I figure that there will be a backlash, and subsequent era of great humanized copy once the “big guys” move past treating it as hip and gimmicky and the trend matures. Give it a few years, and it will be awesome. Hopefully, they’ll learn to start using capitals where proper.

It did have its downsides though. Trying to simplify the T&Cs for financial services was a challenge…

Remember, if you spend all your money on booze and don’t have enough cash left at the end of the month to pay us – we’re going to kick you out of your home!!!

Like most things in life, a nice balance is probably the way to go!

Great shot though Ryan!!

The punctuation is likely disregarded deliberately, to garner the impression that it is part of an ongoing conversation you are having with their brand. Orange set out to do this from their launch day and I think, still have the most human strategy. Their film funding board series at the movies wins my cash every time.

Probably ok to do so though, for apparently you’ve survived well enough to give us all hope that “change” is our only constant.

Thanks for this find.

Dave – Forgive me if I’m wrong but isn’t the font Helvetica? I haven’t double checked. :-)

Ian – While I fully understand your point about grammar and punctuation, I think that a message should be tailored to suit the target audience.
However, I have no data to justify unto myself why Orange would leave out punctuation marks in this message. I think a nice exclamation after “peeking” would make the message more pronounced. Don’t you think?

Ian – I agree. By using normal punctuation and grammar, copy actually becomes more personal.

Can’t we be human, normal and friendly whilst maintaining grammar standards?

If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.

Compare, say, the house style of COS, Moo or Howies with the slightly more saccharine tone you see in this Orange poster, or from Innocent. There’s nothing wrong with simple sentences and casual language… but the “twee” and “West Coast” variables need to be kept in careful control.

There were some horrible Nokia ads on public transport recently, which were copy-heavy and attempted to hit this style and failed horribly; they felt like a company trying to be relaxed and friendly and actually just sounding like an average Valley press release. I’d rather have been addressed in the tone and brand value I associate with Nokia: sharp, confident, short on copy and heavy on design values.

Orange have shifted the tone of their copy and advertising recently, and I think this is more in line with the Orange Store brand than the Orange Phone brand – so that’s a good thing. I’m just not sure it’s the way I want my phone company to address me. “Professional” doesn’t have to equal “serious” or “boring” or “bullshit” – all words that accurately describe much corporate comms – but it’s always worth remembering that copy expresses brand quite a lot. So whilst this tone suits a company like Carsonified well… I’d run a mile from a bank that addressed me like this!