A brand is like a living, breathing person. They each have their own distinct personality, from the way that they look and behave to the way that they sound. These elements all shape what people think and feel about them.   
Our voice is an extension of our Water Babies personality. It’s at the heart of how we communicate, and it’s crucial to captivating our audience. Consistency of character helps build trust with our customers too.  

Water Babies language includes our Jester language, how we use inclusive language as well as our vocabulary 

Jester Language

Emojis: 

Emojis can both divide and unite people, but they’re particularly engaging for our millennial audience. It’s important that we use them sparingly and appropriately. They help our emails, social media posts and comments stand out visually, and they’re also great because they can be used internationally too. Everyone understands a smiley face, a water droplet or a baby.  

So when can we use them?  

•  In internal communications, to add informality   

• In email subject lines   

• In social media posts  

• In social media responses  

Common emoji we use externally:  

Always use emoji to add context, not to replace words.      

Hashtags  

#Do #not #hashtag #every #single #hashtag #in #your #post.  

Don’t #usetoomanywordsinyourhashtags either – it makes them very hard to read. Using a hashtag can also add emphasis to a statement. For example: This little one is improving loads in the pool #winning. 

Slang   

We should use the language our audiences uses, which means sometimes it might just feel right to be a bit more casual or ‘cas’. 

The best rule of thumb is to reflect our customers’ language! 

Inclusive language

Inclusive language is free from words, phrases, or tones that reflect prejudiced, stereotyped or discriminatory views of particular people. 

Inclusive language is language that acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. It is free from words, phrases, or tones that reflect prejudiced, stereotyped, or discriminatory views of particular people or groups. Inclusive language is also language which does not contain a lot of jargon, so anyone can interpret the text we put out, and our meaning behind it. 

Language has the power to build connections, increase understanding and knowledge, but it also can alienate and confuse audiences.  

When using inclusive language, it is important to keep in mind:  

1.  Do you need to refer to personal characteristics such as sex, religion, racial group, disability, or age at all? 
2.  Are the references to group characteristics couched in inclusive terms? - considering disabilities 
3.  Do the references to people in imagery reflect the diversity of that audience? 
4.  Is your use of jargon excluding people who may not have specialized knowledge of a particular subject?  
5.  Bare in mind disabilities, race, gender, sex, age and personal circumstances when writing.  

 For example, we always use the term ‘carer’ instead of parent or mum. As many families now adays are not a typical nuclear family and we would not want to discriminate against those who are not. All are welcome at Water Babies. We aim to use diverse imagery across our collateral and campaigns, to make the masses feel represented and we aim to stay away from aquatic jargon, so the audience can understand without feeling alienated.  

Age

  Don’t reference someone’s age unless it’s relevant to something you’re writing. 

Disability

 Don’t refer to someone’s disability unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing. Always emphasise the person first: ‘she has a disability’ rather than ‘she is disabled’.   

Never refer to someone as blind, but instead use the term ‘visually impaired’.   

However, for autism, please use the term ‘autistic’ rather than ‘has autism’ as autistic people regard being autistic as a fundamental part of their personality and not an illness or disease that can’t be cured.  You can also use the term ‘on the autistic spectrum’.   

In relation to any disability, don’t use language that is pitying like ‘sufferer’ or ‘victim’. 

Deaf and Hearing Loss

 We use Deaf with a capital D to describe those who use British Sign Language (BSL); who are culturally deaf and who do not see their deafness as a disability.  

We use ‘deaf’ or ‘hearing loss’ to describe or identify anyone who is severely hard of hearing and does not identify as part of the Deaf community. 

Gender and Sexuality

You can use ‘they’ as a singular pronoun instead of he or she.  

Use ‘partner’ or ‘significant other’ instead of ‘girlfriend’ or ‘boyfriend’.   

Always try and use the gender-neutral equivalent of a job title. For example:  

‘career professional’ instead of ‘career woman’ where appropriate. 

Heritage and Nationality

 Include the hyphen between the name of an ethnicity and the name of a country with compound nouns. For example: Irish-American.   

Medical Conditions

 Don’t refer to anyone’s medical condition unless it’s relevant to what you’re writing. If you are making reference, the same rules apply to those with a disability. Don’t refer to them as ‘sufferers’ or ‘victim’.    

Mental and Cognitive Conditions

 Again, don’t refer to anyone’s mental or cognitive condition unless it’s relevant. If you are making a reference, use the same rules when writing about people with disabilities or medical conditions.   

If you’ve already communicated with the person you’re writing about, and their preferences are clear about how they refer to themselves, use that language. Otherwise, the following guidelines should be used. 

Vocabulary

A list of words that are defined in terms of how we use them at Water Babies: