Creating one brand voice for many different stories

Columbia Gas of Ohio had a lot to communicate.

From energy-efficiency programs to philanthropic initiatives, different parts of the organization needed to reach different audiences with very different messages. The challenge was creating a more consistent, recognizable brand without making everything sound—or feel—the same.

We created a new brand system that gave those communications a shared foundation while leaving room for individual programs to tell their own stories.

My role
Copywriter · messaging strategy · concept development · brand voice · brand guidelines

My work included
Messaging architecture · campaign concepts · brand guidelines · digital · social · print · email · internal communications

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The challenge

Create consistency without creating sameness.

Columbia Gas of Ohio’s communications stretched across energy-efficiency programs, community initiatives, corporate citizenship, and Columbia Cares.

Each had its own objectives. Its own audience. Its own reason for communicating.

But they all needed to sound like Columbia Gas of Ohio.

The challenge was to create a verbal system strong enough to unify the brand—and flexible enough to work across everything the organization needed to say.

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Building the messaging system

One brand. Many conversations.

The visual identity provided a recognizable foundation. My job was to create the verbal system that could work alongside it.

I developed a messaging architecture that established how Columbia Gas of Ohio could communicate across programs, audiences, and channels while maintaining a consistent brand voice.

Rather than prescribing identical language everywhere, the system created a framework: shared messaging principles with enough flexibility for individual programs to communicate what mattered most to their audiences.

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Putting the system to work

A messaging system only matters if it works in the real world.

I concepted and wrote communications across the Columbia Gas of Ohio ecosystem, applying the new messaging approach to everything from energy-efficiency programs and Columbia Cares initiatives to digital, social, email, print, and internal communications.

Each application had a different job to do. The voice and messaging system gave them a common thread.

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Making the brand repeatable

From strategy to guidelines.

Creating the system was only part of the assignment. It also needed to work long after the initial communications were finished.

I wrote the brand guidelines that translated our messaging strategy into practical direction for the people who would use it—establishing the voice, messaging principles, and framework for applying the brand consistently across future communications.

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A brand built to flex

The result wasn’t simply a collection of new communications.

It was a verbal framework Columbia Gas of Ohio could use across programs, audiences, and channels—one that created greater consistency without sacrificing the flexibility different parts of the organization needed.

One organization. Many messages. One recognizable voice.