A summary of the Cymru Wales content strategy

The marketing sector of the Welsh Government produce a portfolio of digital content under the Cymru Wales brand. This content includes the following websites:

• Wales.com with Welsh, German, French, Spanish and Japanese language variants
• VisitWales.com, Visitwales.com/de and Croeso.Cymru
• StudyinWales.ac.uk
• Creative.Wales
• TradeandInvest.Wales

There is potential for further web sites from other sectors to be added in the future.

The following content strategy includes a summary of our brand values to help you understand who we are and what we do.

Content on the Cymru Wales branded sites should support the broader objectives of the Welsh Government but are not focused on ministerial messaging.

When creating editorial content for Visit Wales and Wales.com, please also refer to our editorial style guides which include:

• Wales.com target audience and tone of voice guidance
• VisitWales target audience and tone of voice guidance
• language and style guidance
• article page visual style guide

When creating Welsh language editorial content for Croeso.Cymru refer to the Croeso.Cymru specific editorial style guides.

Our vision builds on our brand values and overarching business objective.

"Create warm, assured, spirited content which showcases our bro and byd, to inspire audiences across the world to choose Wales."

• Amplify brand values through our content
• Create inspiring, engaging, evergreen content relevant to our target audiences
• Ensure content is the driver and at the core of our marketing activities
• Develop innovative, memorable, brand-defining content

Our content, regardless of what channel we use to distribute it, should derive from set principles.

• Purpose
  Ensure there is a specific purpose to all our content. Create content that either creates awareness (brand building), delivers on strategic aims, or encourages direct action.
   
• Brand
  Ensure our content is on brand, showcasing Wales in the right way, and differentiates Wales from other places. Our content should inspire, engage, challenge and introduce.
   
• COPE
  Create Once. Publish Everywhere. Think, tweak and adapt copy to suit different channels and audiences. Consider whether content can be brought to life across different platforms. If so, create extra content at the collection stage.
   
• Prioritisation
  Prioritisation pillars: Value; Effort; Visibility. Consider wider implications including SEO and engagement when publishing.
   
• Audience and Accuracy
  Create user-centred content for the intended target audiences. Ensure our content is accurate and easy to find and consume. The nature of who we are means we are an authoritative voice for Wales. We therefore need to ensure accuracy.
   
• Accessibility
  Our content is for everyone. It should always reflect accessibility, and be easily accessible to all.
   
• Diversity
  Our content should be used to reflect and represent the diverse Wales we live in.
   
• Quality
  Quality needs to be prioritised over quantity – in both content and engagement. We should think of ideas first, and consider the best way and platform(s) to bring those ideas to life.
   
• Evergreen
  Create regular, evergreen, talkable content throughout the year. This helps ensure our content stays relevant, does not go out of date and helps our SEO ranking. 
   
• Partnerships
  Avoid repeating and competing with partners – share, collaborate and cross-promote for increased reach, positive association and access to content. Ask: are others going to promote it anyway?
   
• Planning
  We should plan and manage content to ensure a strategic approach to production and publishing.
   
• Appropriateness 
  Always consider the appropriateness of the content we publish, in the context of speaking on behalf of the Welsh Government, representing Welsh Ministers.

We use a tiered approach to our content. Hero, Hub and Hygiene.
Hero and Hub content will be ‘pushed’ to relevant target audiences
Hygiene content should ‘pull’  audiences into the content from search.

• Hero
  Aiming to build our brand and create positive long-term perceptions.
  Hero content is big strategic campaigns, perception changing ads and talkable moments to generate mass awareness among new and existing audiences. It typically runs for a period of months or as very high profile events.

• Hub
  Aiming to boost awareness and drive engagement.
  Hub content is regular engaging content and PR, typically more targeted to specific audiences that reinforces messages and deepens relationships.
  Hub+ content consists of targeted smaller campaigns, content or PR opportunities. 
  Hub filler content consists of B-roll, library images, day to day social.

• Hygiene
  Adds relevance and drives traffic from non-brand search.
  Hygiene content is useful, helpful content users are searching for.

Content follows a set cycle from commission through creation, publication, distribution and review until it is archived.

Plan

• Generate ideas
• Research / prioritise
• Define criteria based on what we create and why
• Brief

Create

• Commission / write / edit
• Approve

Publish

• Template input
• Keywords / metadata
• Version / expiry controls

Distribute

• Campaigns
• Social
• E-newsletters
• Partners

Monitor

• Testing
• Discussion
• Feedback

Analyse

• Engagement
• Views
• Participation

Manage

• Review
• Update
• Control
• Archive / Delete

There are simple steps to keep in mind throughout the content production and distribution cycle.

Content - Does it meet our objectives?

Scope - Consider our principles when briefing

Create - Consider our brand values throughout

Review - Check against our objectives, principles and brand

Sign off - Check with a 'brand guardian'

Monitor - Engage / amend / adjust as required

Our content should be prioritised according to a set criteria prior to commissioning.

Value 
To Wales and target audiences, guided by brand marketing and content strategy focuses.

• Product - Does this content focus on existing products and has assets that can be created in time to publish?
• Location - Does this content cover locations that support wider strategic focuses?
• Balance - Does this content fill a product and / or location gap?
• COPE - Can this content be published across multiple Wales Group properties and distributed across multiple channels?
• Stakeholders - Has this content been requested by key stakeholders, or does it benefit them?
• Inclusivity - Does this content deliver to the needs of all audiences and ensures representation?

Effort
Investment required against resource, time and budget.

• Refresh / create - Is this content new or does it require a refresh of an existing content piece?
• Media / assets - What new assets are required to create/support the content and how much budget and lead time is needed?
• Author - Can this content be created in-house or does it require external support?
• Research - What level of research is needed and is there existing information available that can be repurposed?
• Length - How long/in-depth will this content need to be?
• Push / pull - Does this content have search intent or will it need promotion to drive traffic?

Visibility
Investment against likelihood of content being seen and having an impact on the right people

• Audience - Is this content informed by existing audience research and/or does it target the relevant audiences?
• Demand - Does the topic have search volume and can it be created in time to publish before a peak in demand?
• Position - Is there already some search visibility for the topic and is there room to grow?
• Competition - How practical is it to compete in search for the topic?
• Longevity - Is this content evergreen or does it have seasonal/topical relevance?
• Promotion - Is this a push piece of content that supports upcoming campaigns?

All Visit Wales marketing falls under the Cymru Wales brand, used to promote Wales in the UK and beyond as a place to visit, invest, work and study. The award-winning brand identity is striking – and features the familiar Draig logo, an iconic font, and a strong photography style. 

Approach
Cymru, bro a byd – Bro – meaning local community, a sense of purpose and place, and Byd – meaning international levels of quality standards and ambition.
Inherently Welsh with a global outlook.

Proposition
We’re a nation that considers our priorities: for our people, for our prosperity and for our place in the world. Wales cares — for bro and byd.

Values
Agosatrwydd  /  Warm
Hyder / Assured
Enaid / With spirit

Improving the quality of the visitor experience across Wales in a way that also benefits our local people, is our central strategic mission. 

The brand is also underpinned by five core objectives. All content published on our brand websites should fulfil most or all of these

• Raise the bar
• Do good things
• Challenge perceptions
• Be inherently Welsh
• Invite people in

Our tone of voice mean we’re undeniably Wales. We are recognisable by what we say, how we say it, how we sound. Our voice embodies our brand values.

Agosatrwydd / Warm
We speak conversationally, but with authority – think of a kindly advisor who’s helping us to figure something out. Friendly, but not matey.

How to:

• Use contractions - we’re, you’re, it’s – it draws people closer
• Never use a long word where a short one works – use rather than utilise, do rather than undertake
• Be conversational, as though you were talking to a friend of a friend you’ve just met
• Often overlooked - issue an invitation to join us, to get involved, whenever you can

Hyder / Assured
We get to the point and we’re clear in what we say. Not in a pompous or bossy way, but we know what we want to say and we say it. And if we want someone to do something, they’re left in absolutely no doubt.

How to:

• Keep language simple and clear, hide nothing
• Write so that a bright 15 year old would understand it
• Move away from boastfulness by sharing real examples with positive outcomes –proof that we’re as good as we say we are
• Don’t hedge - never, we aim or we hope, always, we will

Enaid / With spirit
We aren’t passive and meandering, we brim with infectious energy. We’re not afraid of vibrant language – we work hard to trigger senses and feelings and engage people emotionally.

How to:

• Use high energy words that evoke action, creativity and  originality
• 'Magic’ adjectives will bring ordinary conversation to life e.g. terrific, great, massive, thriving, exhilarating
• Use intensifiers like really or extremely, masses, loads. They humanise copy and generate an emotional response
• Use descriptors that engage our senses - how does it look / sound / smell?

How we look
In addition to what we say, our brand values are communicated in how we look, and our sense of place will be reflected in our language, our films, our photography, our people and our typefaces. Our images and style guide are held in our Assets Library.

How we sound
Sound and music is a fundamental part of Wales’ content and experiential activity, and should always be considered as an integral component to how we present Wales to all audiences. Careful consideration should be given to the sound and music used to support our content.

Guidance for specific channels

When creating editorial content for Visit Wales and Wales.com, please refer to our editorial style guides which include:

• Wales.com target audience and tone of voice guidance
• VisitWales target audience and tone of voice guidance
• language and style guidance
• article page visual style guide

When creating Welsh language editorial content for Croeso.Cymru refer to the Croeso.Cymru specific editorial style guides.

A fundamental way for our content to reflect our brand value of being distinctively Welsh, and to project a sense of place, is via the use of Cymraeg. Some simple ways can be implemented to raise the prominence of our language.

The guidelines to Welsh language standards provided by the Welsh Government is an useful tool to ensure compliance, and there are also many opportunities to be more creative with our language, to promote and celebrate our uniqueness, going above and beyond literal translations when appropriate.

Hints and tips:

• Be creative and original - think Welsh first and avoid literal translations
• Use Welsh language music (check copyright restrictions)
• Use Welsh place names, and add translations only if necessary
• Work with partners e.g. Urdd / S4C
• Use Welsh language GIFs and Tags on social channels
• Include Welsh in simple ways, always using basics such as a headline or greeting including: Diolch / Croeso / Bore da Cymru / Llongyfarchiadau / Pob lwc / Da iawn / Hwyl fawr / Dydd Gŵyl Dewi

Do

• Include Welsh in simple ways – a headline or greeting bore da / croeso can be simple and easy to do
• Consider carefully how and where you integrate Welsh, and what impact or impression you’re trying to leave with the reader / viewer
• Work with creative Welsh copywriters to come up with suitable Welsh words to integrate
• Be creative – translate meaning not just words
• Be careful about how the word works in context with surrounding copy
• For body copy in languages other than Welsh, make it easy for a reader to identify by using different weights or italics

Don’t

• Don’t force it. If you don’t have a proficient Welsh writer to check the translation it’s best not to include Welsh. It’s better to use just English rather than getting it wrong
• Don’t feel you always have to integrate Welsh if it doesn’t feel right
• Don’t make it look like a bilingual advert. The purpose of this is to enrich the viewer's experience
• Don’t fall back on clichés (cwtsh is a good example of a Welsh word that can easily get tired)
• Don’t be afraid to push things, gently: use the occasional word that’s unfamiliar

There are certain areas that require careful consideration, to ensure the content we publish is responsible, safe and accurate.

For example, careful consideration should be given to showcasing the undertaking of activities such as walking or swimming - ensuring responsible behaviour messaging is included. Adventure Smart UK offer guidance and advice on how to promote adventurous activities responsibly.

Over-tourism is an issue in many parts of Wales during the peak holiday period, and therefore caution should be given to showing images of certain locations at peak times, in whatever context, across the Cymru Wales brand. These include Snowdon, Pen-y-Fan, Brecon waterfalls country Barafundle beach, Gower, Blue Lagoon Abereiddy and other notoriously busy locations. ‘Dangerous’ locations such as Crib Goch should also only be promoted with caution, advice and approval - even if it’s not in a tourism context. 

Other considerations include promoting accredited services only when possible, featuring food and drink locations with 4 or 5* hygiene rating, concentrating on promoting places selling or producing local produce and avoiding featuring environmentally unfriendly practices
or vehicles when possible.

We should always keep brand values in mind when selecting images. Images showing single use plastic or practices that are not environmentally friendly should be avoided - e.g. featuring un-environmentally friendly vehicles such as large 4x4s when not essential to use.

An accessibility check should be carried out on all content - whatever it’s format - prior to publishing to ensure it is suitable for all our audience to consume. Accessibility should be considered for all types of published content, not just websites.

Accessibility goes beyond making everything available as text. It also affects the way you organise content.

Break text into short paragraphs to make it easy to scan. Use subheadings and bullet points to guide readers through the text. Use alternative texts for images – including in printed publications. Include captions, transcripts and subtitles, and consider including sign language for visual and audio content. Avoid visual characteristics to communicate information (e.g. click on the circle / see
red text).

Guidelines on website accessibility are available in the language style guide.

Wales is a diverse nation, and this should be reflected in our content. When creating content we must also have geographical spread and a balance to showcase the best of what Wales has to offer at a broad level, featuring people from all backgrounds.

For international audiences especially, but also for UK and in-Wales audiences, English may not be the first language. It's important to write for and about other people in a way that’s compassionate, inclusive, and respectful.

Our content is published on a global platform and cultural differences and sensitivities should considered as part of our production process.

Photography is procured via the Welsh Government Photography Framework Contract, therefore contract terms and conditions apply. These include but are not limited to:

• Professional indemnity & public liability insurance
• Crown copyright permissions
• Model release and any other location access permissions obtained

Tagging
All assets should be tagged and tagged to all relevant taxonomy and filter nodes. Additional descriptive tags should be added to aid search and should cover all the ways the resource might be searched for.

Governance
Appropriate governance procedures and Welsh Government guidelines must be followed when planning, commissioning and publishing all content.

Copyright is key in all content creation, publication and distribution. Ensuring relevant permissions have been obtained and being aware of copyright restrictions is essential.

Whenever possible, use images which are Crown Copyright. These have been produced by, or on behalf of government and so can be re-used by government as well as being free to re-use under the Open Government Licence (OGL) by non-government users. The Cymru Wales Assets Library has a range of images for use which are in line with the Cymru Wales brand. Always read the information provided alongside the image on the assets library prior to using the image.

If commissioning new photography and video, ensure copyright arrangements are watertight. If the copyright on newly commissioned images and film footage is only valid for a set time, ensure processes are in place to renew / archive the materials.

The copyright of editorial content commissioned under the Welsh Government Standard Terms of Service Agreement passes from the author to the Crown at the point of delivery.

Care must be taken to ensure we comply with copyright law, citing the copyright holder on all images and video in our content and crediting photographers where applicable. Measures should be taken to ensure the video and photography content does not contain other work that may itself be subject to copyright, such as works of art, literature, photography or buildings.

Care should also be taken to ensure any content quoted from other sources is used accurately, in context, citied appropriately and if required, referred to legal for confirmation of use before publication. This includes, but is not limited to, works of literature, lyrics, speeches and editorial content published on digital platforms.

If in doubt, seek advice from Central Web Team or imagesupport@gov.wales.