What’s a slogan?

A tagline, also called a tagline, tagline, tagline, signature, claim, payoff, or baseline, is a short phrase or phrase intended to grab attention and quickly convey a specific message. People mostly use it in advertising and politics, and either way, they’re generally trying to make the audience more familiar with someone or something. Occasionally, the purpose is to bring individuals together under a common purpose, often with the goal of social change. Traits like rhyme are relatively standard, but some of the more effective versions have broken tradition entirely. It is common for a group or company to change one based on the change in culture and goals.

Scope

A widely recognized purpose of a slogan is to communicate information about a company, product, service or candidate, helping people become familiar with and remember what is available. Ideally, this information differentiates whatever a company or other group is promoting from what competitors might be offering. At the same time, it should convey the company’s or organization’s underlying mission, showing commitment to consumers or voters. The hope is that by promoting someone or something in this way, people will eventually demonstrate loyalty, which ultimately improves market share, increases sales and profits, or gets a person in charge.

While most people associate slogans with advertising and sales, a secondary purpose is to unify. In fact, the word “slogan” comes from the Scots-Gaelic sluagh-ghairm tanmay, which is roughly translated into modern English as “war cry”. First used around 1513, it referred to the chants that combatants used to rally together for battle and frighten the enemy. In contemporary societies, people often sing them during political protests, marches or general campaigns. A famous example is “Hell no, we’t go!”, which Americans shouted outside the New York Armed Forces Induction Center on December 6, 1967 to protest the draft in the midst of the Vietnam War.

Common traits

Slogans are meant to be catchy, so creators often write them to have a distinct beat. Many of them are purposely set in a rhyme scheme. These techniques cause the line to fit into a natural speech pattern that sounds good to the ear or, as marketers say, has a memorable “sound.” Most fall somewhere in the range of 6-8 words in length, as anything much longer becomes harder to remember.

The company or candidate name is often included, particularly when a company specializes or someone wants their name to be clearly associated with an objective or skill. The slogan for Ace Hardware Stores® is a good example:
Ace is the right place for the helpful hardware man.

Here, the company not only includes the name of the business, but also communicates, in rhyme, the idea that the shop is where people should go for hardware supplies, all while using the word “useful” to to imply that being able to repair or build is a positive trait.

Another good example is from Budweiser:
When you say Budweiser, you said it all.

This sentence doesn’t actually say anything about the product, but conveys the notion that the company itself is well established and reliable, capitalizing on the sense that the brand embodies something big. Approached in this way, it can be applied to any product made by the company and therefore has broad appeal and potential for use.
Some of the more effective versions don’t use the company or group name, however, focusing instead on the traits of the product or service, or the experience of having or using it:
Once you break out, you can’t stop anymore. (Pringles®)
In all of these cases, the companies focus – and are likely successful – on making the consumer feel good. This positivity is another common trait, because the general belief among marketers is that people will shy away from anything that makes them physically, emotionally, or mentally uncomfortable.

Break tradition
In several cases, companies have managed to use slogans that break almost all of the slogan “rules.” They don’t rhyme, use the company name, stick to the standard length, or even really say what the company offers. Perhaps the most famous example comes from Nike®:
Just do it.
The line asks the question: “Do what?” The answer marketers were looking for was to get moving, get fit and healthy. Hidden within this promoted success was a much greater message, however, the idea that customers should follow their dreams and not give up. People have enthusiastically attached themselves to this concept of power.
Similarly, in President Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, the use of “Next” was somewhat ambiguous. She didn’t mention his name, and it was just a single word. Even so, he successfully embraced the belief that Obama believed the United States needed to move forward, to establish new policies and systems that would get it out of a bad economic situation and improve overall success.

These cases show that slogans can deviate from traditional marketing standards and still be successful, provided they stick to or appeal to a philosophy or sentiment held by large numbers of people in the target market. They demonstrate that selecting or crafting a good slogan is very much about understanding not only human nature, but also the cultural contexts surrounding the company, product, service or campaign. Marketers and campaign leaders often put a lot of effort into learning about people and society for this reason, with some companies spending huge sums each year on marketing research.
Change
Understanding that they represent something or someone at a given moment within a specific social perspective, these lines are not necessarily static. Companies often change them if they feel the original ones no longer represent what the companies are trying to do, or if the market has shifted so that consumers are looking for something different. While changing slogans is common, executives typically take these changes seriously, because the new phrase can have a dramatic effect on how people see the brand and whether they buy. They usually try to come up with something that will work for a while so that people have a chance to really get used to and remember what is on offer.
Creation process
Sometimes, a person who runs a business or is part of a marketing team is able to come up with a slogan without much conscious effort, i.e. the line “it just gets to him”. More often, however, individuals work together to create it, brainstorming and brainstorming ideas with one another. They usually think critically about whether each idea fully conveys the right message, and make changes until they find something they believe will work. The next step is to narrow down the choices and get approval from executives to use the best option. From there, those who are working on marketing or political campaigning can start incorporating the phrase into merchandise, documents, posters, and other tools such as websites.
Appearance with other items
Taglines can appear on their own, which is common when space is limited, such as on a bumper sticker, or when marketers feel it is more effective or powerful when kept simple. More often than not, they are paired with other elements, such as images. Numerous research studies have shown that people remember one better if it’s set to a song, so product “jingles” are a big part of advertising on radio, television, and the Internet.
Legal issues
Many regions have regulations that allow you to brand a slogan. When a business or person chooses to do this, it severely limits how others can use the phrase or phrase, protecting future sales or preventing confusion about a brand or concept. Laws often allow people to pay for authorized use.

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