authority creationestablishing black duck’s brand voice
How a newly independent software security company developed a more confident voice—and put it to work across its content.
Company: Black Duck
Focus: Brand voice, editorial strategy, thought leadership, website content
My role: Developed core principles and examples; gained leadership alignment; guided the team and editorial rollout; configured AI content tool; authored content in new voice
The Challenge
After separating from Synopsys, Black Duck had an opportunity to establish a voice of its own. Under the previous corporate structure, extensive qualifications often diluted our message. We needed language that reflected our expertise and industry standing while remaining approachable and grounded.
An example of the old voice:
“Although the vast majority of organizations are using AI tools in some capacity for software development, confidence in securing AI-generated code is very low. Additionally, there are ongoing challenges of integrating security practices without impeding agility, and a complex testing environment that creates integration challenges, noise, and alert fatigue.”
— 2024 Global State of DevSecOps Report
The Approach
I developed a set of voice principles and presented them to the CMO and senior marketing leadership before the work began. They called for direct, supportable claims; clear statements of the company’s accomplishments and perspectives; and concise sentences without unnecessary modifiers.
A website redesign made the editorial decisions especially important. New page templates placed greater emphasis on imagery and graphics, leaving less room for copy. We needed shorter headings and paragraphs that made the most of the space available. We targeted headings of three to five words and paragraphs of two to three sentences.
I created examples to guide the team as we revised website pages and developed new content. I also guided our copy editor in updating the editorial style guide so the wider marketing team could apply the new voice across email, social media, webinars, and other channels.
I also configured our AI content tool (Writer AI) with the new voice principles and examples and set the voice as the default. This brought the editorial direction into drafting and revision from the start, producing content that was closer to the desired tone and reducing editing cycles downstream.
The work was a collaboration between content, UX, web, copywriting, and senior marketing leadership. Our copy editor co-led the effort with me.
Putting the Voice into Practice
We introduced the voice in the 2025 Global State of DevSecOps report, using original research to take a clear position on the challenges facing software and security teams.
An example of the new voice:
“More Tools, More Problems
To keep up with threats, companies have been throwing tools at the problem. A diverse arsenal of AST solutions was supposed to create a layered defense. But this strategy backfired. Instead of a safety net, our modern toolchain has become a primary source of friction, noise, and inefficiency that actively works against that goal.”
— 2025 Global State of DevSecOps Report
While the earlier passage describes several challenges without establishing a clear priority, the new passage makes an argument: adding tools can compound the problem, so organizations need to reconsider how their existing tools work together.
We then carried the voice across the redesigned website and into campaigns, subsequent reports, web pages, and selected blogs. I also authored content in the new voice to give the team working examples.
Articles I ghostwrote for Black Duck’s CEO:
· AI avalanche: Taming software risk with True Scale Application Security
· What Anthropic’s Project Glasswing means for software builders
The Outcome
Black Duck had a clear editorial foundation for communicating its expertise and industry leadership as an independent company. The voice principles, updated style guide, and AI tool configuration gave the marketing team a shared approach it could apply across the website and other channels.
By building the voice into the tools and guidelines the team used every day, we made it easier to create consistent content and scale the approach across new assets.
The team accomplished the rollout of the new voice in approximately three months. We briefed the CMO and senior leadership team in late June and the rollout of MVP pages went live the first week of October. The CMO’s approval included the core principles and training of our AI tool to propagate the voice across teams and channels. The MVP pages included the home page, four solution pages, four product pages, the company page, and one brand campaign landing page.
Over the next six months, the team implemented the new voice across the rest of the website (50+ pages), dozens of datasheets, eight guides and e-books, three major research reports, and the company brochure.
More than a year later, the voice remains in use across the company’s website and marketing content.
More examples: