My childhood was idyllic.
Loving parents. Happy home. Sunshine 11 months out of the year.
IN SHORT: BLISSFUL. So naturally, in my spare time I wrote the kind of short stories that were so full of agony, trauma, and abject despair that at one point my grandma called my mom and asked, “Is Zoie okay?”
Fortunately, I grew out of it.
Unfortunately, I tumbled straight into the arms of poetry.
My poetry was an improvement over my short stories (but not by much). They meandered meaningfully over the length and breadth of my emotional landscape — which, at age 11, was not vast.
Fortunately, I grew out of that too.
Unfortunately, then I went to college.
According to my orientation, being an English major promised to be a didactic exploratory sounding of every great cultural movement in the Western world told through the lens of major literary traditions dating back to the15th century. (And if you think that sentence was pretentious, you should read the paper I wrote about “The Sound and the Fury.”)
I grappled with The Big Themes of Great Works by Great Writers. I wrote a lot of papers that used a lot of big words, and some short stories that were too intense to send to Grandma.
Fortunately, I graduated.
Unfortunately, I started working as a copywriter.
While I brainstormed ideas for my business account’s first username (ZoieWrites? Wordsmith805? CopyDoneWrite?), I was thrilled. Finally. a job where I could use pretty words. All of my training had been leading me to this very moment.
Imagine my chagrin when I opened up Instagram and saw a wall of content saying
“Clear not clever!" "Clients won't understand your big words!""Conversion over creativity!"
My creativity? Crushed.
At least at first. Now that I’m a seasoned copywriter with a much better IG handle, allow me say definitively: there is absolutely such a thing as TOO clever in copywriting. However.
AS MUCH AS THE ONLINE BUSINES BUBBLE
TRIES TO GASLIGHT US OTHERWISE
Laughter builds loyalty.
Nostalgia creates fondness.
Creativity draws a crowd.
The -entire history of literature- disproves the idea
that only clarity carries the day
There is a place for poetry in your brand.
A very specific place, with a very specific purpose.
And no, it's not your Brand Story.
EVEN THOUGH I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MANY CLIENTS THINK IT IS --
If I could monetize the number of people who have told a copywriter,
“We’re really looking to nail our brand story,”
I would be independently wealthy and you’d never read another blog from me.
It’s an understandable request. If you peer into the microcosm of marketers,
there is a lot of emphasis on STORYTELLING and your BRAND’S STORY.
The average entrepreneur ends up thinking
that what they really need is a good yarn about how their brand came to be,
complete with lots of juicy adjectives and fun asides.
It’s… it’s not.
Your ideal customer doesn’t want to hear your brand’s story. Your ideal customer wants to know how they can be a part of it.
Brand Manifesto
WHAT IT IS
Your brand’s written call to arms. An unapologetic personality-rich statement of purpose.
WHAT IT’S NOT
An ornamental piece of messaging to be buried deep in your website so it can be unearthed, centuries from now, by website archeologists.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
It’s a mission statement that clients actually care about and want to read. It’s a way for your brand to say, “we think you’re going to like it here.”
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE MUSICAL LES MISERABLES? It’s my record holder for most-times-seen-in-theater.
In that show, there’s a number where the (doomed) school boys of the revolution sing an anthem about the dawn of a new era. When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!
The melody starts with a single plucky patriot, and then, one by one, the others take up the tune. By the end of the number, the entire town (also me in the audience) is singing along.
That is your brand’s manifesto.
Your brand manifesto is not trying to sell anybody anything.
It's a window into your brand’s ethos and an invitation into its community.
But just because it’s not trying to sell anything doesn’t mean that it won’t. It makes the right people want to stick around and be a part of what you’ve created.
Some brand manifestos are short: one to two sentences gets the job done.
Others are long, oratory things that sound like they should be booming out over an auditorium full of people holding signs.
Some brand manifestos are intimate. A friend-to-friend conversation about something you both know could be better.
There’s no one formula for a great brand manifesto
Like a poem — its form follows its function.
Brand manifesto framework
The Declaration
Le Labo
We believe...
We believe that there are too many bottles of perfume and not enough soulful fragrances
We believe the soul of a fragrance comes from the intention with which it is created and the attention with which it is prepared
We believe fine perfumery must create a shock - the shock of the new, combined with the shock of the intimately familiar
We believe that fine perfumery must be irreverent
We believe it is more humane to test cosmetics on New Yorkers than on animals
We believe celebrities should pay full price
We believe the future of luxury (hence of perfumery) lies in craftsmanship
We believe in the soulful power of thoughtful hands: hand-picked roses, hand-poured candles, hand-formulated perfumes and handshake agreements
We believe in the passionate souls who work close to us
We believe in Hafiz's take on life : "Act great, dear. Always act great"
We believe New York made us this way, with a dose of Wabi-Sabi and a few lines from Thoreau
We believe we/you should put away our modern tools and take the time to smell the roses along the way
We believe that we are only young once, but we can be immature forever
And we believe that explanation kills art. Therefore, forget about all of this !
WHY THIS WORKS
Le Labo is an artisan parfumier creating scents that are destined to be their own cultural moment.
So the "we believe" statements stake their claim inside the culture they are creating.
And I don’t need to waste a single keystroke more describing their brand’s vibe, because this excerpt from their manifesto does all the work for me
Source: https://www.lelabofragrances.com/about-us.html
Brand manifesto framework
The Vignette
Casalina
CASALINA IS:
The click of a closing suitcase.
Answering the question, "That’s so cute, where'd you get it?" three times in one afternoon.
Fresh linens and sunkissed shoulders.
Ordering the double-scoop with whipped cream AND chocolate sauce (no judgment.)
Golden hour with a view.
The salty breeze off the Caldera in Santorini, summer in the Hamptons, and your best friend's wedding in St. Barth’s.
Casalina is an effortless retail experience and an inspiring space to start your next adventure. It’s for every woman -- however she travels, and whoever she decides to be.
It's feeling like your best self, and dressing like her too.
And honestly? We love that for you.
WHY THIS WORKS
Casalina is a resortwear brand bringing the romance of travel into the experience of shopping for it.
They are highly curated, unfailingly aesthetic and lean all the way into the idea every vacation is a chance for a woman to reinvent herself.
But instead of telling you that (a big no-no by the standard of any creative writing class), the vignette framework SHOWS you what that looks like.
It’s so tempting that you desperately want to be a part of it.
P.S. If you loved this manifesto, you'll love the Case Study even more.
Source: Lexicon Copy Co. client
Brand manifesto framework
The Call to Arms
Nyamwange Foundation
To be Black in America is to yearn for freedom.
Our history has left us untethered from our roots, institutionally underserved, and financially unprepared to succeed.
At Nyamwange, we say: no more.
We’re giving a generation of children back their cultural identity.
Equipping future leaders to serve their communities.
Framing personal finance in the context of liberation.
And inspiring a population of consumers to become a community of ownership.
We believe there is a path to Black joy. To Black liberation. To Black excellence. With every passing day, we are working to uncover it, chart it, and teach others how to walk it with compassion.
Disadvantage has been our inheritance. In serving one another, we will pave the road to our redemption.
By being rooted in where we began, we inform where we go next. Our heritage is so much richer than our suffering – it is our strength. We bend the power of our past to secure our future.
Some day, we will be the ancestors of our children’s children.
We are determined to leave them a legacy.
WHY THIS WORKS
The Nyamwange Foundation’s messaging has a tricky line to walk.
While they have several direct-to-consumer products, much of their marketing is targeted towards creating aligned partnerships and sponsors.
They’re on a mission. They have a trajectory. And they want you to be part of it — even if (and this is important), you’re not directly getting something back.
Their manifesto needs to bring people onboard with the bigger picture, and that’s exactly what it does.
Source: WHITELABEL client
Brand manifesto framework
The Cinematic Journey
The Gray Muse
WHY THIS WORKS
The Gray Muse is a working artist who creates wearable and functional art inspired by the human experience.
While you read, you can almost hear Hans Zimmer music playing in the background while you smash cut through joyful moments.
And because they are an artist, this manifesto is also VISUALLY cinematic.
The length of the lines expands and contracts, mimicking the act of breathing.
It’s a perfect manifesto for a brand that’s all about humans reconnecting with each other and themselves.
Source: LEXICON COPY CO. client
Brand manifesto framework
The Heart to Heart
Lexicon Copy Co.
We believe in the power of dynamic individualism as expressed in vibrant human voices.
Humans are nuanced and layered, and brands can be too. When we write with our humanity, we create brand characters that exist and do good outside of our messaging.
Stories are electric, and narrative forms threads that bind people to each other.
We are in love with the diverse characters, untold stories, and innovative writing techniques. After all, language and culture is a moving target. We must be too.
A business has both a relationship and a duty to their audience.
Words have weight
Language doesn’t don’t exist in a vacuum. Every sentence has a rich tapestry of connections and significance that we wield with dignity.
WHY THIS WORKS
Well, I'm biased. But as a founder-led brand, it makes sense that Lexicon Copy Co. would speak eloquently and from the heart to its fellow entrepreneurs.
This style of manifesto works well for brands who make connection based on value alignment. Which, most of my clients are.
The brand manifesto is consistently one of my clients' favorite pieces of their brand messaging guide. And if you feel like your brand could use a little more slam poetry? Take Vol. 1 off the shelf.
