why every company in the group keeps its own voice.

Sharing a studio doesn’t mean sharing a look. Here’s how we keep a candle brand and a materials supplier from sounding alike.

The obvious risk of an in-house studio is sameness. One team, one set of habits, one favourite typeface, and slowly every company in the group starts to look like a cousin of the others. We work hard to avoid that, because a brand that looks borrowed is worth less to the people who buy from it.

Shared across the group

the way we work

The process, from brief to handover
The memory of what worked, and what didn’t
The bench: designers, writers, photographers, developers
Printers, suppliers and production partners

Owned by each company

everything people see

Its name, logo and colours
Its tone of voice
Its photography style
Its customers, and how it talks to them

one voice card per company

Every company in the collective gets a voice card: a single page at the front of its folder. It lists three words that describe how the brand speaks, three words it never uses, and one sentence that sounds exactly like it. Anyone in the studio reads it before they write a line.

the same news, two voices

Here’s an example. The same news, a new product arriving next month, written for two very different companies.

For example · home fragrance

“Something new is warming up for November. Light it slowly.”

For example · materials supplier

“New stock lands in November. Spec sheets and sample packs are ready to order now.”

Same studio, same week, same writer. Neither line would work for the other company, and that’s the whole idea.

Sharing a studio never means sharing a look.

how you can help

If something we make for your company starts to feel like it belongs to someone else, tell us. It’s the most useful feedback we get.

brands worth quoting.

In-house studio
of the collectiveScroll to explore

another agency,
the in-house voice

We are the creative studio inside the collective: one team working for every company in the group, whatever industry it's in.

Most groups hire a new agency for every company they own, and each one starts from zero. We don't. We already know the brands, the people and what worked last time, so the best idea from one company can go straight to work for the next. Because the best lines are the ones worth repeating.

The companies we work for · and counting

Every brand keeps its own voice

01 / 04

01 · Strategy

Strategy

Before anything gets designed, we work out what the company needs to say and who needs to hear it. Positioning, naming, audiences, and a plan everyone in the room agrees on.

02 · Design

Design

Identity, packaging, print and spaces. Each company in the collective gets a look that belongs to it alone, built as a system its own team can run with.

03 · Content