Verbal branding &
brand strategy sprints

Verbal branding is everything a brand says — its name, tagline, tone of voice, brand story, key messages, and the language it uses consistently. It's the counterpart to visual branding (logo, colour, typography). Strong brands need both, but most studios are set up for the visual side. That's where I come in.

We work in parallel or in sequence — whatever fits your workflow. You handle the visual identity, I handle the verbal. At the end, your client has a brand that looks and sounds like itself. I can work directly with the client, or through you — your call.

Primarily yes — this sprint is designed for brands that are still figuring out who they are. It's ideation-first: we're not doing customer research, we're doing smart, structured thinking about what the brand could stand for. That said, it works equally well for rebrands where the verbal side needs a verbal refresh.

Yes — my own. It's a neuroscience-grounded three-story positioning framework that I apply to brand just as much as to product positioning. We're looking for the brand's change story (what's the world this brand is responding to?), its niche (who specifically is it for?), and its name-need (what do we want people to think of when they hear the name?). I wrote a book about it — you can read it free here.

A verbal identity kit: name direction with rationale, brand narrative, voice & tone guide, and launch copy — homepage, about page, and key brand statements. All documented and ready for your studio to use alongside the visual identity.

I use AI to expand possibilities and run ideas through all the frameworks fast — but I write the final copy myself. Generic AI output is the opposite of distinctive brand language. The point of this sprint is to find something specific to this brand, not something a model could generate for any brand.