Brand Voice
PlayHQ is the new home of community sport.
This short sentence gives us a rich overview of what PlayHQ represents as a brand.
“New”…
This is innovation and aspiration. PlayHQ is tapping into dormant potential and finding new ways to channel it out into the world.
“Home”…
This evokes familiarity, but also confidence – a home is a place that you know and trust. It’s where you start a new journey from, and where you always return to.
“Community”…
This is ultimately why PlayHQ does what it does. It speaks to a belief in the transformative possibilities of sport, and the magic that happens when people work together.
Nationality
PlayHQ is an Australian organisation, but as we look to extend into international markets over the coming years, we want to avoid tying our company’s identity to any one culture or nationality. After all, we believe that sport is a universal language.
As PlayHQ’s comms become more tailored to different territories, we can certainly reflect on their unique sporting culture – but this should never extend into cliché or caricature.
Point-of-view
PlayHQ comms should be written from the general perspective of someone within the PlayHQ organisation. Avoid “I” and “me”, but refer to “us” or “we”.
Naming
With multiple stakeholders, both internal and external, it’s important to keep track of who’s who, and to refer to them accurately. Here are some useful terms:
- PlayHQ is a sports tech company.
- Its product is a SaaS / turnkey software solution.
- More colloquially, the PlayHQ product can be referred to as the platform, made up of features.
- PlayHQ staff are team members, or the team.
- The group of people using PlayHQ – including NSOs, admins, players and participants – can be broadly referred to as the PlayHQ community.
- Within this, you have partners – governing bodies and associations who have a business relationship with PlayHQ.
- Then you have the individuals – admins, volunteers, players, participants and parents – the people who access PlayHQ features on a regular basis.
- Internally, partners may also be called clients, just as participants may be called users or customers.
Consider the context when choosing how to refer to any of these stakeholders. In support articles and internal comms, it makes sense to use “customer” or “user” – but when addressing people directly, these words can come across as corporate and mercantile. Opt for warmer, more human-centric language wherever possible.
Active voice
Using active voice means leading with the subject of the sentence, and focusing on their action. In the following sentence, the “sporting community” is not the subject carrying out the action (the “lifting up”) – so don’t start with them. Start with the “we”.
Be concise
PlayHQ’s confidence should be conveyed through the precision of its language; we don’t write in convoluted, flowery sentences. When describing something, try to use one adjective only. And make sure every sentence has a purpose – a why.
Be impactful
Run-on sentences can be difficult to understand, and easily lose their impact. Any time you’re placing a comma in a sentence, ask yourself: could this be a full stop instead? Also be wary of adverbs and words like “just” or “really”. Would your passage read more powerfully without them?
Don’t be salesy
PlayHQ is a company selling a product, but we never want this to overshadow our passion for sport. Discussions around money and pricing should be upfront and honest. Everyone values transparency over spin.
Avoid clichés
It can be tempting to lapse into stereotypical formulations, especially when creating social or blog posts. Avoid the temptation to start articles with phrases like “Did you know?”, “Fun fact!”, or “Life’s too short to…”
Humour
Writing PlayHQ copy lends itself to sports-infused wordplay. In this instance, always err on the side of restraint. If a phrase feels too punny, cheesy or forced, try dialling it back. Also try to avoid cramming multiple sports metaphors into a single sentence.
Inclusiveness
All PlayHQ comms should champion inclusiveness and acceptance. This means avoiding cultural stereotypes, and thinking twice about any language that could be perceived as exclusionary or ableist.
Plain language
Try to avoid industry jargon, technical acronyms, or overly-colloquial slang. This can be alienating to people of certain ages, or from different cultural or linguistic backgrounds.
Of course, this depends on context. Pages aimed at admins or organisations could contain terms like “SaaS” and “turnkey”, but you wouldn’t use these words in a passage aimed at players and their parents.
Write like you speak
The easiest way to double-check your written content is to read it out loud. PlayHQ is a company of humans, and we want to sound like it. If something sounds awkward or overly formal, find another way to write it. If in doubt – read it out.
Tone of voice summary
Every word you write under the PlayHQ banner is a delicate tonal balancing act. Here’s a visual representation of where the brand’s voice sits on the spectrum of a few different personality traits.
Little guy
Tech giant
Cheeky humour
Dry humour
Lifestyle brand
Sales-focused
Proud
Humble
Intuitive
Data-driven
To summarise another way, PlayHQ is:
Confident but not cocky
Friendly but not folksy
Clever but not comedic
Energetic but not overbearing
Aspirational but not sentimental
Straightforward but not simplistic
Engaging but not entertaining
Spelling, Grammar & Formatting
At PlayHQ, we write in Australian English at all times. Many programs, word processors, and even smartphones still default to American or British English, so keep an eye out for words like “organization”, “favorite”, “programme” and “color”.
As PlayHQ expands into international markets, this rule should be reconsidered – if, one day, PlayHQ has unique websites, mailing lists, or social accounts for different territories, then the spelling and grammar rules of those territories should be adhered to on an account-by-account basis.
Punctuation
Ampersands
Ampersands should only ever be used as a graphic element within headings and subheadings. They should never be used as a substitute for the word “and” in a sentence.
Hypens
Use hyphens (-) to create compound words.
Em dash
Use en dashes (—) to indicate ranges of times or numbers, or to break up a sentence — like this one.
Oxford comma
Avoid using the Oxford comma unless its absence creates ambiguity (they can sometimes be necessary when writing out long lists).
Ellipses
Ellipses create unnecessary tension and take up space. They may be appropriate in socials or blog posts – just don’t overuse them.
Exclamation points
Exclamation points are a powerful tool, but must be used sparingly. Try to choose the one sentence or remark that really deserves an exclamation point in your article or post – and only ever use one at a time.
Apostrophe
A single apostrophe should be applied to plural nouns to make them possessive.
Colons and lists
Text.