Voice and Tone
Brand Narrative
This brand platform is the culmination of our messaging, our personality and our positioning. It’s the George Washington University story, expressed at the highest level. It gives voice to our brand attributes and benefits, and acts as a model for communicators. Use phrases and words from this platform explicitly in external-facing copy where appropriate, and as inspiration for all the stories you tell. This is our story.
In the heart of the world’s most influential city, the George Washington University has worked to create a more perfect union between ideas and action, and make real change in the world.
GW is a catalyst, a convener and a connector, where boundless opportunity meets limitless potential. Where unprecedented access enriches learning and discovery, amplifying voices and challenging perspectives.
Here, you're just steps away.
Steps away from world-class opportunities.
Steps away from life-changing discoveries.
Steps away from lasting change.
We invite you to join us in the spirit of optimism, hope and progress. On a campus with no borders; in a community with no limitations. Where a culture of collaboration can bridge the distance between curiosity and revelation.
Here, we raise high the revolutionaries, the innovators and the connectors who are called here to push for new ideas and make a lasting impact.
With every breakthrough, we are steps ahead. To effect monumental change, we take steps forward.
And at the George Washington University, countless new possibilities, new opportunities and new discoveries are just STEPS AWAY.
How the Narrative Expresses the Pillars
The sample language is meant to guide you, as well as prompt new ideas of your own. Please work to develop your own specific examples to demonstrate these Brand Pillars as you create your communications.
Location in Washington, D.C.
PILLAR ONE
A launchpad to set ambition in motion so you can maximize world-class opportunities to discover, learn and play.
- Sample Language That Supports This Idea
- In the heart of the world’s most influential city.
- Where boundless opportunity meets limitless potential.
- Here, you’re just steps away from unrivaled experiences that extend your learning.
- Welcome to a city that lives on a global scale, and turns inspiration and ideas into action.
- Looking for a global city like no other? You’re this close.
- World-class opportunities, at every step.
- Everywhere you turn in this urban epicenter, you’ll find limitless potential.
Engaged Scholarship
PILLAR TWO
A shared drive to serve as an intellectual hub that generates revolutionary knowledge, innovation and creativity.
- Sample Language That Supports This Idea
- Steps away from life-changing discoveries.
- We raise high the innovators who are called here to push for new ideas.
- Tap into countless opportunities to experience hands-on practice.
- Discover what’s possible when you gain truly applicable skills before graduation.
- Find yourself at the leading edge of global challenges, here at D.C.’s top research institution.
- Unprecedented access to partnerships, potential and policy.
- Take steps ahead alongside faculty who are at the forefront of society’s greatest needs.
Meaningful Outcomes
PILLAR THREE
Access to an influential ecosystem that creates direct connections for you to lead a life of purpose.
- Sample Language That Supports This Idea
- Steps away from world-class opportunities.
- We invite you to join us in the spirit of optimism, hope and progress. On a campus with no borders, in a community with no limitations.
- We raise high the connectors who are called here.
- Stand together as part of an impressive alumni network and access the limitless opportunities they open doors to.
- New possibilities abound when dedicated change-makers push further.
- Real breakthroughs emerge, when creative visionaries dream bigger.
- Your next step is closer than you imagine.
- Don’t just explore the world. Participate in it, with the practice and experience that’ll give you a powerful edge.
Impact in the World
PILLAR FOUR
A global community that understands how collective power can bridge the distance between knowledge and action.
- Sample Language That Supports This Idea
- The George Washington University has worked to create a more perfect union between ideas and action, and make real change in the world.
- Steps away from lasting change.
- Here, we raise high the idealists who are called here to make a lasting impact.
- Diverse thinking and unique points of view convene here, to generate real solutions.
- To effect high-impact results, we stand together.
- A catalyst for sparking monumental change.
- A convener for a global community of change-makers.
- A launchpad for igniting revolutionary thinkers.
- Want to make a difference? You’re this close.
- We raise high the innovators who will advance discovery, shape policy and drive change.
- Join us in the spirit of possibility. Together, we’ll make a lasting impact.
- On a campus that’s plugged directly into the halls of power, you’ll make a positive difference.
- We raise high the revolutionaries who are making a difference here and around the globe.
Using our Brand Strategy Roadmap to Craft Communications
The language we use and the stories we share must always support the promise of our brand, delineated in our strategy. When you have information you want to convey, consult this valuable tool to determine which of our pillars your information will help illustrate.
Remember: Every story we tell must reveal something bigger about GW. Align the information you want to share with a pillar to maximize the impact of your communication.
- Step 1: Identify Your Audience
Our primary audiences are:
- The campus community
- Future students and their influencers
- Alumni and friends
- University peers and partners
When writing, always have one of these audiences in mind. Consult the information in the Strategy section, and work to align your communication with the listed branding objectives. Ask yourself: What do they value? What do they need to know? What do they already know? What will move them to action? Try to write as specifically as you can for your intended audience.
- Step 2: Align with the Brand Promise
Determine how your story will support the idea of “Proximity and Progress,” and the ways that GW “offers an immersive education, rooted in groundbreaking research and woven into the world’s most influential city, that inspires our community to drive monumental change.” Which brand pillar highlights the information in your story, while also expressing this bigger message about GW?
- Step 3: Support Through the Brand Pillars
Our brand strategy offers a number of important messages, each with a brand attribute (what we offer) and an audience benefit (what they get). Find the brand pillar that’s most supported by the details of your story, and align your communication appropriately. Use benefits to show your audience why they should care about the work we’re doing. Describe how they’ll benefit personally.
- Step 4: Craft Your Communication
With your focus narrowed to what your audience needs, what they care about, how it connects to our brand promise, and how it supports one or more of our brand pillars, use language inspired by our brand narrative and influenced by our personality traits. Tell a story that connects with your audience emotionally, but also reveals a larger truth about the George Washington University.
How to Use Language from the Brand Narrative
This language is designed to give our communications a human voice. It helps us deliver on our messaging, it keeps us consistent, and it makes our stories believable. Use this language:
- To ensure that our personality comes through in the voice: The tone of your copy should capture the tone of the brand narrative and convey the same inspiring, connected energy. Make sure that whatever you’re writing sounds like it’s coming from a person who possesses our personality traits.
- To give context to our messaging: We have a multitude of stories to tell, and lots of information we need to deliver. By presenting this information in a compelling narrative, we can help ensure that our message is received and remembered.
- To maintain consistency: With the narrative as a guide, we can ensure that all GW communications work together and sound as if they’re coming from a single, consistent brand voice.
- To ensure that the world hears our story: By keeping our story consistent, clear and compelling, we can create an incredibly powerful story, and convey a tremendously potent message. In this way, we can share one story, multiple times, with a variety of audiences, across all types of media.
Crafting Content
Every story that we tell about GW should support the larger messages behind it. As you consider all the elements of your story and the themes it’s conveying, use one of the following filters to tether your facts to one higher-level truth about the George Washington University.
A Story of People
Use your story to showcase our people. THINK:
"We are the kind of people who _____."
Whenever possible, make a GW student, faculty member, researcher or alumnus the hero of your story, offering them as proof of all we do as an institution. The George Washington University should be cast as the mentor, or as the environment that makes each person’s work possible. Give our people credit for the work that they do, and put them at the heart of all that we do.
Give each story a human heart.
A Story of Place
Use your story to highlight the uniqueness of our location. THINK:
"This is the kind of place where _____."
Part of the reason we’re able to do all that we do is because of our location. We’re uniquely located in the heart of the world’s most influential city, and our deep connections to Washington give us a powerful platform. Because we’re part of a hub of culture, entrepreneurship, policy and discovery, and because of the exciting energy that flows from our campus to the city and beyond, our stories have a credibility that could come from nowhere else. So we tell stories that could only happen here. Our stories are uniquely ours because they feel uniquely like D.C. and uniquely like GW.
Take pride in where we are.
A Story of Purpose
Use your story to showcase the meaning behind our work. THINK:
"This is why we do what we do."
This university is here to inspire our community to drive monumental change. When we highlight the work that’s being done by one of those community members, be sure to connect it to the impact they’re having in the world, the change they’re making possible. With a focus on outcomes and the spirit of GW that makes them a reality, we’ll have richer stories that connect more meaningfully.
Make our stories matter.
Making Your Words Sing and Your Messages Move
When GW speaks, we want our audiences to do more than listen. We want them to think, feel and act. Here are some ways to help you get there.
- Start with proximity and progress.
Find a story that highlights elements of our brand promise.
- Find an angle.
Our story is proven by our place (our D.C. location), our purpose (to drive monumental change), and our people (our community of GW Revolutionaries).
- Find the hero.
People are at the heart of everything we do. Put them there.
- Breathe life into every word.
Our voice is personal — we write like we talk. It should sound like a person who embodies our personality traits: intellectual, purposeful, savvy, quick-witted, incisive and vibrant.
- Connect with our narrative.
You don’t always have to say “steps away,” but you should always evoke its spirit. There’s tremendous power in our location and the opportunities it affords.
- Avoid jargon and hyperbole.
Even when writing to a specific audience, plain language is always more persuasive.
- Say one thing well.
Be clear in your purpose and what you want the audience to understand. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much information or tiresome lists.
- Show the impact of our work.
Every story should reveal why we do the things we do. Try to use data or facts to reinforce your story.
- Draft a plot.
Rather than state the benefit, dramatize it. Show our brand promise at work.
- Be real.
Clever is overrated. The best writing doesn’t call much attention to itself and stays out of its own way.
- Cut out excess.
Say only what you need to say. Get to the point without using unnecessary words.
- Use inclusive pronouns.
Remember: “We” speak to “you” whenever possible. Our voice is a conversational one.
- Make an emotional connection.
Decide how you want your audience to feel, and write accordingly.
- Be consistently inconsistent.
These aren’t rules, and they shouldn’t be. Choose the language that best communicates the message, and the voice will follow.
- Always do these three things.
- Give your audience something to be interested in.
- Give your audience something to care about.
- Give your audience a way to connect with our larger purpose.
How to Refer to The George Washington University
When writing about or referring to the university in copy, please adhere to the following rules.
- Proper Name: The university’s proper name is “the George Washington University.”
- “The”: The “the” in our name should be capitalized only at the beginning of a headline or sentence. In all other instances, “the” should remain lowercase.
- Acronym: As an acronym, always use “GW” — never “GWU.” But only use “GW” after you’ve used the full name of the university.
- Hashtag: “#GWU” is the university’s hashtag on social media.
Additional guidance about how to refer to GW may be found in the Editorial Style Guide.
Voice and Tone Checklist
As you’re writing or reviewing what you’ve written, use these questions to ensure that your communications are in line with our brand platform, and that they make a compelling case for GW.
- Does this help deliver on our brand promise, Proximity and Progress?
- Will this communication connect with the intended audience — the campus community, future students and influencers, alumni and friends, or university peers and partners — and the branding objectives we have for each?
- Does it sound like something that a person with our personality traits — intellectual, purposeful, savvy, quick-witted, incisive and vibrant — would say?
- Does it support one or more of our brand pillars: location in D.C., engaged scholarship, meaningful outcomes and impact in the world?
- Does it lead with audience benefits and pay them off with attributes?
- Does it have a clear point of view and avoid tackling too many messages?
- Does it get to the point, rather than burying the key message?
- Do all headlines communicate our voice, rather than just labeling content?