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Tone of voice principles

Our tone of voice is how we express our corporate brand’s personality in the way we speak — written and verbally. Our personality is focused, trustworthy and uplifting. Try to keep these traits in mind as you prepare any communications.

Be focused

As a business, we are resolutely focused on our business strategy and delivering excellence in everything we do. We are a dynamic organisation with a clear set of goals. We believe in best-in-class, are outcomes-focused and solutions-led. That shows up in the way we communicate:

  • We are succinct and clear — we get straight to the point.
  • We use active, not passive, language e.g. Hongkong Land built Exchange Square instead of Exchange Square was built by Hongkong Land.
  • We avoid ambiguity and generalisations. We look to be specific and point to our areas of expertise.
  • We avoid using jargon or acronyms. These obscure the clarity of what we’re trying to convey. Where we do need to use complex terminology, we follow it with a straightforward definition.
  • We don’t overload our text with lots of adjectives and adverbs.
  • We seek to include the valuable impact of what we are doing, how it will affect the end user, beneficiary or wider community — not just our business.
  • We focus on creating and maintaining premium properties in our work, and this is reflected in how we express ourselves. In practice, this means we closely follow the brand guidelines and review our materials to ensure they are well-written.

For example, we start a sentence with… ‘We are investing in a programme that will deliver…’ instead of ‘Hongkong Land is pleased to announce that soon a new programme will commence where we will be…

Be trustworthy

We are a responsible business, that knows success is achieved as a result of partnership and collaboration. We care for all of our communities, tenants, and the people we employ and serve. We can emphasise this in our tone of voice:

  • We speak like an equal partner, making sure to be respectful and inclusive.
  • We are industry experts, but we do not assume the audience has prior knowledge, nor do we patronise. Our explanations make sure what we are doing and why we are doing it is easy to understand.
  • We are human in the way we write, we speak directly to our audience, use natural, everyday language and are plain speaking.
  • We speak about ‘we’ and ‘our team’, and not in the third person.
  • We look for chances to highlight collaboration and collective co-operation, giving credit to our people, tenants, partners.
  • We are genuine and credible. When we talk about commitments and targets, we also include examples of action and current progress. We don’t make claims we can’t back up, and we consider where absolute statements can be disputed.
  • We remember we are a multi-market business often speaking to and wanting to earn the trust of global audiences. We look for chances to reference the breadth of our portfolio.
  • We take the time to ensure accuracy. We always take the time to check our communications before we issue them, especially when we have translated them to make sure the nuance, true meaning and correct tone remains.
  • We uphold the highest standards when it comes to data privacy and confidentiality.

For example we avoid simply stating ‘Hongkong Land has achieved outstanding corporate results’ and add in inclusive language and examples; ‘Our team’s hard work means we’ve achieved [specific outcomes].’

Be uplifting

We are excited about our potential to unlock value for future generations through our properties and our work. Our long-term thinking and ambition can be seen in our communications:

  • We are focused on ultra-premium properties and create experience-led city centres that last. We often refer to the experience in our choice of words. We speak to the value of our placemaking — how these city centres become a long-term source of connection and inspiration.
  • We are positive and enthusiastic (as often as appropriate). Demonstrating this through language can make us more appealing and approachable.
  • We are forward-looking. When we refer to our heritage, history and legacy we connect it to how it is underpinning what we are going to do next.
  • We show, not tell. We demonstrate our leadership and pride through examples and evidence. We do not use boastful language or embellish.
  • We seek out stories of innovation, being first-movers and pioneers in our work and behaviour at Hongkong Land, to build anticipation for future innovations we will lead.

For example, we connect who we have been with who we will be: ‘Westbund Central is the epitome of how Hongkong Land makes investments that define city-centres. It will create spaces for connection and inspiration for generations to come, as we have done for more than a century in Hong Kong.’

General best practice

  • Clear and easy to understand communications are the best received and retained. Be as natural as possible.
  • Remember who you are speaking to. Always think of how it will be read or heard by your audience as you consider what you want to say and do not assume they have prior knowledge.
  • Consider how you can make your content more digestible. The way you structure is important — your most important message should come early on, not at the end.
  • Signposting, headings and bullet points can help you communicate with clarity.
  • In written communications varying your sentence length can help keep your communications engaging, but avoid overly long sentences!
  • Avoid information overload. Data can be useful for evidence, but always be selective and explain why it is relevant.
  • Simplicity is even more important in digital writing, where there is a high volume of competition for attention. Consider using words your audience might search for e.g. via Google. You should only have one ask of your audience. In social media, avoid having too much ‘linked’ text, such as using more than three hashtags in a single post.

English writing style

  • Use British English spelling, for example:
  • Recognise (not recognize) or organise (not organize)
  • Organiser (not organisor)
  • Centre (not center)
  • Programme (not program)
  • Colour (not color)
  • Metres (not meters)
  • Dates should appear in the sequence of day/month/year, with the date number and no suffixes on the number, for example, 8 July 2025 – not 8th July 2025.
  • Must always put “$” in front of money amounts such as HK$, US$ or S$ and make it clear as to what currency i.e. HK, US or RMB. No full stops. Spell out HK$XXX million or billion.
  • am and pm should have no full stops and there should be no space between the numerals and letters, i.e. 2am, 4pm, 7:45pm.
  • Spell out numbers up to nine, use numerals for numbers over nine (10) and for dates, addresses and prices. Exception here is if the sentence starts with a number e.g. Nine years after the founding of the Company.
  • Use sq. ft (no full stop after ft) for square feet; sq. m. (full stop after m) for square metres.
  • Use full stops after or between these notations: e.g., etc., and i.e.
  • When “the Company” means Hongkong Land, have an upper case c.
  • Southeast Asia (not South East Asia).
  • Leave one space after a full stop (period), i.e. between two sentences.
  • Avoid using block capitals for large amounts of text as it is quite hard to read. As a main principle, use initial capitals (each word begins with a capital letter) for: Hongkong Land (the Company), people’s names, titles, departments, job titles, buildings, cities, countries, organisations and brand names.
  • For titles aim to use sentence-case capitalisation in general, instead of capitalising most words. For example, “Experience is central”, not “Experience is Central”.

Chinese writing style

For Chinese writing style and glossary, please click this button to learn more.

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