Some principles and guidelines of Sainsbury's tone of voice.

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The power of language
@thomasknorpp
@sainsburyspr Digital media manager

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Agenda
• How we’re set up
• You’re my favourite supermarket
• Worst. PR neologism. Ever.
• How tiger bread changed its stripes
• Beaten to death by Hulk Hogan
• What you need to do

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How we’re set up
• Established presence on social
• Social media policy
• 24/7 press office
• Close links to marketing and customer service
• Continuous social media monitoring

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Tone of voice guidelines
• Listen
• Mirror the language
• Empathise
• Helpful
• Friendly
• Cheeky
• Human

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YOU’RE MY FAVOURITE
SUPERMARKET

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MANAPÉS

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HOW TIGER BREAD CHANGED ITS
STRIPES

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A customer letter
about Tiger Bread…

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… and our response

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A normal month:
3,500 visits a day

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A normal month:
3,500 visits a day
Giraffe bread:
60,000 visits in a day

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4.5 million people
reached
• Our tweet announcing the
news was re-tweeted over
1,500 times, helping generate
over 2 million impressions.
• Giraffe bread was the most
read and most shared story
on the BBC website the day it
broke (over 19,000 shares)
• More coverage in the
Telegraph, Daily Mail and
Mail Online, Huffington Post,
Metro and many more

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BEATEN TO DEATH BY HULK HOGAN

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What you need to do
• Listen, measure and engage
• Find your tone
• Be human
• Look for opportunities to be funny, help or
inform
• Be nimble
• Make time and empower your people

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Right. Your turn. Questions?
@thomasknorpp
@sainsburyspr Digital media manager