TONE OF VOICE HARLEQUINS TONE OF VOICE DOCUMENT What is Tone of Voice? 02 Examples of Content Production 19 Web Story The Harlequins Quick Guide 05 Top Tips Purpose Audience Audience Twitter Message Facebook Tone Formal v Humorous Contact 24 Style Guide 09 Style Guide Single v Plural Style People v Partners Harlequins Women Harlequins 7s Places Apostrophes Hyphens No Hyphen Harlequins v Quins Harlequin FC Competition Names Other Rugby Teams & Bodies 4 Placeholder This Tone of Voice document is a guide to the character and WHAT IS TONE spirit of Harlequins and how it should come across when communicating. This document sets out a universal language OF VOICE? which should be used and adopted across the Club. As a result, the communication coming from the Club is consistent, making it credible and trustworthy. This document must be used in conjunction with the Harlequins Brand Guidelines. 04 Placeholder The Harlequins Quick Guide 02 6 Placeholder Placeholder 7 THE HARLEQUINS QUICK QUIDE 8 Placeholder PURPOSE TONE When communicating we should always be: To be admired as the Greatest Rugby Club in the World doing it Exciting – Rugby is an exciting sport. We must speak as fans and the Quins Way supporters of the game, and the Club. Sport is more than a business and Harlequins is more than just a product. Conversant – We need to know our Club, and its history. It is imperative to speak in a knowledgeable and familiar way. Passionate – We should always be proud of our work, our department AUDIENCE and our Club and this should shine through. Inspiring – We need to motivate and talk in a way that inspiries people to What are you communicating with? Our audiences are our friends take action and get behind the Club. and family. They are supporters, not fans. FORMAL V HUMOROUS They are our Partners. Depending on your audience, channel and how you have decided to talk, your tone may be more formal or more colloquial, but it must befit the desired end result. The same message can be told in two different ways. Text can be formal in a flyer, and personality can come through on our social channels, and vice-versa. MESSAGE • We adopt a more informal approach on social media for example but we always maintain consistent language eg Club v Club, match v game etc. Our social channels will be more relaxed and colloquial and tone should be adapted to suit the channel and audiences. In all external communication we should be insightful and aim to educate and inform. Why are we communicating with these people? This should • The Club's website will vary in tone given the range of content from come through clearly within the Club’s narrative. formal Club announcements to more light-hearted content. • Regardless, all content should be approved by the Communications Manager to ensure correct ToV and narrative should be consistent. 07 The Harlequins Quick Guide The Harlequins Quick Guide 08 STYLE GUIDE Placeholder 07 STYLE GUIDE STYLE In this style guide, we will outline the standards of writing for all internal One to ten is written in words, 11 onwards is written in digits. and external communications from the Club. The 24:00 clock is used for timings with no use of AM/PM (kick-off is at 15:00 not 3pm). Today is Wednesday 10 March. Only use lowercase v in fixtures: Harlequins v Saracens SINGLE V PLURAL (not Vs, VS, V or versus). You play a rugby match; the sport is the game. When talking about the Club it is as a single entity “Harlequins An international Test match always has a capital T. (the Club) is”. The Club always has a capitalised C. When talking about the collective squad, it’s plural “Harlequins (the team/players) are playing away in Gloucester." 11 The Harlequins Quick Guide The Harlequins Quick Guide 12 PEOPLE & PARTNERS HARLEQUINS 7s Laurie Dalrymple is the Chief Executive or CEO. In the context of 7s, it does not require an apostrophe, or to be written Paul Gustard is Head of Rugby. out as a word. Billy Millard is General Manager. Harlequins Captain / Club Captain. A Harlequins Member has a capital “M”, while membership is lowercase. PLACES The Harlequins Foundation must be full named (out of context “The Foundation” doesn’t mean anything). The Stoop (capital T in The) the Twickenham Stoop adidas has a lowercase “a”. Twickenham Stadium (not just ‘Twickenham’) DHL and adidas are Principal Partners. South West Corner Greene King (not Green). Shop 1 and Shop 2 Ticket Office HARLEQUINS WOMEN Stands: Bars & Lounges: • North Stand • Debenture Lounge Harlequins Women is one of the leading teams competing in the • South Stand • King's Bar Tyrrells Premier 15s. • Charles Stanley Stand • Honours Bar • DHL Stand • Players' Lounge Harlequins Women has two Co-Head Coaches: NUNQUAM • Quins Head Bar • Gary Street • Jason Leonard Lounge • Karen Findlay Harlequins Women has a full-time dedicated support programme for its players. DORMIO 13 The Harlequins Quick Guide The Harlequins Quick Guide 14 13 The Harlequins Quick Guide The Harlequins Quick Guide 14 APOSTROPHE HARLEQUINS V QUINS Never have an apostrophe before the s in Harlequins. This is a case of formality and informality. Use Harlequins for all formal Our full name is Harlequins. contact such as emails, contracts, and documents. Quins can be used in colloquial and informal contexts. For social adopt Quins e.g: Come on You Quins HYPHENS Drop-goal Kick-off Knock-on HARLEQUIN FC Half-time Pre-season The Club’s official name is The Harlequin Football Club or Harlequin FC - this should only be used in strictly formal documents, like contracts. NO HYPHEN We are not “The Harlequins”, we are “Harlequins” Do not use Harlequins RFC, Harlequins FC, or Quins RFC. Drop kick Touch line Charge down Try line Drop out Offside and onside Line out Second half Matchday is one word 15 The Harlequins Quick Guide The Harlequins Quick Guide 16 COMPETITION NAMES OTHER RUGBY TEAMS & BODIES Gallagher Premiership Gallagher Premiership. When referring to the Gallagher Premiership World Rugby – the game’s governing body. “the” does not need to be capitalised. British and Irish Lions- Lions can be used on second mention, never the Gallagher Premiership semi-final orGallagher Premiership semi-finals British Lions. Gallagher Premiership Final. DPP: Developing Player Programme – the entry level to the Academy. The Heineken Champions Cup (the top tier European tournament). EPCR: European Professional Club Rugby The Heineken Champions Cup (the second tier of European rugby). EPDG: Elite Player Development Group – the step below the full-time The Greene King IPA Championship (the league below the Premiership). Academy. The Guinness PRO14 (the league in which Irish, Italian, Scottish and RFU: Rugby Football Union – no need to elaborate in a rugby context, Welsh Clubs/provinces/regions compete). but outside of rugby the ‘Rugby Football Union’ may be necessary at first mention The Top 14 (France’s top domestic division). RPA: Rugby Players’ Association – note the apostrophe. Guinness Six Nations (title sponsor from 2018 TBC). Representational Rugby: formatted “England U20” or “England U18s”. The Rugby World Cup, or Rugby World Cup 2019 (Organised by World Rugby, played every four years). When referencing a team, use their full name in the first instance “Bath Rugby, Gloucester Rugby, Leicester Tigers – then Bath, Gloucester, The Rugby Championship (played between Australia, Argentina, New Leicester (or Tigers) for the mentions thereafter. Zealand and South Africa). Super Rugby (the competition in which Argentinian, Australian, Japanese, New Zealand and South African Club teams compete). Quilter Internationals (England’s Test matches in November each year). 17 The Harlequins Quick Guide The Harlequins Quick Guide 18 EXAMPLES OF CONTENT PRODUCTION 18 Placeholder WEB STORY TOP TIPS Headline- Headlines for web do not need to be flowery and creative like Keep it snappy. newspaper headlines, they are short and to the point. When supplying a news story, insert a headline and make it bold. Don’t assume knowledge. “Harlequins Foundation raises £100,000 for GOSH” Don’t use long paragraphs. Introduction – Your first paragraph is one of the most important to get the Check, double check, triple check names, places, dates and times. reader engaged. Pretend you are in a pub with your friends. If you could sum the story up in a further two lines, what would it be? Spell check is good, but not always enough. Main article – This is where you get into the detail about the story. Ask Be careful when using rugby jargon, do not assume knowledge. yourself the following while you are writing: If using nick-names - ensure they are used after use of a full name - WHAT are you trying to tell people? I.E Paul 'Gussy' Gustard - and Gussy thereafter. WHY are you telling them this? WHO is/was involved? WHEN is it happening/did it happen? AUDIENCE WHERE is it happening/did it happen? HOW do they action what you are saying? Always bear your audience in mind when writing and write for them, Where appropriate please include a call to action ie driving ticket sales. not yourself. For web stories the audience is wide ranging. You could be writing for supporters, Members, parents, journalists or generic sports fans. 21 Examples of Content Production Examples of Content Production 22 SOCIAL MEDIA TONE & FORMALITY It's important to understand the channel you are using when communicating with supporters and key audiences. LinkedIn (formal), for example, will be very different to Instagram (informal). Tweets can now be up to 280 characters.’ On second sentence remove ‘ therefore a tweet...116 characters’ It's recommended to keep Tweets short and snappy - to the point.