Voice & Messaging Rework
My role: Lead copywriter for both phases.
In 2022, Shutterfly went through a brand repositioning that transformed the brand visuals from whimsical and playful to something much more modern and mature. With this shift, our tone of voice also needed a facelift — instead of punny, invitational, vague copy, testing showed that clear, direct, informative copy was much more effective in driving sales and conversion. This colossal shift in brand voice was tackled in two major phases:
Phase I: Consisted of the “triage” phase, to help us quickly pivot in time for the biggest sales and weeks of Q4 (Shutterfly saw record numbers in December), as well as our first go at redefining the function of our copy.
Phase II: The massive final step with two deliverables: 1) an exploration to define how we sound and 2) a comprehensive messaging blueprint filled with RTB-driven and data-backed copy to be leveraged across all channels and categories.
Phase I – Triage & redefining
Old vs new comparison
Snapshot of all the January 2023 category page I rewrote to align with the new TOV direction.
Phase II - How We Sound
Phase II - Messaging Blueprint
Goals:
1. Write clear, actionable, value-building copy for the Shutterfly brand and the categories and products within it, using data as applicable.
2. Align on top reasons to believe (RTBs) at both the brand and category levels.
2. Create an all-encompassing tool to hold data-backed and brand- and creative-approved copy in one place, and act as our source of truth.
This project was a cross-functional effort between many teams, primarily brand, creative, data insights and merch. It will affect copy on every channel at Shutterfly including web, SEO, SEM, CRM, social, push, SMS, direct mail and partner.
Excerpts from the photo books category
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Excerpts from the cards & category
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Core partners: VP of creative: Adam Kennedy | Creative director: Susan Drieling | Brand systems manager: Megan Kerber | Copywriter: Jesse Golden