In the high-speed world of marketing today companies have less time than ever to catch their target market’s attention. A high impact logo and a catchy slogan are needed to make a fast but long-lasting impression. Raising brand awareness and building brand followers is an essential element of a successful marketing campaign, so designers and copywriters need to work in unison to produce a cohesive message.
What makes a good slogan?
Good corporate logos become timeless and can be carried down the years even though the product they describe may develop and change. Just like a company’s logo, the slogan needs to encompass the USP and the values of the business in a condensed form — it’s no accident that the most successful slogans tend to have just three or four words.
While the best slogans are unique, poor slogans descend into cliché. Simple wording, a phrase that has natural rhythm and an upbeat message work best — and remember that it has to look right with the logo, so the two should be developed in tandem. It will have a matter of seconds to lodge itself in the audience’s brains and that won’t happen if you use a word they don’t know. Inspiration, aspiration, humour and honesty help and if you can sell the benefits or stress the USP you’re on the right track. And the gold standard? The slogan that elicits an emotional response from its target audience.
The good, the bad and the ugly
The following are some of the world’s most successful slogans — can you remember which companies and products they promote?
• Just do it
• The Ultimate Driving Machine
• It’s the real thing
• The choice of a new generation
• Taste the rainbow
• Every little helps
• Does exactly what it says on the tin
• Beans means Heinz
But there are some real stinkers as well:
• Whole Foods’ ‘Selling the highest quality organic and natural products’ is plain dull and wouldn’t stick in anybody’s mind.
• Kentucky Fried Chicken had a great slogan — ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ — but changed it to ‘The secret’s in the taste’, which isn’t half as memorable.
• Apparently a bar of Milky Way is ‘So light and fluffy, it won’t fill you up’. But that might not be a good thing, depending on why you’re eating it.
• Ferrero Rocher’s slogan is ‘A sign of good taste’, even though most people think it’s something to do with an ambassador!
And of course there are plenty of others…
Coming up with a unique and brilliant slogan is, not surprisingly, incredibly difficult. The best way to help yourself is to make sure you know the client and the product inside out and keep it simple, short and honest — and then, as Nike would say, just do it!