Lowry: rebrand, rewrite, refresh
I love a good pinch-me moment. Like when I realised Ian Brown of The Stone Roses was set on the table next to me, in a quaint Cheshire farm shop, enjoying a scone and a cup of tea.
I also had to give myself a little pinch when I saw Lowry’s (yes, the iconic theatre) Head of Digital in my email inbox back in 2024. As an arty farty type, it was dream gig type territory.
The Lowry team were looking for an experienced copywriter to support with a big rebrand project and new website launch. When they asked for my availability, I obviously played it cool, said I’d double-check my diary and waited a reasonable amount of time before accepting the mission.
My job? To put the all-new Lowry into words.
On this project, I wasn’t starting with a totally blank page. Locked and loaded for me was a Lowry tone of voice guide put together by the agency behind the rebrand, as well as the foundations of existing website copy. The skeleton of information was already on the site - it was over to me to use this info and the TOV manual to rewrite 30+ landing pages and a welcome pack using fresh, new brand language.
So, really, my job was translation - from a tone of voice deck to real-life words that say the right things to the right people.
Lowry lingo
Lowry Theatre (not the nearby hotel, FYI) was opened in 2020 and with it came immediate popularity, a roster of impressive productions and exhibitions and a tone of voice that felt a little too stiff for its ethos. Synonymous with the eloquence of theatre and the arts but still, a little too buttoned-up for the brand positioning.
Lowry’s mission is to ‘Empower people from all backgrounds to experience culture’. Accessibility, breaking down barriers and democratising theatre and the arts are central to everything they do. So, they needed a brand look and feel that reflects this - a visual identity and a voice that is simple, straightforward, and familiar. It needed to feel like open arms and a warm welcome hug, whoever you are.
“The right words can help people feel welcome, included, intrigued and excited. The wrong ones could make us sound stuffy, intimidating, pretentious and academic.”
It was my job to weave Lowry’s new tone wherever there are words on the website, so that every point of communication feels seamless, unified and recognisable. All the while simplifying the serious stuff and adding a touch of Salford charm with ultra-subtle dialect and soft humour here and there.
