WAGO
At WAGO, our brand principles are Simplicity, Inspiration and Commitment – and an exceptional focus on Empowerment. No matter if online or offline, whether in English or French or German or any other language. So, how do we bring this to life in our language? That’s the subject of this section. It’s a resource for anyone at WAGO who produces branded communications for internal or external audiences. Whether it’s website copy, customer emails, or video speaker, our voice should be consistent with our overall brand identity. In doing so, we have oriented the tonalities strongly to our brand principles, but developed them even more specifically to how we want to speak. Of course a guideline like this can’t cover every possible detail. If there are specific rules, for example for legal texts or social media, we encourage you to keep these in mind too, because ultimately you’re in control of the keyboard.
simple, motivating, explanatory
These three tonalities are the basis of how we speak. It is important to remember that these tonalities cannot be seen independently, but must always be seen together in order to achieve a consistent result.
eye level
This is the core of our brand tonality. No matter who we talk to, no mater on which channel, we always communicate at eye level.
Let's start with the Basics.
In addition to the tonalities that form the basis of our language and describe the feeling that our way of speaking is distinctive, the basics are just as crucial to creating a uniform image - of course based on the brand values and our tonalities.
Basics
- Whether we address our customers formally oder informally depends strongly on the channel and situation. In principle, the following applies:
- If the customer allows you to be on familiar (or first name) terms then this can be reflected – of course with the necessary respect.
- Young channel (e.g. Facebook) or young target group: informally
- Serious channel (e.g. Customer magazine) or older target group: formally
- We respect our customers, regardless of gender. We therefore address our customers as gender-independently as possible or add a note that we use the male version course, respect all genders equally.
- Consistent salutations of persons: This includes the handling of titles.
- We respect every human being. Discrimination of any kind has no place in our communication. Campaigns or general communication at the expense of individuals, groups even competitors work against our positioning and are not published.
- Sarcastic or comedic emphasis of physical or human characteristics are not tolerated either.
Topics
- Above all, we want to talk about the emotional added value for our customers and how WAGO empowered them.
- Direct product communication also plays a role in explaining the rational added value and explaining information about the products.
- Political topics or allusions, religion or sexuality do not play a decisive role for our brand and should therefore not be communicated. We want to focus about the emotional added value.
- Humour can be used up to a certain point if the above mentioned points are taken into account. Humor should not be thought too much around the corner.
- However it always depends on the channel and on what kind of communication strategy is used (brand, target group or product communication)
Tonality - Matrix
The way we communicate is also geared to the requirements of a specific target group as well as to the characteristics and environment of the channel or medium.
Understanding our 4 tonalities
Our tonalities form the fundament of our language and describe the feeling that our way of speaking is destinctive and how our voice should be perceived.
Tonality - Eye Level
We always communicate at eye level: Our customer are equal partners. When we talk to our customers, it should always feel like talking to a valued colleage. We show respect for ourselves and the person we are talking to. Appreciative and customer-oriented communication describes our attitude. Speaking at eye level means always conducting a conversation in a serious manner. Eye-Level means no self-glorification.
Tonality - Simple
We want to make it easier. For everyone. No matter what it is. More complex topics can be summarized in a simple and understandable way. However, simple does not mean, that we're not taking our customers seriously, but that we can explain even complex relationships simply and respectfully. We want to make it simple and effortless to understand the benefit of our products and services.
Tonality - Explanatory
Our language is explanatory. We don't just beat around the bush. We always find the right words to explain the advantages of our products and their emotional value to our customers, as well as the right supporting examples.
Tonality - Motivating
Our communication should not only explain the value to our customers in a simple way, but also motivate them to try something new. We want to motivate our customers with inspiring stories whenever it is possible.
