Background: My understanding about first person / third person is this: choose a voice and maintain it throughout the piece. However, when writing marketing-type information, I find myself switching back and forth between 1st ("we", "our") and 3rd ("ABC Organization", "The Organization"). I like to use 1st person because it feels personal and informal, but using third person allows me to (a) avoid sounding like I am bragging[1], (b) reconnect the reader with our name, and (c) speak about our historical activities -- the "we" now were not part of the "we" in 1980. (When I do this, I don't ever call the organization "it" and then switch back to "we" or "our")
The question is: Is it absolutely unacceptable to do this? Is this a matter of opinion, or a generally accepted rule among writers?
Examples:
- ABC is in the process of expanding our monitoring and evaluation plan.
- ABC is a relief and development organization established in 1973. Our mission is to...
[1] Saying "we do this awesome thing" and "we completed this awesome project" too often conveys an arrogant mentality.
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