I’ve never written a formal brand guide for Bredemarket, but I probably should. Not that outside agencies are citing the Bredemarket brand or the proper use of a wildebeest, but I probably should provide helpful consistency hints. (No “Brede Market,” people.)
But larger organizations obviously have brand guides and enforce them.
Including the United States Department of War.
Note that I said Department of War, not the Department of Defense. There is an official “DOW Brand Guide” posted on the Department of War website. And as we’ll see in a minute, it’s important to note that this is on the Department’s website.
The DOW Brand Guide and Mission Statement
A government agency needs to brand just like private agencies. Here are the opening overview of the DOW Brand Guide:
The Department of War Brand Guide was developed to ensure a shared visual experience that reinforces DOW’s identity and core priorities.
The foundation of the department’s brand is the DOW Mission Statement:
The Department of War provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation’s security.
Without getting into the politics and showmanship of the whole thing, let’s note that the Department has a critical need to communicate its mission. And that’s what it has done here.
Use of Name
I’m not going to cover the entire DOW Brand Guide, which is like any other brand guide with logos and colors and stuff. The picture illustrating this post is the “dark stacked” logo.
But considering the background of the Deparrtment renaming, I do want to concentrate on the name itself, from the “Use of Name” section of the DOW Brand Guide.
In Executive Order 14347, issued Sept. 5, 2025, President Donald J. Trump directed the U.S. Department of Defense “be known as the Department of War,” a secondary title for this cabinet-level department. The order permits the use of this secondary title for official correspondence, public communications and ceremonial contexts within the executive branch.
How many of you caught a particular word that was repeated in that paragraph? The word that caught my eye is “secondary.” So for all this ballyhoo, apparently we can still use the D-word “Defense.” In fact, if you look at the tags to this post, I continue to use the tag “department of defense.” I may have to change it later. The people in the Department have guns and can be very persuasive. More persuasive than the cartographers who don’t want us to use the M-word “Mexico” when referring to a body of water south of Texas and west of Florida.
The “Use of Name” section continues.
Use “War Department” in most cases on first reference, reserving “Department of War” for quoted matter, or situations that require that level of formality.
But that isn’t the part that interested me. When you talk about government agencies, no one cares about the name. They care about…the ACRONYM.
The correct acronym for “War Department” as used on the War.gov flagship website, which uses the AP Style as standard, is “DOW” with an uppercase “O” in the center; use on second reference after “War Department” or when the standalone acronym suffices depending upon use. Do NOT use “DoW.”
Which goes to show you that even military officials cower before style guide enforcers.
Except…
Use of Name, Part Two
The “Use of Name” section continues with one more paragraph.
The correct acronym for “War Department” in official written department communications, including but not limited to news releases, speeches, transcripts etc., including those published on War.gov, is “DoW” with a lowercase “o”, Do NOT use “DOW” in these types of products.
Talented editors can parse this, but the rest of us need to think through this a bit.
- A style guide on War.gov is referred to as a “DOW” style guide.
- But a news release that’s published on War.gov refers to “DoW.”
But what if the Associated Press (which presumably follows the AP Style) refers to a news release that is posted on War.gov? Does the writer use “DOW” or “DoW”?
Bredemarket 