Opinion: How did IG Design Group develop its tone of voice?

Our approach was to create a refreshed, design-led brand and we engaged our team across all disciplines and locations from the outset. We defined our communication ambition to enable colleagues, customers and stakeholders to better understand what IG Design does so they may become more effective advocates for the business.

We defined what we really do: we are in the transformation business. We transform paper (and much more) into products that create enduring memories.

We established our purpose, which is that we design, manufacture, source and distribute a wide array of products which help celebrate life’s special occasions. We help create wonderful moments and lasting memories.

We defined our values. They are imaginative, we design with imagination and creative flair, responsible, we source and manufacture responsibly and dependable, we strive to achieve complete customer satisfaction

We articulated our story. We have been transforming paper and a whole lot more into products which help deliver wonderful moments and lasting memories for generations. We design, manufacture, source and distribute a wide array of products which help celebrate life’s special occasions.

We operate within three product categories: First, is gift packaging, greetings and party ware. Second is stationery and creative play for home, school and office. Third, we make giftware that’s imaginative, fun and excellent value.

We are proud to serve many of the world’s best retailers around the globe with a complete end-to-end service from design to distribution. We design with creative flair and imagination. We source and manufacture all of our products responsibly. We do whatever it takes to ensure total customer satisfaction.

We are the IG Design Group and we’re here to help.

We agreed that our values will serve as a guide to how we behave and the tone of the
language we use for communication.

We agreed on the way we want to communicate and behave. The words we use to communicate our brand are as important as the way we look. They give us the opportunity to talk in a distinctive voice that sets us apart from our competitors and help us to speak consistently across all our communication. A consistent tone of voice will help to establish personality, and maintain it so that everyone understands who we are as a company, and what we’re like to deal with.

We agreed on how we want this voice to come to life. We don’t talk at our audience, we talk with it. We will use our new brand identity flexibly to reinforce the visual design and create simple, characterful, flexible messages and use our brand logo flexibly to both establish the idea and communicate. We agreed to do this by adding italics that transform the word ‘design’ into a verb or adjective to support a range of messages.

Our brand launch culminated in a group-wide project, the ‘Smiling Jigsaw Project,’ engaging over 1,000 members of our team in creating a giant puzzle using individually crafted pieces capturing ‘What makes me smile ?’ Each piece generated a donation to a locally sponsored charity. This huge effort was filmed and photographed, resulting in a beautiful video and a commemorative book was presented to each business and participant. With that, the evolution from International Greetings plc to Design Group had begun.

Paul Fineman is CEO of IG Design Group