How Ad Slogans Work

7/30/2019 How Ad Slogans Work

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How Ad Slogans Workby Timothy RV FosterHow many times have you been in your car with your radio on, gotten out, andhours later, had some jingle playing in your head? This, my friends, is goodadvertising. That jingle was so catchy that hours after you had been exposed toit, it still lingered. The same can be said of ad slogans. Every day, we aresurrounded by car ads, credit card ads, travel ads, food ads, clothing ads...the list goes on. In this edition of How Stuff Works, adman and author TimothyFoster shows you How Ad Slogans Work so that you can better understand the

various techniques companies use to make their products and servicesmemorableto you.

The History of AdvertisingAccording to Encyclopedia Britannica Online, advertising is "the techniques andpractices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public noticefor the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward whatis advertised."

In the ancient and medieval world, advertising as it existed was conducted by

word of mouth. The first step toward modern advertising came with thedevelopment of printing in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century,weekly newspapers in London began to carry advertisements, and by the 18thcentury such advertising was flourishing.

The great expansion of business in the 19th century was accompanied by thegrowth of an advertising industry. It was that century, primarily in the U.S.,that saw the establishment of advertising agencies. The first agencies were, inessence, brokers for space in newspapers. But by the early 20th century,agencies became involved in producing the advertising message itself, including

copy and artwork, and by the 1920s agencies had come into being that could planand execute complete advertising campaigns, from initial research to copypreparation to placement in various media.

The BasicsThe purpose of the strapline or slogan in an advertisement is to leave the keybrand message in the mind of the target (that's you). It is the sign-off thataccompanies the logo. Its goal is to stick: "If you get nothing else from thisad, get this..!" A few well-known examples of these slogans include:

Test Your Ad Slogan IQ: How many of these can you identify?


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Does she or doesn't she?

Fly the friendly skies

Good to the last drop

Have it your way

Just do it

Put a tiger in your tank

The king of beers

The pause that refreshes

Up, up and away

We try harderAnswers: 1-Clairol, 2-United, 3-Maxwell House, 4-Burger King, 5-Nike, 6-Exxon/Esso,7-Budweiser, 8-Coca Cola, 9-TWA, 10-Avis

American Express: "Don't leave home without it"

Apple: "Think different"

AT&T: "Reach out and touch someone"

Timex: "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking"

Wendy's: "Where's the beef?"

Wheaties: "The breakfast of champions"

Unfortunately, ad slogans don't always work, usually because they are generic,ready-to-wear, off-the-shelf lines that are taken out and shined up, ready to beused again and again when the creative juices have stopped flowing. Dozens ofadvertisers use them without blinking. Their ad agencies should be ashamed of

themselves!

Slogans Around the WorldSlogan nomenclature varies from place to place. So, what's what, where? In manyparts of the world, and generically, they are "slogans." In the USA, they aretags, tag lines, or taglines. In the UK, they are end lines, endlines, orstraplines. Germany prefers claims while France uses signatures. In theNetherlands, they are pay-offs or payoffs. To the unimaginative, they are rip-offsor ripoffs. And at ADSlogans Unlimited, we call them slogos (the slogan by thelogo). Slogans are often treated as trade marks ( in most countries). The useof the symbol is merely an assertion by the advertiser that they are treating

the line as a trademark. It does not assure any legal right. For legal


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protection, the line must be registered with the appropriate governmenttrademark office, which then confers the right to use the registered symbol (),and then they get the full protection of the law against poaching. Service marks(SM in the US) are simply trademarks for services rather than products.Trademark laws are similar in most countries. You can check out details at theUS Patent and Trademark Office or the International Trademark Association.

A brand name can be a registered trademark, such as Kodak, Xerox, McDonald's,7Up, or Coke, but a line such as "your best bet yet!" or "better by a longshot!" can't be protected for exclusive use. To avoid problems, and when indoubt, check with an intellectual property lawyer.

The Perfect TaglineA perfectly-formed tagline should fulfill several criteria. First, it should bememorable. Memorability has to do with the ability the line has to be recalledunaided. A lot of this is based on the brand heritage and how much the line hasbeen used over the years. But if it is a new line, what makes it memorable? Thebig idea should be told in the advertisement. The more the tagline resonates

with the big idea, the more memorable it will be.

For example, in addition to be being a clever line, "My goodness, my Guinness!"was made memorable by the illustrations of the Guinness drinker seeing his pintunder some sort of threat (perched on the nose of a performing seal, forexample). It invoked a wry smile and a tinge of sympathy on the part of theaudience at the potential loss if the Guinness was dropped.

Guinness used to use the line "Guinness is good for you" until the authoritiesgot after them, saying "Come on! Guinness is stout! It contains alcohol! Itcan't be good for you! So stop using that claim!" So, the Guinness ad agency

came up with a stroke of genius. The line? "Guinless isn't good for you." A goodslogan should recall the brand name, and ideally, the brand name should beincluded in the line. "My goodness, my Guinness!" works, as does "Coke is it!"On the other hand, "Once driven, forever smitten" does not easily invoke theword Vauxhall -- a British car made by General Motors. If it is successful, theline should pass readily into common parlance as a catchphrase, such as "Beanzmeanz Heinz" or "Where's the beef?" In addition to a provocative and relevantillustration or story, alliteration (Jaguar: "Don't dream it. Drive it."),coined or made-up words (Louis Vuitton: "Epileather"), puns, and rhymes aregood

ways of making a line memorable. So is a jingle.

A good tagline should include a key benefit: "Engineered like no other car inthe world" does this beautifully for Mercedes Benz. "Britain's second-largestinternational scheduled airline" is a 'so what' statement for the late AirEurope. You might well say "I want a car that is engineered like no other car inthe world," but it is unlikely that you would say "I want two tickets to Parison Britain's second-largest international scheduled airline!"

There's a well-known piece of advice in the world of marketing: 'sell thesizzle, not the steak.' It means to sell the benefits, not the features. Since

the tagline is the leave-behind, or the take-away, surely the opportunity to


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implant a key benefit should not be missed?

Holiday Inn: "Pleasing people the world over"

Karry-Lite: "Takes the 'lug' out of luggage"

Polaroid: "The fun develops instantly"

The Economist: "Free enterprise with every issue"

Conversely, the following lines have no obvious benefits:

Equity & Law: "Need we say more?"

Exxon: "We're Exxon"

Lite Tuff: "That's Lite Tuff!"

Sapolio Soap: "Use Sapolio"

In addition, a good tagline should differentiate the brand: "Heineken refreshesthe parts other beers cannot reach" does this brilliantly. It's a classic. Whenthe line needed refreshing, it was extended in later executions to showseemingly impossible situations, such as a deserted expressway in the rush hour,with the line "Only Heineken can do this," and lately showing unlikely butadmirable situations, such as a group of sanitation engineers trying to keep thenoise down to the comment: "How refreshing! How Heineken!"

The distinction here is that the line should depict a characteristic about the

brand that sets it apart from its competitors, such as these lines that deliverdifferentiation:

British Rail: "We're getting there"

Cheese Council: "Anyway you please it, cheese it"

Timex: "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking"

Metropolitan Home: "Mode for your abode"

Ad Slogan Trends

Omitting words such as "the" and "and," these are the 20 most frequently usedwords in slogans (percentages represent the number of lines using that word outof the total number of ad lines):

you -- 11.15%

your -- 7.94%

we -- 6.03%


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world -- 4.18%

best -- 2.67%

more -- 2.54%

good -- 2.43%

better -- 2.12%

new -- 1.90%

taste -- 1.85%

people -- 1.54%

our -- 1.49%

first -- 1.42%

like -- 1.41%

don't -- 1.36%

most -- 1.19%

only -- 1.16%

quality -- 1.15%

great -- 1.13%

choice -- 1.08%Source: ADSlogans Unlimited Database

A good tagline should also recall the brand name. What's the point of running anadvertisement in which the brand name is not clear? Yet millions of dollars arewasted this way. If the brand name isn't in the tagline, it had better be firmly

suggested. Nike dares to run commercials that sign off only with their visuallogo (the Swoosh). The word Nike is unspoken and does not appear. This use ofsemiotics is immensely powerful when it works, because it forces the viewer tosay the brand name.

One of the best techniques for bringing in the brand name is to make the taglinerhyme with it. Here are some lines we've selected from the ADSlogans Unlimiteddatabase:

"Don't be vague. Ask for Haig."

"It needn't be hell with Nicotinell."


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"See the USA in your Chevrolet."

"You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth withPepsodent."

A fall-back position is to use a rhyme and mention the brand name without itactually rhyming. Examples include "A Mars a day helps you work, rest, andplay," and "We will sell no wine before its time (Paul Masson)." Note how thecompetitive edge is lost when the brand name is not the rhyme. It could easilybe "An apple a day helps you work, rest and play," or "Ernest and Julio Gallowill sell no wine before its time."

An effective tagline should impart positive feelings about the brand: All thelines mentioned previously do this, some more than others. "Once driven, foreversmitten," for example, or "Coke is it!" Contrast this with Triumph's line forits TR7 sports car in 1976: "It doesn't look like you can afford it," orAmerica's Newport cigarettes: "After all, if smoking isn't a pleasure, why

bother?"

Publishers will tell you that negative book titles don't sell. It is my beliefthat negative advertising is hard to justify. Notice how boring all the negativeelectioneering is in political campaigns. The voters just want to turn off. Hereis a group of lines that don't profess good tidings:

Bacardi Spice (Rum): "Distilled in hell"

Hungry Joes: "Bad news for baked potatoes"

Kellogg's Eggos Waffles: "You'll never want to l'eggo"

Lea & Perrins: "Steak sauce only a cow could hate"

Quite importantly, a good tagline should not be usable by a competitor: youshould not be able to substitute a competitive brand name and use the line. Forexample, "My goodness, my Murphy's!" (taking from the Guinness slogan) justwould not work, but "A company called TRW" could be "A company called(anything)."

So many slogans have absolutely no competitive differentiation, such as "Simplythe Best" and its variants. You could add any brand name to the line and itwould make sense. And this often is proven by how many users of a line thereare. Consider the following:

Aspen: "Simply the best"

Bishop's Nissan: "Simply the best"

HME Firetrucks: "Simply... the best"

Kuoni: "Simply, the best"


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That's just four -- we have another 25 users of the same line in our database!

Slogans that are bland, redolent of Mom and apple-pie clearly suffer a weakness.Examples include "For those who value excellence" (Henredon Furniture), "Wemakeit better" (Singer), or "We make it happen" (Unisys).

A good tagline should be strategic: Some companies can effectively convey theirbusiness strategy in their lines, such as "Innovation" (3M), "Better things forbetter living, through chemistry" (DuPont), or "Disease has no greater enemy"(Glaxo/Wellcome).

Catchy taglines also try to be trendy, often without success. There are twopopular trends in slogans these days. One is the single-word line, such asHankook Tires: "Driven," (also being used by Nissan in the US), IBM: "Think,"(neatly hijacked by Apple as "Think Different,"), or United Airlines: "Rising"(which is being dropped). It is hard to deliver a complex message in a single

word, so that brings us to the other trend...

... All in three words (or three terse ideas):

ADSlogans Unlimited: "Check. Create. Inspire."

Air France: "New. Fast. Efficient."

Chevrolet: "Eye it. Try it. Buy it."

Kellogg's Rice Krispies: "Snap! Crackle! Pop!"

Monsanto: "Food. Health. Hope."

Testing a Line for EffectivenessThe line may look good on paper, but there are some tests you can give the wordsto see if they really work:

Does the line help when you're ordering the product or service?Some examples that do:

"I want to have 'the ultimate driving machine'." (BMW)

"Give me 'taste. Not waist'." (Weight Watchers Meals)

"'Why fool around with anyone else?'" (FedEx)Some examples that don't:

"I want a beer that's 'good, but not that good.'" (Tennents)

"I want two tickets to Brussels on 'Britain's second-largest internationalscheduled airline'!" (Air Europe -- now out of business)


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Does it prompt a sarcastic or negative response?Some examples that do:

Delta Airlines: "We get you there."

Mobil: "We want you to live."

FileMaker software: "What's your problem?"

Eastern Airlines: "We have to earn our wings every day."

Does it sound a bit pompous?This is where you read the line with the utmost gravity, like an Americannarrator in a 50's corporate film, giving it the true spin of importance. Thesefail the test:

Ariel Ultra: "Digests the fatty food stains ordinary compacts leave behind at40."

Churchill: "Surprisingly passionate about insurance."

Kyocera: "Doing what others dare not."

Olivetti: "Our force is your energy."

The Hair Clinic: "Where excellence is an everyday word."

Does it reek of 'corporate-speak', sounding unreal?

Most banks: "Where people make the difference."

Ames Rubber: "Excellence through total quality."

Neptco: "Committed to innovation, quality and service."

Powergen: "We do everything in our power to put you first."

United Research: "Accelerating strategic change."

Does it make you say "Ho hum...", like these?

Cadillac: "It out-steps its own great traditions!"

Izod Lacoste: "We are what others pretend to be."

Staffordshire Building Society: "A real building society -- mutual since 1902."

Currie Motors: "Nice people to do business with."

"Visit your Tetrad stockist and discover the Tetrad lifestyle."


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Does it make you say "Oh yeah?"These do:

British Rail. We're getting there.

British Telecom. It's you we answer to.

Kmart. Changing for the better.

Tellabs. Leadership in providing innovative solutions to the telecommunicationsindustry worldwide.

Does it sound a bit mixed up?

Caltex Oil. At the heart of your engine. And the community.

XS Health. Medical insurance for you. Because you don't get ill.

Stillwell Ford. We put people in front of cars.

In any event, here's to more creative, effective slogans. We'll be watching!

About the AuthorTimothy R V Foster is the founder of ADSlogans Unlimited in the UK. Born andeducated in England, Foster attended Lancing College. His first job was asoffice boy at Radio Luxembourg's London office. In his early career, Fosterworked for Procter & Gamble of Canada's advertising department as a televisioncommercial producer. In the late 1960s, he joined Merrill Lynch in Toronto as astockbroker, becoming vice president and worldwide director of advertising and

sales promotion in New York in 1974. In 1984, he joined public relations giantBurson-Marsteller in New York as a creative director, and moved to London in1986 in the same role, where he became vice president. In 1987, Foster enteredinto the private business sector in England. Today, he writes books and runs hisadvertising slogan database, a collection of slogans, etc. used by ad agenciesto check prior/current use. He has also started "The Advertising Slogan Hall ofFame" and a naming/slogan-creation arm, "Aims, Names, and Claims," both ofwhichcan be accessed at the ADSlogans Unlimited Web site. Timothy Foster is theauthor of 22 books, plus many videos, training manuals, and television scripts.

He holds an airline transport pilot license and flew his own aircraft for manyyears.

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