The best creative work comes out of conversations: have the right conversations and the work writes itself.

That applies particularly to copy in branding. The best way to uncover your brand personality is to say it out loud. Write it long form and short form, from a tweet to a white paper, from a caption to an opinion piece. See what feels right, what feels like ‘you’, what communicates most directly. Then capture it and communicate it.

It’s important that everyone who writes on behalf of your brand understands your brand voice and the importance of copy to your branding.

Every sentence written on behalf of your brand matters, from an email to a social post to an expensive piece of advertising. So being able to quantify, codify, and explain your writing style in a way stakeholders can easily understand is key.

Great brands understand the importance of copy. Take the Economist, which has run copy-only advertising for decades. Intelligent headlines against a distinctive red background. Sure there’s good design in the construction of these communications. But they’re all about the words:

• “Money talks. But sometimes it needs an interpreter”
• “It’s lonely at the top, but at least there’s something to read.”
• “Enocomsit rdeeras avhe lradaye wrkode ti uot.”

It’s impossible to imagine the Economist brand without this tone of voice. Just like it’s hard to think of McDonald’s without “I’m lovin’ it”, or Oatly without its conversational, whimsical copy running from the advertising to its packs.

Branding is all about creating value for a product or service, beyond the merely functional. It’s about emotional connections and memorability.

Quite often we’re unaware of why we choose a brand, particularly when we’re cruising a supermarket or mindlessly browsing online. But something about it speaks to us and we feel an affinity. It can be way below the conscious level, which is why building an emotional connection is so important.

Copy helps us to build emotion, to make brands really lodge in the hearts and minds of customers. It can’t do it alone because unless a brand exists only on the radio or podcasts (think BBC Radio 4 and its hugely distinctive brand voice), you need both words and pictures. 

Ultimately, the importance of copy in branding can’t be overstated. Without it, there are no brands.