The voice of a once-in-a-generation shift in defence procurement

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has long-standing issues with procurement. In 2023, the Defence Committee once again declared MoD procurement to be “broken”. In response, a change programme called Commercial X was set up, bringing experienced commercial and business change specialists together to address a single problem: fix procurement, particularly for innovative technologies like drones and hypersonic weapons that were needed rapidly.

I was brought on in late 2023 as the programme’s writer after the senior leadership team were struggling to agree on a tone of voice and writing style. I quickly took ownership of corporate messaging, working with leaders to craft a voice that was clear, authoritative and direct.

Since then, I have been responsible for a significant amount of content and visual design work in the programme including crafting a tagline - getting groundbreaking technologies into defence’s hands, faster; creating presentations for senior leaders; crafting guidance for commercial teams; and supporting with messaging about the programme for use by ministers, including the Prime Minister’s office.

The programme has been a success, receiving praise from government officials, the Defence Select Committee and suppliers amongst others. Senior commercial leaders in defence have specifically highlighted the effectiveness of the programme’s messaging as noteworthy.