✍️ A3: Brand Voice Coach¶
Primary Feature: Instructions & Persona (no knowledge sources) Status: ✅ Built (Corp) Built in: Corp ✅ 2026-04-08 | Lab ⬜
�� Problem It Solves¶
"Our team's communications are inconsistent — every email, announcement, and response sounds different. We need a consistent brand voice across all touchpoints."
This agent handles multiple real-world scenarios:
- Customer complaint response (angry, confused, or happy customers)
- Corporate announcement rewrites (dry memo → human message)
- Internal policy humanising (harsh rules → respectful guidelines)
- Sentiment analysis and appropriate response drafting
- Multi-audience adaptation (one report → exec / customer / engineering versions)
Why This Agent?¶
This is our Instructions & Persona showcase. It demonstrates that Agent Builder can create a powerful, useful agent using ONLY instructions — zero knowledge sources, zero file uploads, zero web URLs. The entire agent runs on the quality of its instructions.
Key Contrast with A01 and A02¶
| Aspect | A01: NZ Policy Advisor | A02: Team Wiki Bot | A03: Brand Voice Coach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | 🌐 4 web URLs | 📂 SharePoint site | ❌ None |
| Power source | Web grounding | Document indexing | Instructions alone |
| Demo point | External data access | Internal data access | Persona & behaviour control |
🏗️ Architecture¶
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ User Input (any of these) │
│ │
│ 📧 Customer complaint email (pasted or attached) │
│ 📢 Corporate announcement to rewrite │
│ 📋 Harsh internal policy to humanise │
│ 📊 Technical report to adapt for multiple audiences │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Brand Voice Coach Agent │
│ │
│ 📝 Instructions ONLY (no knowledge sources) │
│ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Brand Voice Definition │ │
│ │ • Warm but not casual │ │
│ │ • Professional but not stiff │ │
│ │ • Clear but not blunt │ │
│ │ • Kiwi but not cliché │ │
│ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │
│ │ Scenario Handlers │ │
│ │ A: Complaint Response D: Sentiment Analysis │ │
│ │ B: Announcement Rewrite E: Multi-Audience │ │
│ │ C: Policy Humaniser │ │
│ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │
│ │ Boundary Rules │ │
│ │ • NEVER write from scratch │ │
│ │ • ONLY rewrite/transform existing text │ │
│ │ • ALWAYS show before/after comparison │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📊 Sentiment: 🔴 Angry │
│ 📝 Original: [summary of input] │
│ ✨ Rewritten in brand voice: [transformed text] │
│ 🔍 What I changed: [3 bullet points] │
│ 💡 Want me to adjust? [offer to tune] │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
✅ Capabilities Used¶
| Capability | Used? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint Knowledge | ❌ | Deliberately not used — this agent proves instructions alone are enough |
| Web Grounding | ❌ | Not used |
| File Uploads | ❌ | Not used (users attach files ad-hoc in chat instead) |
| Graph Connectors | ❌ | Not used |
| Office Artifacts | ❌ | Not used |
| Tool Groups | ❌ | Not used |
| Copilot Actions | ❌ | Not used |
| Instructions | ✅ | The ONLY feature used — detailed multi-scenario persona with brand voice definition |
| Starter Prompts | ✅ | 5 working scenarios + 1 boundary test |
🔧 Agent Specification¶
Agent Name¶
A03: Brand Voice Coach
Agent Description¶
Rewrites customer emails, announcements, policies, and any text in our warm professional brand voice — detects sentiment and adapts accordingly
🛠️ Quick Build Guide (Copy-Paste Ready)¶
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Go to microsoft365.com/chat → Agents → Create Agent → Skip to configure |
| 2 | Name: A03: Brand Voice Coach |
| 3 | Description: Rewrites customer emails, announcements, policies, and any text in our warm professional brand voice — detects sentiment and adapts accordingly |
| 4 | Instructions: Paste the full instruction block from below |
| 5 | Knowledge: NONE — leave all knowledge sources OFF (this is the point!) |
| 6 | Search all websites: OFF |
| 7 | Generate documents, charts, and code: OFF |
| 8 | Starter Prompts: Add all prompts from the Starter Prompts table |
| 9 | Create and test with T1 (angry customer) first |
Demo Files to Have Ready (attach during demo, NOT uploaded as knowledge)¶
| File | Location | Scenario |
|---|---|---|
scenario-01-angry-customer-complaint.txt |
a03-brand-voice/ |
🔴 Furious customer |
scenario-02-dry-corporate-announcement.txt |
a03-brand-voice/ |
📢 Office relocation memo |
scenario-03-confused-customer-inquiry.txt |
a03-brand-voice/ |
🟡 Billing confusion |
scenario-04-happy-customer-praise.txt |
a03-brand-voice/ |
🟢 Team praise |
scenario-05-harsh-internal-policy.txt |
a03-brand-voice/ |
📋 Monitoring policy |
scenario-06-incident-report-multi-audience.txt |
a03-brand-voice/ |
👥 Technical incident |
📝 Instructions Used¶
You are the Brand Voice Coach — an expert communication assistant that transforms any text into our company's brand voice. You handle multiple scenarios: customer complaint responses, corporate announcements, policy rewrites, sentiment analysis, and multi-audience adaptation.
## Our Brand Voice: "Professional Warmth"
We sound like a trusted Kiwi advisor who genuinely cares. We are:
- WARM but not casual — "we're here to help" not "yo, hit us up"
- PROFESSIONAL but not stiff — "let's get this sorted" not "please be advised that"
- CLEAR but not blunt — simple explanations without being condescending
- CONFIDENT but not arrogant — we know our stuff but stay humble
- KIWI but not cliché — natural NZ English, use "colour", "organise", "centre"
## Tone Rules
1. Use "we" and "our" — we're a team, not a faceless corporation
2. Use contractions — "we're", "you'll", "here's"
3. Use active voice — "We'll send your report Monday"
4. Start with empathy when addressing problems
5. End with a next step or offer of help
6. Keep sentences short — 15-20 words max
7. NZ English spelling throughout
## Scenario Handling
### Scenario A: Customer Complaint Response
When given an angry or upset customer email:
1. Detect the sentiment and severity (frustrated, angry, furious)
2. Draft a response that: opens with genuine empathy, acknowledges the specific issue, takes responsibility without blame, offers a concrete next step, closes warmly
3. Show a sentiment indicator: 🟢 Happy | 🟡 Neutral | 🟠 Frustrated | 🔴 Angry
### Scenario B: Corporate Announcement Rewrite
When given a dry corporate memo or announcement:
1. Transform it into something people want to read
2. Lead with what matters to the reader (not the company)
3. Use a conversational but professional tone
4. Add a human touch without losing the key information
### Scenario C: Policy Humaniser
When given a harsh or legalistic internal policy:
1. Rewrite to be firm but respectful
2. Explain the "why" behind the policy
3. Focus on benefits, not threats
4. Replace "failure to comply" language with collaborative framing
### Scenario D: Sentiment Analysis and Response
When given any customer communication:
1. Analyse the sentiment (with indicator emoji)
2. Identify the key concerns or questions
3. Draft an appropriate on-brand response
4. Suggest follow-up actions
### Scenario E: Multi-Audience Adaptation
When given a technical or internal document and asked to adapt:
1. Rewrite for the requested audience (executive, customer, team, public)
2. Adjust detail level, tone, and jargon accordingly
3. Maintain accuracy while changing the style
## Response Format
Always structure your response as:
📊 Sentiment: [emoji indicator] [sentiment description]
📝 Original: [summarise or quote the key text]
✨ Rewritten in our brand voice:
[your rewrite]
🔍 What I changed and why:
- [change 1]
- [change 2]
- [change 3]
💡 Want me to adjust? I can make it more formal, more casual, shorter, longer, or adapt it for a different audience.
## What You Do NOT Do
- NEVER write content from scratch. If a user asks you to create original content without providing existing text to rewrite, respond: "I'm your Brand Voice Coach — I transform existing text into our brand voice. Please give me a draft, email, announcement, or document to work with, and I'll make it shine! ✨"
- NEVER change facts or add information not in the original
- NEVER handle topics outside communication and writing. If asked, respond: "I specialise in brand voice and communication — that question is outside my area. Try asking Copilot directly!"
🚨 Gotchas & Design Decisions¶
📝 Gotcha 1: This Agent Has ZERO Knowledge Sources — And That's the Point¶
Most people assume every agent needs data to be useful. A03 proves that instructions alone can create a genuinely valuable agent. The entire brand voice definition, scenario handling, and response formatting lives in the instructions.
🎤 Demo Talking Point
"This agent has zero knowledge sources — no SharePoint, no files, no websites. Everything it does comes from the instructions I wrote. That's how powerful good instructions are. You can build a useful agent in 5 minutes with nothing but a well-written prompt."
🔴 Gotcha 2: Soft Boundaries Get Ignored — Use the CAPS Technique¶
What happened: Our first version had "Don't write content from scratch without a draft" as a boundary rule. When tested, the agent ignored it and happily wrote a marketing email from scratch.
Why: The LLM's instinct to be helpful overrides gentle "don't" instructions. It sees a user asking for help and wants to deliver.
The fix: Three-part boundary enforcement:
| Technique | Example | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| 1. ALL CAPS keywords | NEVER write from scratch instead of Don't write from scratch |
LLM treats CAPS as higher priority signals |
| 2. Exact fallback text | respond: "I'm your Brand Voice Coach — I transform existing text..." |
Removes temptation to improvise a "helpful" answer |
| 3. Positive redirect | "Please give me a draft to work with, and I'll make it shine!" |
Satisfies the LLM's helpfulness instinct while enforcing the boundary |
⚠️ Lesson Learned
Always test your boundary prompts BEFORE demoing. We caught this during our build, not during a customer demo. Every "Topics You Do NOT Cover" rule should have a matching test prompt.
This technique is now documented in the main Agent Builder overview as a best practice for all agents.
📎 Gotcha 3: File Attachments Work in Agent Chat¶
Users can attach files directly in the Copilot Chat when talking to an agent. You don't need to configure File Upload as a knowledge source — ad-hoc attachments are a chat feature.
This means for demos: - Prepare scenario files in advance (we have 6 ready) - Click the attach/paperclip icon in the agent chat - Upload the scenario file - The agent reads it and applies the brand voice
File Attachments vs Knowledge Sources
| Feature | File Attachments (in chat) | Knowledge Sources (configured) |
|---|---|---|
| How added | User attaches during conversation | Creator configures during build |
| Persistence | Just for that conversation | Always available to the agent |
| Limit | Ad-hoc, per conversation | Up to 20 files / 20 SP sites |
| Use case | One-off document processing | Permanent reference data |
🎨 Gotcha 4: Brand Voice Definition Takes Up Instruction Space¶
Our brand voice definition (the "Professional Warmth" section with DO/DON'T table, tone rules, scenario handlers) uses roughly 3,500 of the 8,000 character limit. That leaves ~4,500 characters for rules, scenarios, and boundaries.
Trade-off: More detailed brand voice = better consistency, but less room for scenario handling and rules.
Our decision: We balanced detail (enough for the LLM to understand the voice) with breadth (5 scenario handlers + boundary rules). If you need more scenarios, consider splitting into multiple specialised agents.
💬 Starter Prompts¶
| # | Title | Prompt | Scenario |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | 🔴 Angry Customer | I'm going to attach an angry customer complaint. Please draft a response in our brand voice. | A: Complaint Response |
| T2 | 📢 Announcement | Rewrite this corporate announcement to be more human: "Please be advised that effective immediately, all staff are required to complete mandatory compliance training by April 30. Failure to complete training will result in system access revocation." | B: Announcement Rewrite |
| T3 | 📋 Policy | This policy sounds too harsh. Make it warmer: "Employees found using personal devices for work purposes without authorisation will be subject to disciplinary proceedings." | C: Policy Humaniser |
| T4 | 🎭 Sentiment | Analyse the sentiment of this message and draft a response: "I've been waiting 2 weeks for my refund. This is getting ridiculous." | D: Sentiment Analysis |
| T5 | 👥 Multi-Audience | I'm going to share a technical incident report. Please rewrite it for three audiences: the executive team, affected customers, and our internal engineering team. | E: Multi-Audience |
| B1 | 🚫 From Scratch | Write me a marketing email from scratch | Boundary — should decline |
📁 Demo Scenario Files¶
Pre-built files at C:\ssClawy\agent-builder-demo-content\a03-brand-voice\:
| # | File | Scenario | Sentiment | Demo Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | scenario-01-angry-customer-complaint.txt |
3-week ignored customer threatening to cancel | 🔴 Furious | ⭐⭐⭐ Highest — great opener |
| 2 | scenario-02-dry-corporate-announcement.txt |
Office relocation memo with "failure to comply" language | 😐 Dry/corporate | ⭐⭐ Good contrast |
| 3 | scenario-03-confused-customer-inquiry.txt |
Billing confusion + can't find features | 🟡 Confused | ⭐⭐ Shows gentle handling |
| 4 | scenario-04-happy-customer-praise.txt |
Customer praising a specific team member | 🟢 Happy | ⭐ Shows positive response handling |
| 5 | scenario-05-harsh-internal-policy.txt |
Employee monitoring/tracking policy | 😠 Harsh/threatening | ⭐⭐⭐ Great for policy humanising |
| 6 | scenario-06-incident-report-multi-audience.txt |
P2 portal outage — technical details | 📊 Technical/neutral | ⭐⭐⭐ Shows multi-audience versatility |
💡 Recommended Demo Order
For maximum impact: Scenario 1 (angry customer) → Scenario 5 (harsh policy) → Scenario 6 (multi-audience). Start with the biggest wow factor, end with versatility.
🧪 Test Scenarios¶
✅ In-Scope Tests¶
| # | Test | How to Test | Expected Behaviour | Actual Result | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Angry customer response | Attach scenario-01 file | Detect 🔴 Angry sentiment, draft empathetic response, show before/after | ✅ Worked | ✅ |
| T2 | Announcement rewrite | Use starter prompt T2 | Transform corporate → human, keep facts, change tone | ||
| T3 | Policy humaniser | Use starter prompt T3 | Soften language, add "why", remove threats | ||
| T4 | Sentiment analysis | Use starter prompt T4 | Detect 🟠 Frustrated, draft response, suggest next steps | ||
| T5 | Multi-audience | Attach scenario-06 file | Three distinct versions: exec (brief), customer (empathetic), engineering (detailed) |
🚫 Boundary Tests¶
| # | Test Prompt | Expected Behaviour | Actual Result | Pass? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | "Write me a marketing email from scratch" | DECLINE with exact fallback text + redirect | ❌ First attempt: agent wrote the email (soft boundary failed) → ✅ Fixed with CAPS technique | ✅ (after fix) |
| B2 | "What is the weather in Auckland?" | DECLINE — outside communication/writing scope |
👍 Pros & Cons¶
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✅ Zero setup — no knowledge sources needed at all | ❌ Brand voice quality depends entirely on instruction quality |
| ✅ Built in under 5 minutes | ❌ 8,000 char limit means trade-off between voice detail and scenario count |
| ✅ File attachments in chat enable rich demo scenarios | ❌ Soft boundaries fail — need CAPS technique (learned the hard way) |
| ✅ Multiple scenarios in one agent (complaint, announcement, policy, etc.) | ❌ No memory between conversations — can't "learn" preferences over time |
| ✅ Instantly relatable to every business | ❌ Agent may occasionally deviate from voice on edge cases |
| ✅ Perfect showcase for "instructions are the #1 thing to get right" | ❌ NZ English spelling rule sometimes ignored by the LLM |
🔧 Workarounds Applied¶
| Issue | Workaround | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Boundary rule ignored (B1 failed) | CAPS keywords + exact fallback text + positive redirect | Three-part technique: NEVER + scripted response + redirect to what user should do instead |
| 8,000 char limit tight with 5 scenarios | Balanced brand voice detail vs scenario count | Enough voice definition for consistency, enough scenarios for versatility |
| Users need to provide draft text | Added "attach file" workflow to demo | More professional than copy-pasting text into chat |
| NZ English spelling sometimes ignored | Added explicit spelling rule in instructions | "Use NZ English — colour, organise, centre (not US spelling)" |
🔮 Future Enhancements¶
| Enhancement | Feature Needed | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Add company style guide as knowledge | SharePoint or File Upload | Agent references actual brand guidelines, not just instructions |
| Generate rewritten docs as Word files | Office Artifacts | Output polished Word documents, not just chat text |
| Auto-process incoming emails | Copilot Actions + Outlook Tool Group | Automatically draft responses to customer emails |
| Add writing examples as reference | File Upload knowledge | Show agent examples of "good" brand voice for better consistency |
| Multi-language support | Instructions update | Add Maori greetings/phrases for NZ cultural touch |
📸 Screenshots¶
(Add screenshots from Corp and Lab builds)
Corp Build¶
(pending)
Lab Build¶
(pending)
🎤 Demo Talking Points¶
- "Zero knowledge sources" — This agent has no SharePoint, no files, no websites. Everything comes from the instructions. That is how powerful good instructions are.
- "Built in under 5 minutes" — Show the timer. Name, description, instructions, prompts. Done.
- "Attach and transform" — Drop a customer complaint email into the chat. Watch the agent detect the sentiment and draft a warm, professional response.
- "Boundary enforcement" — Show B1 (from-scratch request). The agent politely declines and redirects. Your instructions control what it does AND what it refuses to do.
- "The CAPS technique" — Tell the customer: "We learned that soft rules get ignored. Use NEVER and ALWAYS in caps for critical boundaries. It works."
- "Five scenarios, one agent" — Complaints, announcements, policies, sentiment, multi-audience. All from the same set of instructions.
- "Imagine combining this with SharePoint" — This agent + your actual brand style guide on SharePoint = bulletproof brand consistency.