Newmar Style Guide
Once Element Three’s style guide was in place, Executive Creative Director Darren Halbig and I determined that a smart next step would be to create similar style guides for some of the marketing firm’s other top clients. Newmar, a behemoth of the luxury RV industry, had been one of those top clients for years, so they were an obvious choice for the treatment.
Why did we need to do this? The Newmar team at Element Three could use it as a nice reminder, but their knowledge of the brand meant that it wasn’t really meant for them as much. It was far more useful due to the way in which the team had to use outside talent in addition to that team.
The amount of work that goes into a major client relationship is hard to overstate, and while the Element Three team managed it masterfully, they could use a hand from time to time. Dropping the ball wasn’t an option, and typically when freelancers come in time is tight and can’t be spent on onboarding. So it was useful to have a tool that simplified that process by telling new writers the basics they’d need to successfully create content for Newmar engagements.
Since we already had a style guide for Element Three content as a whole, the process of building a separate style guide for our Newmar work focused mostly on two things: differences between the existing style guide and preferences of the client, and the brand and tone of voice particular to Newmar content.
In addition to the fact that there were certain terms of use to be aware of—they’re called “motor coaches” rather than “RVs,” and the accent in “décor” is important—anyone new to writing for the Newmar brand needed to be able to match the way Newmar is supposed to feel. The audience is looking for the absolute top flight, they’re shopping for a vehicle that’s nicer than a lot of houses. They’re the best around, and that needs to show without sounding egotistical or big-headed.
In other words, the style guide needed to cover everything that a newly onboarded writer would need to make sure the first thing they wrote didn’t come back torn to shreds by an editor or the client.
