Our work with
Which?
Ask most people what Which? does and they’ll give you a similar answer: test toasters and washing machines. The brand’s bigger than that, but not enough people know it. Which? has ambitious plans to expand. That means broadening how people see the brand.
The senior team had created a strategy document to tackle this. Like most strategy documents, it was intellectually sound, but a bit dry. They asked Quietroom to turn it into something that would inspire people.
They also asked us to help them explain what Which? does – and what it stands for – to the outside world.
We started by interviewing people at Which?. We analysed the language people used in web pages, press releases, editorial, advertising, call scripts, emails and media showreels. Then we ran some research groups. We spoke to Which? employees, Which? members and members of the general public, finding out how they felt about Which? and which facets of the brand they found most appealing. At the same time, we found out what kind of language they responded best to.
We used what we learned to create several things for Which? We wrote a paragraph that summed the brand up in four lines. We created a set of brand messages – words, phrases and ways to talk about Which? that made people want to get involved with the brand. We developed an overall approach to language and tone of voice that covered everything from word choice, to sentence structure, to the order stories should be told in. We even put together a set of metaphors that reinforced the right messages about the brand. We pulled all this together into a practical toolkit that helps people across the organisation talk about Which? with one voice.
After that, we rolled the guide out across the whole organisation, department by department. By running interactive events and practical workshops, we helped people in PR, policy and advocacy, customer services, marketing and editorial to understand and apply the new ideas. We worked with Which?’s spokespeople and their agencies too.
The project’s been a huge success. Everyone at Which? is excited about the new direction the brand’s taking. You can see the impact of our work in every piece of communication Which? now produces. They’re starting to track the commercial impact too. Brand awareness has risen, member numbers are up and response to online advertising has increased.
