How changing a margarine brand's tone of voice helped it slide back into its rightful category. Another case study from the writers at Verbal Identity.

1. “Spread the love.” – How a new verbal identity helped a once-famous
margarine brand become category-relevant again.
Backstory Success
A multi-national’s margarine brand had been The different verbal identities for the brand
losing market share since the mid-90s. Why? brought the new positioning to life and the
And how could a new verbal identity help? Worldwide Board commissioned a brand
rejuvenation.
Insight
What could it mean for your brand?
From its launch in the 80s, the brand had
always been positioned as a help for mums- We are inspired by the psychological theory of
in the kitchen. However, over time the mums’ Transactional Analysis. In any conversation, the
positioning had changed. They were no longer speaker and the listener subconsciously adopt
domestic short-order cooks; now they were different, hierarchical personas. Conflict occurs
expected to be home-chefs. We realised that when the one party has taken up an unexpected
the brand needed to start talking about itself in a position - think of the parent speaking down to a
way which reflected this shift. But how could we child who wants to be spoken to as an adult.
persuade the Worldwide Board?
Creative execution What personas have your consumer
and brand subconsciously adopted?
We rewrote the on-pack copy in the voice of 3 Are they in conflict? If so, how could
instantly recognisable and very different chefs: a new verbal identity bring them
Jamie, Delia and Nigella. better into line?
If you’d like to find out more about how Verbal Identity is using tone of voice, brand e: YoWesty@verbalidentity.co.uk / t: +44 (0) 20 8127 6265
narrative and copy analytics to give brands an unfair advantage, please call Chris West. Find out much much more about verbal identity on Twitter: @verbid