“10 Tips for the
Ultimate Tagline”
by Eldo Barkhuizen
A tagline (also known as a “strapline”) is a punchy slogan that follows a logo or company name. For example, Jaguar’s tagline is “Don’t dream it. Drive it.” IBM’s tagline is “I think, therefore IBM.”
The tagline evokes an image of the product or service whenever a person reads or hears it. It helps to establish a brand in a person’s mind.
10 Tagline Tips
Keep your tagline
- SIMPLE – 5 short, one-syllable words are easier to remember than 25. Nike’s “Just do it” tagline is more powerful than Iberia Airlines’s “The best connections in the world mean nothing if an airline forgets the human one.”
- POSITIVE – taglines with negative statements don’t sell.
- ORIGINAL – taglines like “Beanz meanz Heinz.” Avoid taglines like Dixons’s “The future ... for less” or Hyundai’s “A car first. A badge second” – which could apply to a hundred different companies!
- BENEFIT-LADEN – try to include a main benefit in your tagline, something that will appeal to a reader’s “What’s in it for me?” mindset. For example, Backlife’s “Your personal back pain therapist.” The reader/hearer shouldn’t say, “So what?”
- MEMORABLE – if your tagline sticks in their mind, potential customers will think of your product or service before that of a competitor. For example, on the side of TESCO superstore trucks, “You shop, we drop.” Or DFS’s “Think sofas, think DFS.” Or the Automobile Association’s “Just AAsk.”
- MEANINGFUL – if your tagline doesn’t make sense, no one will remember it. For example, Abbot Ale’s “When you’re ready, you’ll find it” or Foster’s “Tickle it you wrigglers!” What do these mean? Make sure a person whose first language isn’t English will understand your tagline. An Australian may know what “Tickle it you wrigglers!” means, but would someone from another country?
- WITH THE BRAND NAME INCLUDED, IF POSSIBLE – the Automobile Association’s “Just AAsk” is a more powerful tagline than the anonymous Malaysia Airlines’s “Going beyond expectations” or WH Smith’s “More of what you really want.”
- WITH A SENSE OF THE BRAND’S PERSONALITY IN IT – WeightWatchers’ tagline “The weight is over.”
- INTERESTING – does WH Smith’s tagline “More of what you really want” grab you?
- FREE FROM THE POSSIBILITY OF PROMPTING A NEGATIVE REMARK – Mobil’s tagline “We want you to live” could give rise to “That’s obvious!”
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