Defining the Tide tone of voice

The ‘cool bank’ trap

Tide’s voice was inconsistent across marketing, product, and support, creating a fragmented user experience. This risked eroding customer trust — a critical issue for any financial services company.

The goal

My goal was to ensure the new voice was consistent, data-driven, user-validated, and distinct in a crowded market.

Our process and strategic decisions

I co-led the research and strategy to define and validate Tide’s new tone of voice. Our process was built on three key insights:

• Auditing the internal DNABefore defining how we speak, we had to define who we are. I used internal sentiment surveys to separate aspirational marketing from the reality of the product.
• I’m not your mateCompetitors used emojis, slang, and confetti. Our users didn’t want a best friend; they wanted a bank. A trendy tone was a trust risk.
• Escaping the sea of samenessI quantified competitors’ tone and found everyone fighting to be playful and casual. We zagged: Tide would be the capable partner — professional, not corporate; supportive, not patronising.

Turning insights into a usable voice

We translated the strategy into tangible principles, drafted new copy, and validated it through user testing. The proposed tone resonated strongly with our target audience and significantly improved clarity.