Common Folks Write Uncommonly Good Taglines
April 5th, 2007 by Sterling Hager
Driving to work today I was behind a truck owned by a company called Phoenix Plumbing and Heating. Here's their tagline as it appears on their vehicle:
"If we plumb it, you won't get soaked."
Actually, they went to the trouble of changing the "s" to a "$" just in case anyone missed the point.
Now here's my point: How come huge organizations with tons of smart creative types so often get themselves so wrapped around the axle that their taglines end up making no sense whatsoever? Alternatively, why is it that small business people people often manage to say something meaningful in plain English?
You're thinking, "That's because SOA or SEO or (fill in the blank) is more complicated than plumbing." Maybe. But my theory is that the committee approach in corporate is one major cause of the problem. In big business, dozens decide. In a small business like this one, a person or two decides this over lunch and a beer. Also, a couple of average people think this is about a 1 on the Importance Scale, with 10 being of utmost importance. In corporate, these things rank about an 8, don't they? Lastly, a plumber doesn't really think the business is going to prosper because the tagline is good. But big business often acts as if the tagline is everything.
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July 19th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Well, in big business, they often rely on capturing and keeping the attention of the masses. Never-the-less, in big business, the slogans that have endured are the ones that capture the essense of a product or service, in simple, plain English that leaving a memorable, enduring perception. But often, this does take some very thought-out creative sessions and sometimes input from a number of people to get it right.
In hind-sight it always seems simple. But sitting here on the other side of the table, that is rarely the case, especially when you have twenty other competitors you are trying to seperate yourself from and mitigating the risk of being lost in the advertising shuffle when competing for the average consumers attention.
Examples of enduring slogans that have endured the test of time and have captured the thoughts and imagination of billions around the world?
1. “Got milk?” (1993, California Milk Processor Board)
2. “Don’t leave home without it” (1975, American Express, AXP)
3. “Just do it” (1988, Nike, NKE)
4. “Where’s the beef?” (1984, Wendy’s)
5. “You’re in good hands with Allstate” (1956, Allstate Insurance, ALL)
6. “Think different” (1998, Apple Computer, AAPL)
7. “We try harder” (1962, Avis)
8. “Tastes great, less filling” (1974, Miller Light)
9. “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands” (1954, M&M Candies)
10. “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking” (1956, Timex)
Consider the factors it would have took to come up with these slogans. Knowing your customers, thier concerns, anticipating your competition response etc. A simple tagline that is catchy, may very well be used against you by a competitor and so on. There are many factors to consider for a well-thought-out tagline.
The plumbing outfit you speak of, if they expanded beyond the local community or went nation, just that little tagline may actually do them a lot of harm, rather than good. Especially if a smart competitor, gathered the right intelligence, adjusted thier prices accordingly, then your smart plumbing outfit might been seen as BOLD LIARS. Do you want a plumber in your home charging you twice the average rate for the same type of work, especially when they advertise so boldly that by chosing them you won’t get $oaked?
Their tagline actually could easily set them on the path to failure by competition exploiting thier very words indirectly.
Their is an old adage that insists, one must think long and hard before chosing the words that would define him or her in public. First impressions always count and are hard to shed, especially a negative one.