# OverDrive Brand Voice

> Accessible, encouraging, and community-focused, acting as a helpful bridge between people and the resources of their local library.

## Positioning
OverDrive is a digital reading platform that provides free ebooks, audiobooks, and streaming media to students, professionals, and the general public. It serves as a partner to libraries, schools, and businesses to maximize the reach and discoverability of digital collections.

## Voice principles
*   **Accessible:** Uses simple, inclusive language that emphasizes ease of use and zero cost.
*   **Enthusiastic:** Expresses a genuine love for reading and learning through active verbs and exclamation points.
*   **Empowering:** Focuses on what the user can achieve, such as "bringing books to life" or "enriching the reading experience."
*   **Professional yet Warm:** Maintains a business-to-business authority when speaking to organizations while remaining friendly to the end reader.

## Tone by context
| Context | Tone |
|---|---|
| Consumer Marketing | Welcoming and low-friction. Emphasizes "free" and "anywhere." |
| Educational (K-12) | Supportive and focused on growth. Uses words like "enrich" and "meet needs." |
| B2B / Partners | Strategic and results-oriented. Focuses on "innovation," "maximizing," and "transforming." |
| Staff Recommendations | Personal and curated. Uses a "librarian's choice" perspective. |

## Lexicon
- **Use:** Free, discover, explore, enrich, transform, innovate, maximize, "thanks to your library," "all you need is."
- **Avoid:** Purchase, buy, subscription fee, complicated, restricted (Not evident from copy, but inferred by the heavy emphasis on "free" and "public access").

## Messaging do's and don'ts
*   **Do:** Emphasize that the service is free and provided by a local institution (library/school).
*   **Do:** Use action-oriented headings like "Explore & read" or "Stream movies anywhere."
*   **Do:** Highlight the variety of media available (ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, films).
*   **Don't:** Use jargon-heavy descriptions of digital rights management.
*   **Don't:** Focus on the technology over the content; the book or film is the hero.
*   **Don't:** Forget to credit the library or organization as the provider.

## Evidence
*   "Free ebooks, audiobooks & magazines from your library"
*   "All you need is a public library card"
*   "Our OverDrive Librarians Love DIY!"
*   "Always Innovating to help libraries transform"
*   "Maximize Discoverability with a global leader"
*   "Bring books to life"