The single biggest difference between "AI captions sound generic" and "AI captions sound like our brand" is whether you filled in Brand DNA properly. It is the questionnaire Manva uses to teach the AI what your business sells, who you sell to, what tone you write in, and what words you use (and avoid). Spend 15 minutes here and every caption, every blog post and every WhatsApp message gets dramatically better.

What Brand DNA actually controls

When you generate a caption or blog post, Manva quietly attaches your Brand DNA in the background. This affects:

Where to find it

From the dashboard: Settings → Brand DNA, or use the shortcut from any caption-generation screen.

The first time you open it you see a guided questionnaire. After that, it becomes an editable profile you can update any time — useful when you launch a new product line or pivot your audience.

Section 1: The basics

Spend the most time on the one-line description. The AI re-reads it before every generation. A vague line ("we sell stuff online") makes generic captions; a sharp one ("hand-poured candles for slow living, made in Pune") makes captions that sound like you wrote them.

Section 2: What you sell

List your top 3–5 products or services as bullet points. For each, include:

This is the difference between an AI caption that says "our amazing products" and one that says "the lavender soy candle, ₹599, burns clean for 40 hours".

Section 3: Your audience

Three questions:

The more specific, the better. "Working women in their 30s in Bengaluru and Hyderabad who care about sustainable products and are willing to pay for quality" is far more useful than "women aged 25–45".

Section 4: Your tone

Pick from preset combinations or describe in your own words:

If you have written captions yourself in the past, paste 3–4 of your favourites into the "Voice samples" box. The AI uses them as reference for new captions.

Section 5: Words and rules

Two important fields most people skip:

Manva treats these as soft preferences (the AI tries to honour them) but the discipline of filling them forces you to articulate your brand voice in a way that benefits every other channel too.

Section 6: Hashtag preferences

Save your standard hashtag bundles by category. For example, a fashion brand might have:

When you generate a caption, Manva offers the right bundle automatically based on the post type.

Tying it all together

Once Brand DNA is filled in, every AI generation across Manva — captions, blog posts, WhatsApp broadcasts, even AI image prompts — uses your DNA. You will notice the difference in the very first caption you generate.

Updating it

Brand DNA is not set-and-forget. Update it when:

Frequently asked questions

How long should I spend on this? 15–30 minutes for a first version, then 5 minutes when you update it later.

Do I need separate Brand DNAs for separate brands? Yes. Manva supports multiple brand profiles — useful for agencies running several clients or for businesses with multi-brand portfolios.

Will the AI follow it 100%? No — it is a strong preference, not a hard rule. You will still want to edit captions occasionally. But the difference between "lots of edits" and "minor tweaks" is whether DNA is filled in.

Can I import a brand book? Not yet. Paste the relevant sections (tone, vocabulary, do/don't) into the appropriate Brand DNA fields manually.

Brand DNA is the most under-used feature in any AI marketing tool. The 15 minutes you spend here pay back every single caption you generate from then on.