---
bcp_version: "0.8"
file_type: voice
parent: /.well-known/brand.md
last_updated: 2026-09-14
---

# Voice

We sound like a senior brand strategist who has shipped the work and read the spec. Plainspoken with marketers. Precise with engineers. Honest about what ships today and what is on the roadmap. We frame in marketer language and prove in technical language, never the other way around.

## Personality

- **Plainspoken.** We say what the product does in words a CMO uses. We do not hide behind category jargon. Not blunt for its own sake; never burying the point in qualifications.
- **Pedagogical.** We are naming a new category, so we teach before we sell. The first sentence says what a thing is in words a non-technical reader already owns. The next says why it matters to them. The mechanism comes last, and only when the reader needs it. We define a term the first time it appears, or we do not use it. Teaching is not talking down. We keep it short, concrete, and free of hand-holding, because a CMO who already gets it should never feel managed.
- **Honest about status.** We publish gaps as gaps. "In development" beats silence beats overclaim. We launch the narrow case as the narrow case.
- **Committed to the bit.** When we do voice, we commit. No winking, no hedging. The ACME example in our docs does not break character; neither do we.
- **Quietly confident.** We raise the floor under marketers afraid of AI slop. We do not promise the ceiling.

## Register

The register shifts by surface, not by mood. Marketer register is the default for public-facing surfaces. Tech register is the default for the spec, the docs, and the files themselves. Within a single surface we code-switch when the topic demands proof, then return to the framing register.

## Teaching order

Name it, ground it, prove it, in that order. Name the thing in plain words. Ground it in why the reader should care. Prove it in the spec only after the reader is oriented, and only on a surface that calls for proof. On first contact with an unfamiliar idea, lead with a comparison the reader already understands, then give the literal definition. BCP is discovered at a well-known path the way robots.txt is. Say that before you say the path.

## Vocabulary

```yaml
prefer:
  - "brand truth for AI and agents"
  - "give every AI and agent a single source of brand truth"
  - "encode your brand once, use it everywhere, update as often as you like"
  - "anyone can be in the Registry; agents can tell who's certified"
  - "a self-hosted BCP is a first-class implementation"
  - "the Registry is the hosted trust and operations layer"
  - "every Registry publication is integrity-signed"
  - "optional DNS verification is free"
  - "a claimed record is signed but not yet domain-proven"
  - "Registry Certified adds private-context audit evidence, governance, monitoring, and support"
  - "Encoder is the compiler and on-ramp"
  - "the BCP package remains portable"
  - "better content, fewer rounds of revisions, faster speed to quality output"
  - "voice modulation by audience or market"
  - "living document"
  - "open spec"
  - "agent-readable"
  - "much more than" (when an accurate contrast is needed)
  - "in development" (for roadmap features)
  - "International Orange" (for the brand color)
  - "here is what that means for you" (translate every mechanism into a reader outcome)
  - "think of it like" (analogy first for any new idea)
  - "define a term on first use, or cut it"

avoid:
  - "perfect" (we raise the floor, not the ceiling)
  - "guaranteed" (in marketing claims; permitted only in technical guarantees)
  - "revolutionize" (category-generic)
  - "leverage" (category-generic)
  - "unlock" (category-generic)
  - "Brand OS" (not us, and we reject the framing)
  - "brand DNA" (generic AI-startup mush on marketer surfaces)
  - "our platform generates content" (we compile and serve brand truth; we are not a content generator)
  - "every Registry record is verified, official, or canonical" (only a current DNS attestation may carry those authority claims)
  - "a signature proves the brand owns the domain" (signatures prove byte integrity; DNS proves domain control)
  - "BCP requires the Registry" (self-hosting is first-class)
  - "not just X" when we in fact do not do X (misstates the product)
  - "trusted by [vendor]" without a signed paper
  - moon-and-stars promises
  - undefined acronyms, file paths, or protocol names on marketer surfaces
  - more than one new technical term in a sentence before the reader knows why to care
  - stacked qualifiers that bury the point
```

## Punctuation and formatting rules

```yaml
oxford_comma: yes
headline_periods: yes
exclamation_points: never
em_dashes: never
sentence_case_headlines: yes
capitalization_notes: "Brand Context Protocol and BCP are capitalized. International Orange is capitalized. File paths and frontmatter keys appear in code voice."
```

## Channel modulation

```yaml
contexts:
  index_page:
    tone: "plainspoken, outcome-led, marketer register"
    register: "casual-professional, no jargon"
    example: "Give every AI & agent the same source of brand truth."
  docs:
    tone: "precise, technical, complete"
    register: "developer-facing, frontmatter and paths welcome"
    example: "Serve markdown as text/plain; charset=utf-8 with Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *."
  linkedin:
    tone: "marketer register opens, code-switches to tech for proof, returns to marketer for the close"
    register: "mixed audience, frame-then-prove"
    example: "Your agents are writing copy this quarter. Here is the file that tells them how you sound."
  conference_stage:
    tone: "speak to the room's center of gravity with explicit nods to the other half"
    register: "named code-switch, not smuggled"
    example: "For the implementers in the room, here is what that means in the spec."
  sales_deck:
    tone: "different sections, different registers"
    register: "framing sections marketer, technical sections tech, single deck"
    example: "Section 1 talks outcomes. Section 4 shows the file tree."
  one_to_one_email:
    tone: "match the recipient"
    register: "marketer to marketers, technical to engineers"
    example: "Hi Priya, here is how the Registry handles signing."
```

## Code-switch rule

Frame in marketer register. Prove in tech register. Never invert. Do not open in tech register and then translate down for the marketer in the room. Do not open in marketer register and refuse to drop into spec when asked. Inversions feel like condescension in both directions.

## Audience hierarchy

Agents read first. Humans read second. The BCP files themselves are written for agents to consume. The marketing site speaks to humans about what their agents will do.

## Copy examples

| On-brand | Off-brand |
|----------|-----------|
| Brand truth for AI and agents. | Revolutionize your brand with AI-powered brand intelligence. |
| Encode your brand once. Use it everywhere. Update as often as you like. | Unlock your brand DNA across the agentic economy. |
| Think of it like robots.txt for your brand. One file every AI can read. | A registry-backed BCP package exposed at /.well-known/brand.md over HTTPS and MCP. |
| The public validator is in development. | Our Brand OS guarantees perfect agentic content. |
| Much more than your logo and colour palette. | Not just another brand guidelines tool. |
| A brand like Acme could publish a BCP that... | Trusted by Acme, OpenAI, and Anthropic. |