Stage 3: The unwritten rules
Six strategic questions documents cannot answer. Voice calibration.
Stage 3 captures what no document holds: strategic intent, competitive logic, the voice failure modes that live in the operator's head.
Six questions. One screen. Skippable, but skipping costs the agent later.
The six questions
1. The customer's own words
When your best customer tells a friend about you, what do they actually say?
Not the persona from the deck. The real words. This calibrates Persona Builder and feeds the audience canon.
2. The positioning territory
Who is winning the positioning you want? What would it take to unseat them?
Names the competitor and the angle of attack. Intel Desk reads this on every weekly digest.
3. The strategic tension
What is the hardest tension your brand lives with? The thing you are constantly balancing?
Premium versus accessible. Heritage versus modern. Aspirational versus inclusive. Every brand carries one. Naming it calibrates Strategy Studio's pushback tier.
4. The voice failure mode
When AI-generated content misses the mark, what is usually wrong with it?
Too corporate. Too casual. Too generic. This trains Brand Voice better than any style guide. It teaches the agent what the wrong answer looks like, which is harder to capture than the right one.
5. The red lines
What is the one thing that would make you fire an agency on the spot?
Absolute red lines. Brand Guard treats these as Must Fix, not Suggestion.
6. The regional shift
Does your brand intentionally sound different across markets? If so, how?
If the brand is one voice everywhere, say so. If KSA is more formal and EGY warmer, say that. Brand Voice and Brand Guard hold both rules.
Voice calibration
Five sliders. Each runs from one pole to the other.
| Axis | Pole A | Pole B |
|---|---|---|
| Formality | Formal | Casual |
| Energy | Restrained | Bold |
| Tone | Serious | Playful |
| Complexity | Simple | Sophisticated |
| Warmth | Professional | Warm and personal |
Default is the midpoint. Move every slider to where the brand actually sits today, not where the brand wishes to sit. Aspirational positioning is captured by the questions above. Current voice is captured by the sliders.
Locks
Two satisfy this stage: customer voice captured, competitive positioning mapped. The remaining four questions are still read by the agent if answered.