Slogans

Advertising slogans are short, often memorable phrases used in advertising campaigns. They are claimed to be the most effective means of drawing attention to one or more aspects of a product.

The purpose of the slogan in an advertisement is to leave the key brand message in the mind of the target (that's you). Its goal is to stick: “If you get nothing else from this ad, get this..!” A few well-known examples of these slogans include:

· American Express: “Don’t leave home without it”

· Apple: “Think different”

· Wheaties: “The breakfast of champions”

· McDonalds: “You deserve a break today”

· M&M candies: “M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand”

Unfortunately, ad slogans don’t always work, usually because they are generic.

Slogans vary from place to place. In many parts of the world they are “slogans”. In the USA, they are tags, or taglines. In the UK, they are endlines, or straplines. Germany prefers claims while France uses signatures. In the Netherlands, they are pay-offs. Slogans are often treated as trade marks (™ in most countries). For legal protection, the line must be registered with the appropriate government trademark 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.

A perfectly-formed tagline should fulfill several criteria. First, it should be memorable. Memorability has to do with the ability the line has to be recalled unaided. A lot of this is based on how much the line has been used over the years. Alliteration (Jaguar: “Don’t dream it. Drive it.”), coined or made-up words (Louis Vuitton: “Epileather”), puns, and rhymes are good ways of making a line memorable.

A good tagline should include a key benefit of the product for the potential buyer: “Engineered like no other car in the world” does this beautifully for Mercedes Benz. “Britain’s second-largest international scheduled airline” is a “so what” statement for the late Air Europe. You might well say “I want a car that is engineered like no other car in the world,” but it is unlikely that you would say “I want two tickets to Paris on Britain’s second-largest international scheduled airline!” There’s a well-known piece of advice in the world of marketing: “sell the sizzle, not the steak.” It means to sell the benefits, not the features.

In addition, a good tagline should differentiate the brand: “Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach” does this brilliantly. It’s a classic. The line appears in seemingly impossible situations, such as a deserted expressway in the rush hour, with the line “Only Heineken can do this”. The line should depict a characteristic about the brand that sets it apart from its competitors, such as these lines that deliver differentiation:

· 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”

A good tagline should also recall the brand name. What's the point of running an advertisement in which the brand name is not clear? 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 visual logo (the Swoosh). The word Nike is unspoken and does not appear. This technique forces the viewer to say the brand name.

One of the best techniques for bringing in the brand name is to make the tagline rhyme with it:

· “Don’t be vague. Ask for Haig.”

· “It needn’t be hell with Nicotinell.”

· “See the USA in your Chevrolet.”

· “You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.”

The competitive edge is lost when the brand name is not the rhyme. Examples include “A Mars a day helps you work, rest, and play,” and “We will sell no wine before its time (Paul Masson).” It could easily be “An apple a day helps you work, rest and play,” or “Ernest and Julio Gallo will sell no wine before its time.”

An effective tagline should impart positive feelings about the brand: All the lines mentioned previously do this, some more than others. “Once driven, forever smitten,” for example, or “Coke is it!”, or America’s Newport cigarettes: “After all, if smoking isn't a pleasure, why bother?” Negative taglines as negative book titles don’t sell the product.

Quite importantly, a good tagline should not be usable by a competitor. A competitor should not be able to substitute a brand name and use the line. Many slogans have absolutely no competitive differentiation, such as “Simply the Best”. You could add any brand name to the line and it would make sense. Slogans that are apple-pie clearly suffer a weakness. Examples include “For those who value excellence” (Henredon Furniture), “We make it better” (Singer), or “We make it happen” (Unisys).

Usually, slogans are created as advertising copy by professional writers among whom writers of serious literature, such as novelists may be found at times.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11