Brand voice

Brand Voice

Brand voice is the consistent expression of our brand’s promise, values, and characteristics. It is maintained through the purposeful use of words and writing styles. It is the linguistic tool we use to manage how our brand is perceived by the people who interact with our brand, products and services.

Defining our Brand Voice

The following provides a frame work and guidance for our brand voice. These are based on our brand characteristics and essence.

Brand Drivers

Don’t

Hopeful

Hope is the beginning of greatness.

It is often attacked, but never destroyed and fuels the optimism, ambition and belief that brings achievement. We’re hopeful for our clients, communities and the future we share.

Determinedly Enthusiastic

We have a lot of energy – energy that we use to do the things that help us, and others, deliver on potential.

We look for ways to shift boundaries and defy expectations to help people achieve the outcomes that matter to them. That we use to do the things that help us, and others, deliver on potential.

Down-to-Earth

We’re all equals.

We all have something to offer the world. We are all capable of achieving. This is our outlook that helps us create a society where people with disabilities are viewed and treated no differently. This is what we strive for.

Examples of our Brand Voice

The following examples demonstrate the application of our brand voice.

Before

CPL provides disability supports where you can live independently and connect with the community.

After

Disability supports for the things that matter.

Live independently
Connect with others
Enjoy life at home, work and in your community

Before

CPL provides disability supports in Queensland and Northern New South Wales.

After

CPL is a leading community support provider across Queensland and Northern New South Wales, partnering with people with disability and their families to create meaningful change.

Before

CPL helps people live their life independently the way they choose. We work to turn our client’s dreams into reality, so that they may chase the best in life.

After

Through personalised support, specialised guidance and expertise in collaborative decision making, we empower each person to live the life they want at every stage.

We are driven by a deep commitment to understanding our clients’ aspirations and turning their vision into reality.

Before

CPL is experienced in delivering support that makes a difference. We care about our community.

After

Drawing on decades of experience, we deliver practical, impactful support that makes a real difference – combining our expertise with genuine care to support individuals, families, and communities.

Product Terminology

The consistent use of terms and naming is critical for maintaining transparency and understanding in our communications.

The following glossary outlines some common terminology that should be adhered to at all times, in all communications.

Circulation

The room in which the fire sprinkler main pipe will be placed for the Tree configuration setting within the Tandm Revit Software.

Room(s)

The space which is located within a Revit Model within an enclosed space surrounded by walls, floors, and a roof. Some rooms also have ceilings.

Zone

A room or rooms on a floor which is connected to a separate fire sprinkler riser and can have differing pipework configurations.

Element

An element is a specific family file located XXX

Family

An item or model specifically used for a part or portion of a revit model. i.e. a fire sprinkler family is used to define multiple different types of fire sprinklers; such as below ceiling, exposed, or concealed space. Each of these fire sprinkler families may have multiple types within the family file.

Family Type

A family type may be a specific function or feather within a family file; for example, a below ceiling sprinkler may havel a Semi-recessed type, or a Flush/Concealed type within the same family file.

Pipe Type

A specific routing preference used to connect the fire sprinkler system to the riser.

Riser

The pipe which rises through the building which the zone/floor fire sprinkler system connects to for its water supply.

Key messaging

Overarching tagline

Together, we’re CPL.
Together, we can.

Key messaging – corporate

Overarching – short – 30 words

CPL is a leading community support provider across Queensland and Northern New South Wales, partnering with people with disability and their families to create meaningful change.

Overarching – long – 95 words

CPL is a leading community support provider across Queensland and Northern New South Wales, partnering with people with disability and their families to create meaningful change.

Through personalised support, specialised guidance and expertise in collaborative decision making, we empower each person to live the life they want at every stage.

We are driven by a deep commitment to understanding our clients’ aspirations and turning their vision into reality.

Drawing on decades of experience, we deliver practical, impactful support that makes a real difference – combining our expertise with genuine care to support individuals, families, and communities.

Overarching emotive

Together, we’re on a journey to realise every last person’s potential, including our own.

It’s a journey filled with miracles big and small, measured by the obstacles that couldn’t stand in our way.

Our journey never ends, it gets bigger with each life, dream and opportunity. Each step forward builds a better foundation for those to come, so they can go further than we can even imagine.

We’re children, athletes, adults, driven, parents, entrepreneurs, artists, workers, dreamers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

Key messaging – service specific

Services – Short

Disability supports for the things that matter.

Live independently
Connect with others
Enjoy life at home, work and in your community

Services – Long

We can support you to:

Connect with your community
Enjoy your friendships and make new social connections
Build independent living skills
Live comfortably at home
Discover creative outlets
Achieve work and training goals

Key messaging – Detailed

Support at home

Your home, your way.

Imagine a day where everything flows smoothly, from the first sip of coffee to the evening wind-down. Working with CPL, we’re here to make sure your home is a place of comfort, independence, and peace.

Our 24/7 in-home assistance is designed around you – with skilled, compassionate support tailored to your lifestyle.

We’re parents, housemates, siblings, athletes, dreamers, artists, workers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

Supported Independent Living

CPL isn’t just about providing home support. We create a safe, engaging and comfortable living environment where you can truly live your way.

The steps you want to take towards the things that matter most to you are within reach. Together, lets make every day a good one.

We’re housemates, athletes, meal planners, friends, entrepreneurs, artists, workers, dreamers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

Support in the Community

It’s an amazing feeling to know you’re part of a community.

CPLs vibrant community hubs are more than just buildings – they’re spaces where friendships flourish and skills grow.

Drop in for our life skills programs, sing, dance, explore and create in one of our many activities or simply relax with friends in a welcoming environment.

Every day brings something new to try and the chance to connect with someone.

We’re best friends, athletes, dancers, driven, parents, entrepreneurs, artists, workers, dreamers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

First person – thriving (emotive/passion)

I love being able to show others who I really am.

Getting to express your inner self with others is so liberating. Being able to share our passion and work with an audience is even better – it’s when we feel truly alive. <adjust sentence based off creative>

Having CPL with me on my journey has put so many opportunities within reach, and connected me with others who live to create.

We’re children, athletes, adults, driven, parents, entrepreneurs, artists, workers, dreamers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

Therapies

Finding the right support has put the things that matter within my reach.

No one does it alone, which is why I’m so grateful to have met people I have on my journey.

CPL have helped me connect with the people who help me make my life what I want it to be now, and into the future. They’re part of my community, and I love sharing my goals, and progress, with them.

We’re children, athletes, adults, driven, parents, entrepreneurs, artists, workers, dreamers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

Recruitment

Careers with purpose

Choosing to apply for a new career with CPL means that you believe what we believe: that every person should have the freedom of choice, the opportunity to chase their passion and the support to live the life they choose.

As a part of CPL you get to be part of something bigger than any one of us. There’s always so much to look forward to, and our community just keeps growing and growing.

We’re creatives, passionate, athletes, driven, parents, entrepreneurs, artists, workers, dreamers, carers.

Together, we’re CPL. Together, we can.

Detailed writing style

Language

Our choice of words plays an integral role in who we are and how we connect – with clients, parents and carers, health professionals, supporters and funding bodies. Our language can be used to build trust in our audience and align how we communicate.

We aim to be hopeful, enthusiastic, and down to earth with our language choices. It is important that in our writing we don’t define a person according to the disability they may have. People with disability should be portrayed as individuals first; we should celebrate their individuality and who they are as a person. Every person has a different goal and different challenges, and they should be represented this way.

Using appropriate language emphasises this individuality, rather than the disability that a person happens to have. This does not mean the disability should be hidden, ignored or deemed irrelevant, but it should not be the focus of a story except when the subject is disability.

When writing for CPL we:

use positive, aspirational language
use approachable, simple language
use an inclusive voice – “we” “us” and “our”
are vibrant and celebratory
are warm and caring
are clear and honest
acknowledge issues, situations and challenges
are truthful; tell real stories of real people

For example, we DO say:

CPL works with/works alongside people with disability to…
Person with a disability, person with (name of disability)
Person with a disability
Person who uses a wheelchair
Person who has a visual impairment or hearing impairment
Person with a barrier, person with an intellectual disability
Person with no disability, able-bodied

For example, we DO NOT say:

CPL helps people
Suffering, suffers from, victim of, afflicted with, affected by
Disabled person, the disabled
Confined to a wheelchair/wheelchair bound
Blind person or deaf person
Mental disability, mental impairment, mentally ill, mentally disabled
Normal

CPL Terminology

CPL terminology
We are CPL – Choice, Passion, Life. When writing, use “CPL – Choice, Passion, Life” in the first instance, and then use “CPL” for all subsequent mentions.

We refer to our service locations as a “service” or “service centre”. Always use this terminology when referring to one of CPL’s locations. For example, CPL’s Bundaberg service or simply CPL in Bundaberg.

We refer to the people we deliver services to as “clients” and people who work for us as “employees.”

Spelling
In Australian English we almost always use the British spelling for words, as opposed to the American spelling. The table below contains some examples of British vs.American spelling. If you are unsure, always opt for the British spelling of a word. For example, we use colour instead of colour and organisation instead of organization. There are a few exceptions in Australian English spelling where we opt for the American spelling of a word. For example, in Australia both “program” (American) and “programme” (British) are accepted. At CPL, we prefer to use “program”.

First Peoples terminology

First Peoples terminology
The National Congress of Australia’s First People style guide advises the following terminology is acceptable:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
First Nations
First Nations of Australia
First Peoples
First Peoples of Australia
Australia’s First Peoples

The term ‘Indigenous’ should not be used except when referencing the formal title of an office, document, organisation, program or Indigenous peoples worldwide.

Punctuation

Commas

Use commas to indicate a natural pause in a sentence, or if including information that is important but not required to form a sentence. If you have too many commas, consider shortening the sentence or changing it into a bullet point list.

When writing a letter or email, we don’t put commas after names and greetings (e.g. “Hi Judy” or “Hello”).
Use Oxford commas in sentences, or turn the sentence into a bullet point list. An Oxford comma is a comma used before the final ‘and’ or ‘or’ in a sentence. (e.g. When Judy was on holidays, she met Beyoncé, her cousin, and an old friend.)

Apostrophes

Apostrophes can be used to indicate possession. When we write people’s names ending in the letter ‘s’, if it is singular possession we add an apostrophe to the end of their name, rather than adding ‘s. We don’t use apostrophes for plural abbreviations
or decades.

For example:

Jess’ new car
Angela’s journey with CPL (singular possession)
The girls’ music video (plural possession)
CDs, not CD’s and 1980s, not 1980’s

Use single quotation marks when writing a quote within a quote.
For example: “I remember my mother always used to say, ‘Many hands make light work’.”

Use double quotation marks when quoting a person or a source. When including multiple lines of quotes, always follow the rules below:

“I love the sense of community at CPL,” she said.
“I really look forward to Tuesdays because I get to go dancing with everyone!
“It really does feel like a family here.”

The punctuation for each sentence (commas, full stops, exclamation marks) is always included inside the quotation marks. The only time this isn’t the case is when quoting within a sentence that is not a quote.
For example: Mary was in the library when she saw a sign that said “do not eat in the library”.

You can punctuate within the quote if the original quote used punctuation.
For example, if the sign in the library had an exclamation mark you would write: Mary was in the library when she saw a sign that said “do not eat in the library!”.

Capitalisation

We use sentence case for most things, which means we capitalise the first word and only the proper nouns in the sentence. This also applies to headings and subheadings, for example:

Looking for an accessible sport?
Apply for a job at CPL
Creative, recreation and life skills programs

Don’t

Looking for an Accessible Sport?
Apply For A Job at CPL
Creative, Recreation and Life Skills Programs

Always capitalise proper nouns. In other words, capitalise the names of people, specific places, and organisations.

Also capitalise position titles (e.g. Occupational Therapist). You don’t need to capitalise the types of support we offer (e.g. occupational therapy, community access support at home etc.).

Exclamation marks

Exclamation marks should not be used in headings and should be used very sparingly within regular text. They should be used to convey extreme emotion or a strong command or declaration only.

At CPL, we avoid the use of exclamation marks in all forms of formal business writing. For our social media channels, the use of the exclamation mark should be used when conveying an exciting achievement or event for CPL.

Bullet points

Use bullet points when you have too many items to list in a sentence. The rules for using bullet points change depending on what you are listing, and what precedes the bullet points.

If the bullet points are sentence fragments – meaning they don’t form a complete sentence on their own – don’t capitalise the first letter or use full stops for each point. You only need to put a full stop at the end of the last point to indicate the end of the sentence.

For example:

At CPL, we offer:

support in the community.
support at home.
Allied Health therapies.
employment services.
housing options.

If each bullet point is a complete sentence, capitalise the first letter and use a full stop at the end of each point.

For example:

There are five things to remember when preparing for your appointment:

Print your documents beforehand.
Arrive 15 minutes early.
Bring along two forms of ID.
Prepare any questions you would like answered.
Dress in smart casual clothing.

Colons

A colon (:) is used to indicate something is following, like a list, a quotation, or an example. You can also use a colon between two sentences if the second sentence emphasises or illustrates the first. We also use colons when we write the time. Below are some common examples of correct colon use.

There are a few things you will need for your trip: a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a water bottle.

There are a few things you will need for your trip:

a hat
sunscreen
sunglasses
a water bottle.

Semicolons

A semicolon (;) is used to join two independent clauses that could stand alone as complete sentences, or to separate items in a complex list. It is important not to use semicolons in place of colons or commas. If you are unsure whether to use a semicolon in a sentence you are writing, try using a conjunction instead (e.g., and, but, so, because) or use a full stop to separate it into two sentences.

Below are some common examples of correct semicolon use.

Let’s go to the beach; it’s my favourite place to go.
We are pleased to welcome Jerry, the General Manager; Kerry, the Service Facilitator; Terry, the Physiotherapist; and Sherry, the Direct Support Worker.

Hyphens and dashes

Hyphens (-) are used to join two or more words when they come before a noun they modify. In each example below, the noun these words are modifying is in bold.

six-year-old boy
full-time and part-time job
step-by-step manual

You join the words before the noun to avoid confusion. If you don’t hyphenate correctly, the words can modify the noun in a different way.

For example, “six-year old boy” could be talking about an “old boy”, or “step by step manual” could be talking about a manual for steps.

Note: you do not need to add spaces between hyphens and the words they are joining.

At CPL, we don’t use hyphens to join a prefix and a word (e.g., co-ordinate, disagree, re-place), or a word and a suffix (e.g., achieve-ment, like-wise, sick-ness).

Dashes (–) are longer than hyphens and they are used to separate clauses in a sentence. When using a dash, put one space before and one space after it to bracket an independent clause.

For example:

The things you will learn in this meeting – what your specific goals are, whether you need any equipment or aids, and what you can get funding for – will help you to understand your NDIS plan.

You should be able to remove the clause within the dashes and still have a complete sentence. For example:

The things you will learn in this meeting will help you to understand your NDIS plan.

Ellipses

An ellipsis is a series of three dots (…). Ellipses are most commonly used to indicate where words have been omitted in a quoted piece of text.

For example:
“The cake was made by three bakers and … has four types of chocolate,” said Carol.
In this case, Carol had originally said: “The cake was made by three bakers and a team of decorators. They used twenty bags of flour and it has four types of chocolate.”

Symbols

Use the ampersand (&) in titles, captions and short paragraphs/blurbs under 50 words (e.g., text on posters). Don’t use it in body copy in collateral, letters or any other context where the text extends beyond 50 words.

Use the @ symbol in email addresses and social media handles only.

Acronyms

Spell out acronyms in full in the first instance, and use brackets to enclose the acronym after the first use. Then, use the acronym throughout the rest of the copy.

For example:
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is now here! If you haven’t heard about the NDIS before, check out this guide.

Formatting

Numbering: Spell out numbers one to nine and then use numbers for everything over 10.

Dates: We use one format for dates: Wednesday 10 July 2019. In this style of date formatting there are no commas and no ordinal indicators, which are the superscript letters often seen after a number (e.g., 10th, 3rd, 1st). We also don’t shorten the names of days (e.g., Wed, Thu, Fri).

Timing: Always format timings the same way when writing. We separate the hours and minutes with a colon, and am or pm immediately follows without a space. For example: 10:30am

24-hour time: We don’t use 24-hour time as we use am and pm to indicate the time of day. The am and pm should be lowercase. If there are no minutes, include two zeros, for example: 10:00am If the hour is less than 10, there is no need to include a zero before it.

Font types: To emphasise font, you can use bold, italics and underline styles. Follow the below rules for each:

Bold: Reserve this style for headings and subheadings. We also bold phone numbers and email addresses in CPL collateral.
Italics: Italicise words or phrases to emphasise them, or italicise the name of something (e.g., The Queensland Ballet presents Swan Lake).
Underline: We rarely underline words for emphasis, and reserve this style for email addresses and web addresses to indicate hyperlinking.

Testimonials

Using testimonials

Testimonials form an important part of our marketing strategy. When we use testimonials in our advertising and communications, there are important things we need to keep in mind.

AHPRA advertising guidelines

AHPRA, or the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, is the governing body responsible for advertising regulated health services. They have established a set of guidelines for organisations and individuals to adhere to when advertising these services.

CPL provides one regulated health services – psychology (Mylestones Employment).

Because we provide these regulated health services, we must adhere to the guidelines – or face a penalty of up to $10,000 for each advertising infringement.

Using testimonials in advertising

The guidelines do not allow the use of testimonials in advertising to promote regulated health services.

Testimonials are classed as statements, stories and anecdotes about clinical care from past patients or clients making a recommendation about a health service or its quality.

For the full guidelines visit:
www.ahpra.gov.au/Resources/Advertising-hub/Advertising-guidelines-and-other-guidance/Advertising-guidelines.aspx