Tagline or No Tagline–That is the Question
Ok close your eyes and think of some of your favorite taglines. Did you come up with anything? Is there a jingle that you have remembered for 10 or 20 years? Is there some phrase that you instantly associate with a product or service?
I listed 10 of the more popular ones in alphabetical order by company:
“Got Milk?” ~ California Milk Processor Board
- M’m! M’m! Good!” ~ Campbell’s Soup
- “Leave the driving to us” ~ Greyhound Lines
- “Snap, Crackle, and Pop” ~ Kellogg’s Rice Krispies
- “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” ~ M&M’s
- “Tastes Great. Less Filling” ~ Miller Lite
- “Just do it” ~ Nike, Inc.
- “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” ~ R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company
- “Be all you can be” ~ US Army
- “Where’s the beef?” ~ Wendy’s Restaurants
The funny thing about this list is “Leave the driving to us” still reminds me of all of my bus trips when I was a kid going to Saratoga Springs, NY.
I still think about the slogan M’m! M’m! Good when I am ordering soup – to me that is a classic as is “Tastes Great. Less Filling.” I can still close my eyes and picture the very funny Miller Lite commercials staring Ben Davidson, John Madden, Billy Martin, Rodney Dangerfield, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Dick Butkus, Bubba Smith and Bob Uecker, just to name a few of the Lite regulars. I will admit it – those commercials were really, really funny!
What is your all-time favorite and why?
M/A/R/C’s tagline is “We make research powerful”.
A few other research taglines are:
- “Your Global Research Partner, Anytime, Anywhere.” ~ Schlesinger Associates
- “synergy. discovery. results.” ~ SDR Consulting
- “The Suite Solution - River, Panel, Results” ~ DMS Research
- “Data Collection You Can Trust, Partners You Can Rely On” ~ Western Wats
- “Only the Smart Survive” ~ Rockhopper Research
- “Identifying opportunity though custom research” ~ MRSI (Marketing Research Services, Inc.)
Do they work? Do you like them? If you don’t have one…why not? If you are a client, do you like them?
We look forward to hearing your comments.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:16 am
One of my favorite Market Research taglines is for Rabid Research. “Doggedly Digging Out the Good Stuff”. All of their business cards have a bite taken out of them. It’s very clever!!!!
Another one that i feel stands out is Ideas to Go, “We fuel your creativity”.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:22 am
i always like looking at tag lines - it gives me a quick snapshot of the company - creativity, philosophy, mission, etc. You have about 5 to 8 words to get across a message to your clients/prospects. The one thing I am torn about is how often to change a tagline - should it be consistent and stay there or should you look to change that message from time to time to gain interest - thoughts?
February 26th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
In marketing, there are few things better than a really great taglines. I find them fascinating. Personally, I think the best ones speak directly to the audience (i.e., “just do it”, “think different”, “a diamond is forever”) and help the organization position themselves to form an emotional connection with their target audience vs. the ones that describe the company/product service (i.e., “we try harder”). I love it when a company has a tagline that suggests a benefit I stand to gain when I engage them.
Of course, most of the time that’s easier said than done…
Great post topic - thanks!
kath
February 26th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
How about “Melt in your mouth, not in your hands”?
March 1st, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Three of my favorite taglines are from movies: “They’re Young, THey’re in Love, and THey Kill People”–BONNIE AND CLYDE; “Go to Church on Sunday, Go to Hell on Monday”–MEAN STREETS. My all-time favorite is from Don Siegel’s CHARLEY VARRICK starring Walter Matthau “When He Runs Out of Dumb Luck, He Always Has Genius to Fall Back On.” I used to have that poster in my office.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:35 am
I agree with Kath - that some of the best tags talk about what you can get from the company/product. The company I work for is “Find the Business That’s Right for You” — I am a bit bored with it but we are a search engine of businesses and franchises for sale so it works. However the two I always think of when this conversation comes up is not in that ‘customer benefit category’ — They are “It’s not a camera, It’s a Nikon” and “We are #1 in the #2 business”
March 9th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Our company went 15 years without a tagline, because we wanted to be flexible with our product/service strategy. When my new boss took over 2 years ago (my son) he wanted to focus on the elearning sector. The tagline we came up with is “Learning that lasts”. It speaks to the retention benefit obtained with truly interactive programs and simulations that let people learn by “doing it.”