A brand-language studio in Lyon
The words your company runs on, written down once.
Mémoire writes the name, the line under it, the way you talk about what you sell, and the small library of phrases your people reuse every day. In French and English, on a fixed scope agreed in writing before anything starts.
Two desks
One project at a time, with both of us on it from the brief call to the handover.
French and English
Written natively in either language, or in both side by side. Never one translated from the other.
Fixed scope
What we make, how many weeks it takes and who needs to be in the room, agreed in writing first.
Words only
No media buying, no ad accounts, no SEO retainers. We write, and hand the words to the people who do those things.
What we make
Four pieces of work, each one a document you keep.
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IA naming document
The longlist we considered, the shortlist we recommend, and the reasoning that took us from one to the other. Every name on the shortlist has passed the same checks: it can be said aloud, spelt after being heard once, and holds its meaning in both languages.
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IIA voice guide
Three or four written voice rules, each with a before-and-after example lifted from your own pages rather than invented. Short enough that a new colleague reads it on a first morning and writes like the company by the afternoon.
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IIIA phrase library
The reusable phrases: product names, button labels, email openings, the sentence that explains the price. It also lists the words to avoid, and settles how numbers, dates and prices are written so nobody has to decide twice.
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IVA rewritten page set
The pages that matter most, rewritten: the home page, the page that sells, and the page that explains the price. Delivered as a copy deck your designer can lay out without asking what goes where.
How we work
A studio, not an agency.
Mémoire is a brand-language studio with two desks in Lyon. We write the words a small company runs on: the name, the positioning line beneath it, the way it describes what it sells, and the library of phrases its people reach for when they write an email, label a button or explain an invoice. We do not buy media, manage ad accounts, post on your behalf or draw logos. We write, and we hand the words to the people who do those things.
A project begins with a brief. You send it through the form on this site; we read it, reply with questions, and then send a written scope: what we will make, how many weeks it runs, who from your side needs to be in the room, and what it costs. Nothing starts until that scope is agreed. We would rather lose a project at this stage than change its shape halfway through.
Then we read. Before we write a line we go through your own pages, the emails your team sends most often, the notes your salespeople keep, and anything a customer has written back to you. A company already has a voice; our job is to find the version of it that works and set it down so everyone can use it.
The draft comes as a document, not a slide. You get one round of changes, taken in writing, and we take that round seriously: it is where a guide stops being ours and becomes yours. Handover is a call in which we walk your team through what they have received and how to use it, followed by the files.
We value plain sentences over clever ones, a small library used well over a large one that nobody opens, and a name that survives being said aloud over one that only looks good on a slide.
What we turn down
We do not take naming projects where the name has already been chosen and needs justifying. We do not write in languages we do not live in, so the work is French and English only. We do not take retainers: a brand language is made, handed over and kept by you, and we should not be needed on the payroll to keep it alive. We do not draw logos or build visual identities; we hand the words to your designer. We do not run a press office or post on your channels. And we do not check whether a name is free to register or clear it legally — your lawyer does that, and we say so before anyone falls in love with a shortlist.
Questions we are asked
Before you send a brief.
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Do you run our advertising?
No. We write the language your advertising uses — the line, the proposition, the phrase library your ads draw on — but we do not buy media, hold ad accounts or bid on anything. You keep whoever does that, or find them, and we hand them a copy deck they can work from.
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Do you design the site as well?
No. We hand the words to your designer as a copy deck, with the page order, the headings and the button labels marked. If you do not have a designer yet we will say so early, because a rewritten page set needs someone to lay it out.
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How long does a naming project take?
Usually four to six weeks from the brief call to the handover, depending on how many people on your side need to be in the room. The longlist takes the first fortnight; the checks and the reasoning take the rest. We do not shorten it by skipping the checks.
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Can you work in English only?
Yes. The work runs in either language, and often in both: a company placed in France that sells in English, or the reverse. We write natively in either language. We do not translate one from the other and call it finished.
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What do you need from us before starting?
Your own pages, the ten or so emails your team sends most often, whatever sales notes exist, and one person who can make decisions. We send a short list before the brief call so nobody has to guess what to bring.
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Do you write in other languages?
No. French and English are the languages we live in, and we do not write in a language we cannot hear. If you need a third language, we hand a finished French or English guide to a writer who lives in it, and we can brief them.
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Do you take retainers?
No. Every project has a fixed scope and an end. Once a voice guide or a phrase library is handed over it is yours to keep and use, and you should not need us on the payroll for it to work. If something new needs writing later, that is a new brief.
The next project starts with a brief, not a meeting.
Tell us what the company does and what needs words. We reply with questions, then a written scope, and nothing starts until that scope is agreed.
Where to find us
Placed in Lyon, working across France and beyond.
Mémoire is a two-desk studio in Lyon, France. We work with companies across the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in person, with the rest of France by video call, and with English-speaking companies anywhere by video call and email. Every project reaches us the same way: through the brief form or the studio mailbox.