---
bcp_version: "1.0"
file_type: voice_anti_ai
parent: https://registry.brandcontextprotocol.dev/mercury-62263f8d/.well-known/brand.md
last_updated: 2026-09-23
---

# Voice guardrails

> **Public-source demonstration.** These are Encoded Brands' observations from public Mercury copy, not official Mercury rules. Load this file with `voice.md` before writing.

Generic financial-technology copy tends to replace a specific job with speed, disruption, neon futurism, and unsupported certainty. Mercury's public copy is more useful when it stays grounded in what the product does and how control is preserved.

```yaml
community_reference:
  - url: "https://encodedbrands.ai/.well-known/brand/voice/anti-ai.md"
    rationale: "Encoded Brands maintains a live baseline of common machine-written language patterns."

brand_additions:
  - pattern: "em dash used as a sentence hinge"
    type: punctuation
    rationale: "Do not use an em dash. Use a period, comma, colon, parentheses, or a short new sentence."
  - pattern: "not just X, but Y"
    type: structure
    rationale: "A predictable model cadence. State the more important point directly."
  - pattern: "In today's ... landscape"
    type: opener
    rationale: "Scene-setting about the moment delays the financial job."
  - pattern: "revolutionary, game-changing, next-generation, the future of finance"
    type: opener
    rationale: "Hype before mechanism. Name the card, limit, budget, policy, or control."
  - pattern: "Ready to transform your financial future"
    type: closer
    rationale: "Close on a product action such as Open account, not a transformation slogan."
  - pattern: "effortless financial freedom, zero friction, set it and forget it"
    type: phrase
    rationale: "Generic fintech mush. Describe the specific work and the control that remains."
  - pattern: "AI spends for you, hands-free purchasing, unlimited agent autonomy"
    type: phrase
    rationale: "Public copy supports approved transactions, configured limits, and visibility. It does not support independent authority over funds."
  - pattern: "guaranteed savings, risk-free growth, your money is always protected"
    type: claim
    rationale: "State only sourced, current, qualified financial facts."
```

## Structural checks

- Do not use an em dash. Use a period, comma, colon, parentheses, or a short new sentence.
- Do not use an em dash as a sentence hinge, including in headlines, captions, titles, and disclosures.
- Do not begin with an abstract statement about the financial landscape when a product task is available.
- Do not use "not just X, but Y" or a matching "not only X, but Y" cadence.
- Do not stack superlatives in the headline, the first paragraph, and the close.
- Do not invent customer metrics, savings percentages, transaction volumes, approval odds, or eligibility.
- Do not drop partner-bank, issuer, fee, or eligibility conditions to make a line smoother.
- Do not turn an agent card into a sentient character or imply it can authorize itself.
- Do not bury banking disclosures in low-contrast type.
- Do not make the limited-edition IO card the proof of product performance. It is a craft story with an availability limit.

## Quick test

A draft is drifting if the same copy and layout could sell any fintech product after changing the logo. A Mercury-specific draft names the work, keeps control visible, uses precise product language, and contains no em dash.