Tone of voice
Our Cambridge voice
Our tone of voice is how we talk, not what we say. It embodies and expresses our personality, and sets us apart from others. It helps us build trust with our audiences, influences and persuades people to interact with us.
Principles
Our tone of voice principles build on the foundations of the ‘speak’ element in our brand behaviours that define our Cambridge voice. We use this foundation to inform our three guiding principles.
Principle 1: Identify Start with the audience
Principle 2: Engage Connect with the audience
Principle 3: Inspire Excite the audience
Identify: start with the audience
Our tone of voice principles build on the foundations of the ‘speak’ element in our brand behaviours that define our Cambridge voice. We use this foundation to inform our three guiding principles.
Who are we speaking to?
To ensure that the tone and language we use is accessible and culturally appropriate to the people we are speaking to, the first question we ask ourselves is always ‘who are we speaking to’?
Consumer, learner, parent
Business customer, teacher, head of department, senior leader
Researcher, university, higher education, peer
Government, Minister, civil servant
Author, contributor, supplier, examiner, exam centre, distributor
Examples
By using clear and concise language, we can speak directly to the audience in question, with a tone that is both familiar and approachable.
End user Consumer, learner, parent
Delivery professional Business customer, teacher, head of department, senior leader
Academic community Researcher, university, higher education, peer
High value bespoke Government, Minister, civil servant
Partners Author, contributor, supplier, examiner, exam centre, distributor
Engage: connect with the audience
Grab the attention of our audience and keep them interested, with clear, simple and straightforward language.
Our language is always positive:
We emphasise that we are one Cambridge by referring to ourselves as ‘we’ ‘our’ and ‘us’ wherever possible:
Our active voice is dynamic and energetic:
We are open and accessible, and never alienate people with jargon:
Inspire: excite the audience
Emphasise positivity and energy, with concise and considered language.
Our voice is always authentic:
We speak to ‘you the reader’ – using the present tense to give what we say immediate impact.
Being part of a global community of millions makes us genuinely different and interesting. That’s why we share people’s ideas . We use direct, named quotes, showing the vibrant diversity of the people we work with and for.
We don't bore readers with clichés or platitudes:
Edit, then edit again, and finally edit; being concise shows our confidence, and we excite people by making every word count:
Talking about ourselves
Our ‘boilerplate’ texts are concise statements that we use to describe our organisation.
Full boilerplate Cambridge University Press & Assessment helps millions of people worldwide unlock their potential. Our solutions bring better support to teaching, more confidence to learning, more assurance to assessment and greater advancement to research. Our qualifications, assessments, academic publications and original research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world.
(51 words)
Short boilerplate: Cambridge University Press & Assessment unlocks the potential of millions of people worldwide. Our qualifications, assessments, academic publications and original research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding.
(28 words)
We are Cambridge.
It is essential that we are consistent when referencing our organisation. In writing, we are ‘Cambridge University Press & Assessment’ on first mention, and ‘Cambridge’ thereafter. We never use ‘CPA’, ‘CUPA’, ‘CUP&A’ or any other acronym to refer to ourselves.
© Copyright
Asserting copyright
Copyright is asserted on behalf our organisation, not our brands, product groups or sub-divisions: © Cambridge University Press & Assessment, 2024
© Cambridge University Press & Assessment, 2024