Solid State for Men is an Australian brand for men who like to smell good (or people that like men who smell good). Solid State makes distinctively fragrant solid cologne packaged in conveniently sized tins. Did I mention it smells good too?

Brand identity and website copywriting

Anthony from Solid State approached me to create a more defined identity for Solid State, revamp the website copy and develop the product descriptions for their new packaging.

Here’s what I provided, in a nutshell:

• Tone of Voice Guide
• Website copywriting
• Product descriptions
• Packaging and brochure copy
• Automated emails series

The hard part about writing copy for a fragrance brand is actually communicating what the product will smell like when someone receives it. Unfortunately, we haven’t invented the technology to transmit smells over the internet, so the copy had to describe each scent accurately but also evoke a sense of story.

Plus, Solid State is one small brand in a billion dollar industry. The copy had to be remarkable so that it would stand up against those big brands with even bigger marketing budgets.

We started out by discussing what Solid State was all about. Anthony used a lot of words like ‘traveller’ ‘adventurer’ and ‘urbane’ to describe his ideal customer and the brand.

My mind started to consider possibilities to position the brand. I imagined an urbane gentleman – a sort of James Bond meets Jacque Cousteau – who travels the world, going on all these adventures with nothing but a leather bag (packed of course with his Solid State cologne).

I wanted to do more than just describe each cologne – I was determined to give the Solid State brand as a whole – and each cologne – a distinct personality.

The copywriting process

I looked at each scent profile and then imagined a real-world situation where those scents would be present. Freshman, for example, has a sea breeze base with hints of jasmine and citrus. With that in mind, I instantly imagined a Mediterranean coastline.

I crafted a vivid profile for each scent and described in detail the situation. For the final product descriptions, I stripped this back so that our target buyer could imagine himself in each situation.

The product descriptions feature not only on the website but also in the product catalogue and booklets.

The feedback on these has been great. Anthony tells me that people have made it a point to comment on them – which means they’ve done the stated purpose of being memorable and remarkable.

Once the product descriptions were finalised, I worked on the remaining website copy. It was important to me that the tone sounded friendly and knowledgeable – like a mentor.

Finally, I created a series of automated emails and linked them up with MailChimp and Shopify.

Of course, the success of a rebrand is measured both in tangible and intangible factors. But I’m pleased to report that Solid State saw an immediate uptick in sales following the implementation of the web copy and the email strategy, plus an increase in subscribers.

Check out the Solid State for Men website here.

Note: web content is dynamic and the content on this website may have changed since I created it.

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