Brothers obsessed with copy. Not copy bros
You won't find us posing in front of Lambos or telling you "money never sleeps, dude". We don't have Wolf of Wall Street posters on our walls and we've never used the word "hustle" unironically.
What we care about is finding the thing that makes your brand genuinely awesome and then making sure every word a customer sees reflects that.
Although, full disclosure: Jack did start talking like Kendall Roy for a few weeks after we watched Succession. (And it was categorically not "all bangers, all the time".)
your words are your brand.
Since innocent came along back in the early noughts, there’s been this idea of voice as fluffy fun and quirky jokes. It’s treated a bit like a coat of paint you can slap on at the last minute.
We’ve always thought it was more than that. Voice isn’t just how you sound. It’s what you say. It’s how you change how you say it. It’s how you adapt your messaging for each audience and channel and brief.
Your voice is your brand. Imagine if innocent wrote like Ricky Gervais. (Gross.) Imagine if Patagonia wrote like Surreal. (Interesting.) Imagine if... you get the idea.
Your voice isn’t just the polish that goes on top. It’s what makes every word you say, from headlines and ads all the way down to your customer support, tell your customers the same story about your brand, wherever they find you.
And that’s why three tone words will never be enough. You need full guidelines, just like designers have for logos and colours. That is how everyone, from Dave in accounts to your robot colleagues, can write in your voice every time.
If sister sledge did brand language studios...
JACK BARCLAY
CO-FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTORJack got his start writing unsexy job ads for The Guardian, The Times, and the backpages of the free papers on the Tube before moving into brand copywriting properly. Ten-plus years and 300+ brands later, he's still glad he doesn't have to find euphemisms for "this doesn't pay much".
Day-to-day, Jack's the one who turns messy and muddy positioning and turns it into a voice that makes clients say "oh yeah, we've finally nailed this." As Creative Director, that means turning voices into systems — including AI copybots — that keep a brand sounding like itself, everywhere it turns up.
Outside of work, Jack's fully committed to all your classic approaching-middle-age dad cliches. Weekends with the kids (and Vic). Coffee. Hiking. Cooking. Foraging. An ever-expanding collection of hairline-hiding hats...
JOE KARAALI-BARCLAY
CO-FOUNDER & SENIOR COPYWRITERJoe got his start as a one-man marketing department for an ecomm brand, doing everything from copy to CRO to graphic design. He then went on to win awards as part of the team at one of the UK's most prominent agencies before teaming up with Jack to launch Do Words Good.
Day-to-day, Joe's the one who takes a brand's positioning and makes it work as words across web copy, socials, emails... plus training the chatbots to keep clients' voices consistent and slop-free.
Outside of work, Joe's all in on his Strava stats, craft breweries and going for long walks with his pup, Autumn. (Oh, and rewatching Mad Men under the guide of "personal development".)
Victoria Brown
HEAD OF STUDIOVic spent her career working in ops and logistics at M&S Head Office and SSE before joining Do Words Good as Head of Studio. (Because, as cliche as it sounds, two creatives weren’t the most organised people in the world.)
Day-to-day, Vic is the reason projects are ready on time, clients don’t have to chase for updates, invoices get sent and the lights are kept on.
Outside of work, Vic loves being outdoors, interior design and spending time with her kids (and Jack, somewhat reluctantly.)