mpm-brand-voice-plugin/settings/brand-voice.local.md

---
# Brand Voice Plugin Settings for Message Point Media (MPM)
company_name: "Message Point Media"
platforms:
  google-drive: true
discovery:
  search-depth: standard
  max-sources: 15
enforcement:
  strictness: balanced
  always-explain: true
---
# Brand Context

## Company Name
Message Point Media (MPM)

## About
Message Point Media is a Birmingham, AL-based digital signage and visual communications company. MPM delivers compelling, affordable, dynamic messaging through cloud-based digital signage platforms, managed hardware, and subscription support services.

**Primary Tagline:** Compelling… Affordable… Dynamic… Messaging… – It's What We Do!
**Aspirational Tagline:** Born to Innovate. Built to Last. (thought leadership / brand-forward contexts only)
**Websites:** mpmedia.tv | portal.mpmedia.tv

## Industries Served
- Public Transportation (transit agencies, bus systems, rail)
- Municipal Government
- Hospitality
- Retail
- Corporate Communications

## Key Clients / Partners
- Vontas, OnSign TV, Avail Technologies, Galli Media
- CTTransit, Pace Suburban Bus, Birmingham City Council, Greyhound

## Core Products & Services
- **MP.TV CMS** — Cloud-based, device-agnostic content management system
- **On-Vehicle Passenger Information Displays** — LCD, LED, e-paper for buses, trams, rail; includes MR rail-certified family
- **Digital Signage Hardware** — Interior and exterior fixed displays; solar-powered and e-paper options
- **Subscription Support Plans** — 24/7 support; subscription-based (not contract-based)
- **MessagePoint.Web** — WordPress site management
- **MessagePoint.Social** — Social media strategy and management

## Voice Characteristics

### We Are / We Are Not
| We Are | We Are Not |
|--------|------------|
| Expert guides | Know-it-all lecturers |
| Empowering | Paternalistic |
| Precise and purposeful | Vague or buzzword-heavy |
| Practical and outcome-focused | Feature-list driven |
| Mission-driven (equity, access) | Performatively compliant |
| Confident and direct | Boastful or overselling |
| Educational | Condescending |
| Partner-oriented | Transactional |
| Approachable | Informal or sloppy |

### Voice Constants (always consistent)
- Lead with passenger/rider outcomes, not product features
- Frame MPM as an expert partner, not just a vendor
- Acknowledge complexity; then show mastery of it
- Equity and accessibility are core values, not afterthoughts
- Practical examples over abstract claims — show how, not just what

### Guiding Philosophies (from MPower 2025 Keynote)
- **What We Do Matters** — Transit communications directly impact people's lives and access
- **MPM Doesn't Quit** — Persistence and reliability; we see problems through to resolution
- **Incremental Improvement** — "1% better every day"
- **The Power of Software** — Software-defined flexibility is MPM's core competitive advantage
- **Never Stop Innovating** — "The moment you stop innovating, you start falling behind"
- **Partner, Adapt, and Only Then Build** — Integrate first; build only what the market truly lacks
- **Simplicity Without Sacrifice / Own the Complexity** — "First try to make it simple for the customer. If you can't, then we own the complexity."

### Tone Flexes by Context
| Context | Formality | Energy | Technical Depth |
|---------|-----------|--------|-----------------|
| Sales proposal | High | Medium | Medium |
| Transit agency pitch | High | Medium | High |
| Email to existing client | Medium | Medium | Medium-High |
| Conference/event content | Medium | High | Medium |
| Social media | Low-Medium | High | Low |
| Technical support content | High | Low | Very High |
| Marketing one-pagers | Medium | Medium-High | Low |
| Keynote / thought leadership | Medium | High | Low-Medium |
| Technical deep-dive / training | High | Medium | Very High |
| Hardware/maintenance documentation | High | Low | Very High |

### Audience Personas

**Transit Agency Leadership / Operations**
- Pain: missed communication, poor rider experience, lost revenue, compliance exposure
- Message focus: reliability, efficiency, reduced staff burden, passenger satisfaction, cost optimization

**Technical / IT Staff**
- Pain: fragmented data sources, complex integration, downtime management, hardware diagnosis
- Message focus: deep logging, remote management, self-contained displays, native API support, open standards

**Support & Maintenance / Field Engineers**
- Pain: hardware breakdowns, complex troubleshooting, limited diagnostic visibility
- Message focus: deep-dive expertise, practical tools, COTS alternatives, preventative maintenance

**Content / Communications Teams**
- Pain: time constraints, consistency demands, design limitations
- Message focus: composition templates, automation, easy content creation, audience psychology

**Accessibility / Compliance Officers**
- Pain: bare minimum compliance, design constraints, multi-modal coordination
- Message focus: "Accessibility improves communication for everyone," ADA as design principle

**System Integrators & Resellers**
- Pain: complex vendor coordination, integration friction
- Message focus: open architecture, partner model, seamless integration

### Messaging Pillars
1. **Precision & Control** — "The right message at the right moment." Publishing rules, triggers, scheduling, and variables give operators surgical control.
2. **Equity & Accessibility** — "Not settling for bare compliance." ADA and inclusive design improve communication for all passengers. Key framing: "ADA compliance and marketing can co-exist on shared display space."
3. **Revenue Generation** — Passenger displays are revenue opportunities. Programmatic and direct advertising, proof of play.
4. **Open Integration** — Moving away from closed proprietary systems toward open standard IP protocols. Native API support for Avail, Vontas, Tripspark, Novus; GTFS-RT and ITxPT standards.
5. **Data-Driven Operations** — "Better Information = Smoother Rides + Happier Passengers + New Revenue."
6. **Partnership Model** — Long-term managed service relationships. "Partner, Adapt, and Only Then Build."
7. **Simplicity Without Sacrifice** — MPM owns the complexity so customers don't have to.
8. **Operational Resilience** — 24x7x365 reliability. Pre-staged emergency content, proactive monitoring, predictive maintenance.
9. **Multi-Technology Deployment** — LED, LCD, E-Paper — layered strategies optimized for distance, context, and audience.
10. **Audio-Visual Convergence** — Synchronized audio and visual messaging as core accessibility strategy. Standalone AVA extends accessibility to vehicles without onboard controllers.
11. **Incremental Innovation** — Transparent roadmap. "1% better every day." 2025 launches: RDMC 1.0, 3rd-Gen E-Ink, Standalone AVA, Signage Plugin Architecture.

### Core Brand Phrases
- "Simplicity without sacrifice"
- "We own the complexity"
- "Partner, adapt, and only then build"
- "Accessibility improves communication for everyone"
- "1% better every day"
- "The right message at the right moment"
- "Better Information = Smoother Rides + Happier Passengers + New Revenue"
- "Born to Innovate. Built to Last." (aspirational/thought leadership only)

### Prohibited or Weak Language
- Avoid: "cutting-edge," "best-in-class," "revolutionary" without specific evidence
- Avoid passive voice in headlines and CTAs
- Never frame ADA as a burden or checkbox — always as a design principle
- Avoid reactive/firefighting language — reframe as proactive management
- Avoid language implying a closed ecosystem

### Conference-Theme Language (NOT standard brand voice)
MPower Velocity 2025 used motorsports metaphors tied to Barber Motorsports Park — not standard MPM brand:
- "Racing for Equality" → use "Advancing Accessibility"
- "Fast Track to Clarity" → use "Accelerate" or "Streamline"
- "Rev Up Your Remote Management" → use "Activate" or "Enable"
- "Under the Hood" → acceptable idiom in support/technical contexts

## Brand Visual Identity

### Primary Colors (Gold Palette)
- **Middle Gold** — Hex: #DCBB4F | Default color; use whenever possible
- **Light Gold** — Hex: #F5CD15 | Against dark backgrounds
- **Dark Gold** — Hex: #998643 | Light backgrounds or document titles

### Secondary Colors
- **Dark Shade** — Hex: #232022 | Primary dark background, body text on light
- **Light Shade** — Hex: #F5F1EC | Light background, text on dark
- **Light Accent** — Hex: #849698 | Supporting text, secondary elements
- **Dark Accent** — Hex: #A42D20 | Alerts, emphasis, CTAs (use sparingly)
- **Navy** — Hex: #282637 | Alternative dark background

### Typography
- **Headlines/Titles:** Montserrat (multiple weights) — fonts.google.com/specimen/Montserrat
- **Body Text:** Open Sans — fonts.google.com/specimen/Open+Sans
- Both in Google Drive: 02 MPM Branding > Fonts folder

### Logo System
**Authoritative source:** drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xpO_sh0dQvWiMQbdmbhRZARuev4RpZiL

**Primary logos:**
- `Logo Standard-Dark.png/.svg` — **DEFAULT.** Gold + dark text. Use on light backgrounds.
- `Logo-Gold-White.png/.svg` — Gold + white text. Use on dark backgrounds.
- `Logo-Black-Text.png/.svg` — Black outline. Use for single-color black printing.

**App icons / social avatars:**
- `LOGO-Gradient-BG@4x.png` — Square gold-gradient background (sharp edges)
- `LOGO-GradientRC-BG@4x.png` — Rounded-corner gold-gradient (app icon safe)

**Transit sub-brands:** MPM-Transitpoint, Logo Transit, Logo-Transit-Mobile, Logo-Transit-Smart Stop, Logo-Transit-Solar (all in Dark/Light variants)

**Logo rules:**
1. Never place dark-text logo on dark background
2. SVG for print/large-format; PNG for digital
3. Do not stretch, rotate, recolor, or add effects
4. Maintain clear space equal to the height of the "M" icon on all sides

## Product & Technology Terminology

### Software Platforms
- **MP.TV CMS** — Core cloud-based, device-agnostic CMS (underlying platform: OnSign)
- **RDMC** — Remote Display Management Console. v1.0 launched 2025; v1.5 previewed 2026
- **Composition Tool** — OnSign's content template system
- **Standalone AVA** — Automatic Voice Announcement for vehicles without onboard controllers (launched 2025)
- **Knowledge Base 1.0** — Self-service support resource (launched 2025)

### Hardware Product Lines
**Mobile / On-Vehicle:** Superwide, 27"/24" Vertical, 24" Horizontal, 28" Ultrawide, 16"/18" Mini, Small Format Mobile
**Rail-Certified (MR Series, launching 2026):** MR27, MR16 — EN/IEC rail certified
**Wayside / Fixed:** Full Matrix Color LED, High Brightness LCD, Reflective LCD, E-Paper/E-Ink (3rd Gen 2025; Color E-Paper LCD 2026)

### Key Technical Standards
- **GTFS-RT** — Google Transit Feed Specification (Real Time)
- **ITxPT** — Intelligent Transport Systems Partnership for Transformation
- **CAD/AVL** — Computer-Aided Dispatch / Automatic Vehicle Location
- **Native API integrations** — Avail, Vontas, Tripspark, Novus — always "native," never "wrapper"
- **DAAS** — Dynamic Automatic Assignment System

### Key Feature Names (use exactly)
- Publishing rules, triggers, restrictions
- Dynamic zone control
- Composition templates
- Visual snapshot history, Mosaic Monitoring, Time Machine, Advanced Alerting
- Dynamic Automatic Assignment System (DAAS)

## Known Brand Materials in Google Drive
- **Design Guide:** drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-H19hqC6HUX_3FjjrRVAoimg688CldrC
- **MPM Logos:** drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xpO_sh0dQvWiMQbdmbhRZARuev4RpZiL
- **02 MPM Branding:** drive.google.com/drive/folders/17COyiMNZuvB7IigbFk5RyLAc_2yIL-fv

## MPower Velocity 2025 Conference Context
MPM hosted its inaugural user conference (October 20–22, 2025) at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Leeds, AL. Conference content is highly representative of MPM's brand voice and thought leadership style.

**Key tagline output:** "Born to Innovate. Built to Last." — use in brand-forward / thought leadership contexts only.

**Confirmed authentic MPM brand themes:**
- Precision content timing and publishing control
- ADA compliance framed as equity ("Accessibility improves communication for everyone")
- Advertising revenue integration in transit displays
- Open standard IP protocols replacing proprietary systems
- "Simplicity without sacrifice" — owning complexity for customers
- Audio-visual convergence as accessibility strategy
- Proactive/preventative maintenance and remote monitoring
- Transparent product roadmap and incremental improvement

## Competitive Differentiation
- Subscription-based support (rare in digital signage)
- Cloud-based, device-agnostic platform
- Boutique alternative to large enterprise vendors — hands-on, relationship-driven
- Deep transit industry specialization with on-vehicle display expertise
- Mission alignment with public-sector values (equity, accessibility, community)