white woman peeping over the top of a metal post whistling. She's wearing an orangey lipstick and her fringe looks in need of a quick brush.

I’m at the age in my millennial life where a wander round a garden centre gets me all excited.

Little look at the plants, maybe spot a gift for someone and grab a brew and a piece of cake in the recently refurbished cafe before heading home. What’s not to like?

If the kids are with me, we’ll have a mooch around the toy bit too. And it’s a hotbed of copywriting opportunity, let me tell you.

I have a bit of a thing about reading packaging copy and then checking out the website and socials of brands that have a fun, happy vibe. And here’s what I’ve noticed...

When playful products meet boring brand voice

white woman leaning on a tree with her arm and leg out in a star shape and a goofy grin on her face. She's wearing jeans and a leopard print tshirt

There are loads of playful brands – not just toys and products aimed at children, but quirky and playful brands aimed at adults too – who are missing a trick with their copy. Is yours one of them?

You put all that effort into researching & developing a product, safety & compliance testing, packaging design – and then you use copy that sounds like it was written by committee in a beige meeting room.

Your brand is competing with gazillions of other CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands, so this is a huge lost opportunity to make a playful connection with your customers through language – as well as boost your bottom line.

What a ‘fun’ brand voice really means

Here’s the thing: Fun copy doesn’t mean forcing jokes into every sentence or trying too hard to be quirky. A fun brand voice can be:

Light-hearted
Confident
Warm
Self-aware

It’s about tone, not having a laugh for the sake of it – you want to sound like a real brand with a real personality.

And fun copy still needs structure, clarity and purpose. If people don’t understand what you do, it doesn’t matter how much you make them laugh.

Why your playful brand needs a playful tone of voice

white woman wearing a white shirt holds up a leaf. The leaf is in focus and her face is blurred out, but you can still tell she's making a happy, goofy face

People make emotional decisions when they buy from playful brands. They aren’t just buying a toy, a game or a joyful little object – they’re buying a feeling.

Anticipation. Delight. Nostalgia.

A break from the serious stuff.

So if the words you use to promote your product feel flat, corporate or overly cautious, if you play it safe, their expectations plummet.

You lose a sale. You lose money – all because you didn’t try hard enough to tap into their emotions.

Brands that get it right

Think about your favourite fun brands. M&Ms, Ben & Jerry’s, Mailchimp, Budweiser, Skittles...

The best playful brands don’t just look fun – they sound fun too. Their copy mirrors the way people experience the product:

Confident without being too try-hard
Playful without being chaotic
Clear without being a massive yawn-fest

And they’re consistent. Website, packaging, socials, emails – they all sound like they came from the same brain. They’re personality-led and they aren’t cutting corners.

The risk of playing it safe with your brand voice

No-one remembers safe copy. When you worry too much about rocking the boat, you end up sounding like everyone else. The result?

Nothing controversial. Nothing interesting. Nothing that sticks.

Your playful brand doesn’t need to appeal to everyone. It needs to really resonate with the right people, which ain’t gonna happen with the safe, familiar words we’ve all heard before.

How to create a playful brand voice without losing clarity

Playfulness works best when it’s intentional – not scattered around at random. The sweet spot is where personality and precision collide. You can make this happen by:

Using simple, confident language
Writing headlines that do some of the heavy lifting
Adding warmth through your microcopy and CTAs
Saying less, but saying it well
Dialing up your playful tone (and toning it down)

Not every piece of copy needs the same energy, right? Sometimes we dial it up. Sometimes we tone it down. Knowing when to rein it in is part of a strong brand voice too.

FAQs, checkout flows, and important info still need trust and clarity – but there’s no need to suck all the personality out of them. Great fun brands get the balance just right.

A quick gut-check

Be really honest with yourself when you read your copy. Ask yourself:

Does our copy sound like our product feels?
Is this all a bit generic? – Would someone recognise our brand without the logo?
Are we enticing people – or just explaining what we do?

If the answer feels a bit meh, your words might need more work.

These are the kinds of questions I ask every day for brands like yours. Click below to find out more.

Why your brand voice should be as fun as your product