The Slogan
What is Slogan?
Taglines (memorable slogan) or slogans are used
to support your marketing/communications
message.
• Often accompany a logo to emphasize a
particular aspect of the message you are
trying to convey.
• Provide a theme upon which campaigns are
built.
The Slogan
• A good slogan create image and
personality of the product or service
• How to create an effective slogan:
– Personalize the message-- have to answer the
objective
– Be brief
– Don’t offend
– Stress consumer benefit
– When in doubt, sell
– Use the U.S.P.
How to build the Good Slogan
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Know your target
Establish your goal
Brainstorming/concept development
Support your theme and visual
Distill your message
Rewriting: the essence of writing well
** Tagline development tools --the dictionary.
Keep it handy and use it.
Know your target
• Understanding the needs of your target
audience – what the target wants to buy, not
what you want to sell!
• Identify items of importance to your target.
• Rank the items in order of importance.
• Use the top priority items to begin tagline
development.
Establish your goal
• Define the concept you wish to support or
establish.
• Define the desired image or outcome you
wish to create.
Brainstorming/concept
Development
• Write a list of words/phrases that convey the concept you
wish to communicate.
• Look up each word in a dictionary, watching for uses of the
word in different contexts; follow cross-references to other
words; write everything down.
• Use the resulting list to spawn new ideas.
• Select a few; then begin to distill each phrase to its purest
form.
• Try techniques like rhyming or alliteration.
A good working slogan
Is a statement that …
Briefly and quickly sums up what you do, and implies
that why what you do is better and more useful than
what your competitors do
• Reeks of credibility. The operative line is, “What you
are speaks so loud that I can’t hear what you say you
are.”
• Is so artfully crafted that it catches the eye and the
mind, and is ultimately memorable.
Rewriting: the essence of writing
well
• Once you have completed your initial drafts,
set them aside.
• Come back later and review -- make changes.
• Beauty of the craft of writing-the opportunity
to write, re-think and re-write. That is how
"good" writing is produced.
Support your Theme and Visual
• Continue your brainstorming efforts to
include words/phrases that connect with your
logo or the visual you are using.
Distill your message
• Simplicity adds power.
• Communicate the message quickly.
• Use active verbs.
A Slogan/Tagline should
1. A slogan should be memorable
How
• Alliteration
This technique is a familiar aide-memoire.
– Allied Irish Bank: Britain's best business bank.
– Doral: Discover the Doral difference.
– Jaguar: Don't dream it. Drive it.
– Girl Guides: Dream. Dare. Do.
1. A slogan should be memorable
How
• Coined words
Using made-up words can also help.
– Amoy: Chineasy.
– Burton Menswear: Everywear.
– Ski Fruit: Fruitius. Yogurtus. Delicia
1. A slogan should be memorable
How
• Puns - Puns in the line, with the brand name at
work
Here the brand goes to work, inextricably part of the
pun.
– Absolut Vodka: Absolut magic.
– Citibank: Because the Citi never sleeps.
– Frosted Chex: Chexellent, or what?
– Quavers Snacks: Do me a Quaver.
2. A slogan should recall the brand
name
Rhymes - with brand name
– Haig Scotch: Don't be vague. Ask for Haig..
3. A slogan should include a key
benefit
Since the tagline is the leave-behind, the takeaway,
surely the opportunity to implant a key benefit
should not be missed!!
– Polaroid:The fun develops instantly.
– Weight Watchers: Taste. Not waist.
Look at the line that has no apparent benefit
– AT&T: It's all part of the I Plan from AT&T.
(No one knows what I plan is. They might just as well
have said 'It's all part of fxzlldcrk from AT&T)
4. A slogan should differentiate the
brand
The distinction here is that the line
should depict a characteristic about
the brand that sets it apart from its
competitors.
– Safeway: Everything you want from a
store, and a little bit more.
– Tesco: The price is dropping on your
weekly shopping.
5. A slogan should impart positive
feelings for the brand
Positive Feeling?
TR7 sports car in 1976: 'It doesn't look
like you can afford it',
or America's Newport cigarettes: 'After
all, if smoking isn't a pleasure, why
bother?'
"Because I'm hooked, you bastard!"
5. A slogan should impart positive
feelings for the brand
– US Army: Be all you can be.
– Delta Airlines: You'll love the way we fly.
– Egg Marketing Board: Fast food and
good for you.
6. A slogan should reflect the brand's
personality
personality means 'habitual patterns and qualities
of behavior of any individual as expressed by
physical and mental activities and attitudes;
distinctive individual qualities of a person
considered collectively.'
So think of the brand as a person. Then consider
whether the line works for that person.
6. A slogan should reflect the brand's
personality
Volkswagen Beetle
Think small
McDonald
Did somebody say McDonald's?
A sandwich served with an east coast
style and a midwest smile! .
As good as it looks.
6. A slogan should reflect the brand's
personality
• Volkswagen Beetle: Think small. YES!
• Volkswagen Beetle: As good as it looks. NO!
• McDonald's: Did somebody say McDonald's?
YES!
• McDonald's: A sandwich served with an
east coast style and a midwest smile! NO!
7. A slogan should be strategic
Some companies can effectively convey
their business strategy in their lines:
– Forbes: Capitalist tool.
– BT: It's good to talk. (Bringing it all
together)
– Glaxo/Wellcome: Disease has no greater
enemy.
8. A slogan should be
campaignable
This means that the line should work
across a series of advertising
executions.
– Nike: Just do it
– Milk: Got Milk
9. A slogan should not be usable by a
competitor
You should not be able to substitute a
competitive brand name and use the
line.
–
–
–
–
Amiga: Simply the best.
Aspen: Simply the best.
Binatone:
Simply the best.
Duet:
Simply the best.
10. A slogan should be original
In advertising, originality is king.
– New York State: I
New York
– Campbell’s soup: "M'm! M'm! Good!"
11. A slogan should be simple
• Not just simply tell the story
– Fireman's Fund Insurance: Inventor and scientist
make dreams come true; the insurance man
keeps nightmares from happening.
• But this…
– Larkspur Landing Hotel: Home suite hotel.
– Lloyd's Life Insurance: Cash if you die, cash if you
don't.
– British Airways Concorde: You leave. Arrive before.
12. A slogan should be neat
Teenager’s Neat
– Apple Computer: Think different..
– Burger King: Have it your way.
13. A slogan should be believable
Poetic licence is allowed. Even exaggeration:
– Whitman's Sampler chocolates:
A woman
never forgets the man who remembers.
– Volkswagen: “Drivers wanted.”
14. Does the line help when you're
ordering the product, or at least aspiring
to it?
Here are some that help:
– "I want to have 'the ultimate driving machine'."
(BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine)
– "I want to have 'the safe car'."
(Volvo: For Life)
Assignment
• Your Product
• Brand Name
• Target Profile (Demo/Psycho/ Behavioral)
– What the target wants from you [Brainstorm]
– Rank What the target wants from you
Assignment
• Establish Your Goal:
– Define the concept you wish to support or
establish.
– Define the desired image or outcome you wish to
create. - If the brand were a person, he/she would
be a ….. to …(description of your target)….
• Create your Tagline