Funny, catchy or silly, slogans can speak for themselves
Reading Eagle/January 13, 2002
By Christopher D. Six
Eagle/Times Correspondent
"Put a tiger in your tank." "Just do it." Advertising slogans, when well communicated, become interchangeable with the products they promote. Just what is a company slogan meant to convey, however, and what goes into crafting an effective slogan?
"A slogan, or a tag line, if you will, is really a reflection of the company’s brand," explained Missy Orlando, president and CEO of The MLO Group in Reading. "The brand is the identity that they’re trying to create with their new clients and their existing client base. It is really based on feeling, not fact."
And that slogan, when effective, will plant itself in the memory of the consumer, according to Eddie Solomon of Bridge Plaza, N.Y.-based Ediwriter.com, an online marketing firm.
"The slogan is a unique statement," he said. "An effective slogan will attract attention by forcing the viewer to stop and think, and it will make such a strong impression that the viewer will memorize it."
Tom Raifsnider, owner Eagle Auto Radiator Service in Reading believes his business's slogan, "A good place to take a leak," accomplishes that task.
“It’s an eye catching slogan," said Raifsnider. "We’re in the radiator business. If you would have a leaky radiator, the slogan says it’s a good place to take a leak.”
Eagle Auto Radiator Service's slogan originated with a firm which supplied business accessories, but for some companies, creating a unique slogan is a process that may depend on research about what the company is and who it serves, according to Jerry Thacker, president of Marketing Partners Inc. in Wyomissing. "You want the slogan to reflect back to the consumer how you meet their needs. That’s really the essence of a good slogan."
"For example, we created a slogan for Graco, ‘Baby-safe products you can trust,’ and that was based upon the fact that our research showed that those were the two things that people wanted," he continued. "They wanted safe products for the baby and they wanted to be able to trust the company that made them, so in essence we were feeding back to them what was already in the consumer’s mind."
Kevin Post, general manager of West Reading-based Reick’s Printing, feels the company's slogan “Mastering the fine art of printing” achieves the goal of informing customers how their needs will be met.
“I think it says to the customer is we work our hardest to try to give them the best product that we possibly can,” he said.
How a slogan is crafted varies depending on the client base of each individual business.
"In the case of our own company, since we have as a client base primarily companies with strong values, and in many cases our clients are religious ministries, our slogan is ‘We understand your values,'" Thacker said. "In the case of a broader company -- say like a GE, ‘We bring good things to life’ -- they make such a broad range of products, it’s harder to summarize what they are in just a few words. They managed to capture that in their slogan pretty well."
"There is a very definitive branding process that combines the mission statement of a company with some small consumer research," agreed Orlando. "You have to look at the focus of what the company’s trying to accomplish, what their financial goals are, what their culture is, and at the same time put a call to action in there. Give people a reason for why they would want to do business with you."
"For example, The MLO Group’s tag line is ‘Marketing solutions for your success.’ We are a marketing company, so we tell you that right up front," she continued. "We’re not going to define what success means for the client, but they can be assured that when they do work with us, we’re going to be working to find marketing solutions that will help them be successful for their business."
While a slogan projects to the consumer what a business is about, Thacker believes it also projects a company's image to its employees.
"A slogan sets the tone for the entire corporate body," he said. "Which means if you have people in far-flung parts of the world or different plants around the country it helps set the tone for everybody from top to bottom. From suppliers to employees it tells people who you are, and what you are and what you are trying to do."
But Orlando believes a business must keep in mind that the primary goal of a company slogan is to promote the business to the consumer.
"Certainly it reflects your mission statement as a company, but it is also very important that you don’t assume what it means for the public," she said. There is a fine line between balancing the slogan and the company's mission statement, she added. A company needs to articulate its mission in a slogan that entices a consumer to want to do business with it.
"An employee can feel pride seeing his company's slogan, but the slogan is for the customer," agreed Solomon.
In an ever-changing economic landscape, company slogans have remained an effective tool for businesses to cut through clutter and get their message to the consumer.
"Part of that’s because we need to get a hook in the mind of the consumer about our identity, " said Thacker, who also credits business-naming trends with the popularity of the company slogan.
"Many of our companies today have fallen into what is called ‘the no-name trap,’ their letters are what they are calling themselves by, like CSI or something like that, which doesn’t mean anything by itself," he continued. "You have to make it mean something by adding something to it. We have a society which is really fond of TLAs -- three-letter acronyms. It really doesn’t say anything about what your company does."
While leading companies boast large advertising budgets, smaller companies do not have the same revenue available, which Orlando fears may lead smaller businesses to believe that creating a slogan is a wasteful expenditure.
"When you look at somebody like Nike or Reebok, Southwest Airlines, they spend millions of dollars to get you to identify with their brand. Like the Nike ‘swoosh’ and their slogan ‘Just do it,’" she said.
"Small business owners are going to think that they’re not able to afford something like this. That’s really not true," she continued. "It doesn’t cost a lot of money. Small business have to find a way to be able to cut through the clutter and get their company recognized."
Reading Eagle/January 13, 2002
By Christopher D. Six
Eagle/Times Correspondent
"Put a tiger in your tank." "Just do it." Advertising slogans, when well communicated, become interchangeable with the products they promote. Just what is a company slogan meant to convey, however, and what goes into crafting an effective slogan?
"A slogan, or a tag line, if you will, is really a reflection of the company’s brand," explained Missy Orlando, president and CEO of The MLO Group in Reading. "The brand is the identity that they’re trying to create with their new clients and their existing client base. It is really based on feeling, not fact."
And that slogan, when effective, will plant itself in the memory of the consumer, according to Eddie Solomon of Bridge Plaza, N.Y.-based Ediwriter.com, an online marketing firm.
"The slogan is a unique statement," he said. "An effective slogan will attract attention by forcing the viewer to stop and think, and it will make such a strong impression that the viewer will memorize it."
Tom Raifsnider, owner Eagle Auto Radiator Service in Reading believes his business's slogan, "A good place to take a leak," accomplishes that task.
“It’s an eye catching slogan," said Raifsnider. "We’re in the radiator business. If you would have a leaky radiator, the slogan says it’s a good place to take a leak.”
Eagle Auto Radiator Service's slogan originated with a firm which supplied business accessories, but for some companies, creating a unique slogan is a process that may depend on research about what the company is and who it serves, according to Jerry Thacker, president of Marketing Partners Inc. in Wyomissing. "You want the slogan to reflect back to the consumer how you meet their needs. That’s really the essence of a good slogan."
"For example, we created a slogan for Graco, ‘Baby-safe products you can trust,’ and that was based upon the fact that our research showed that those were the two things that people wanted," he continued. "They wanted safe products for the baby and they wanted to be able to trust the company that made them, so in essence we were feeding back to them what was already in the consumer’s mind."
Kevin Post, general manager of West Reading-based Reick’s Printing, feels the company's slogan “Mastering the fine art of printing” achieves the goal of informing customers how their needs will be met.
“I think it says to the customer is we work our hardest to try to give them the best product that we possibly can,” he said.
How a slogan is crafted varies depending on the client base of each individual business.
"In the case of our own company, since we have as a client base primarily companies with strong values, and in many cases our clients are religious ministries, our slogan is ‘We understand your values,'" Thacker said. "In the case of a broader company -- say like a GE, ‘We bring good things to life’ -- they make such a broad range of products, it’s harder to summarize what they are in just a few words. They managed to capture that in their slogan pretty well."
"There is a very definitive branding process that combines the mission statement of a company with some small consumer research," agreed Orlando. "You have to look at the focus of what the company’s trying to accomplish, what their financial goals are, what their culture is, and at the same time put a call to action in there. Give people a reason for why they would want to do business with you."
"For example, The MLO Group’s tag line is ‘Marketing solutions for your success.’ We are a marketing company, so we tell you that right up front," she continued. "We’re not going to define what success means for the client, but they can be assured that when they do work with us, we’re going to be working to find marketing solutions that will help them be successful for their business."
While a slogan projects to the consumer what a business is about, Thacker believes it also projects a company's image to its employees.
"A slogan sets the tone for the entire corporate body," he said. "Which means if you have people in far-flung parts of the world or different plants around the country it helps set the tone for everybody from top to bottom. From suppliers to employees it tells people who you are, and what you are and what you are trying to do."
But Orlando believes a business must keep in mind that the primary goal of a company slogan is to promote the business to the consumer.
"Certainly it reflects your mission statement as a company, but it is also very important that you don’t assume what it means for the public," she said. There is a fine line between balancing the slogan and the company's mission statement, she added. A company needs to articulate its mission in a slogan that entices a consumer to want to do business with it.
"An employee can feel pride seeing his company's slogan, but the slogan is for the customer," agreed Solomon.
In an ever-changing economic landscape, company slogans have remained an effective tool for businesses to cut through clutter and get their message to the consumer.
"Part of that’s because we need to get a hook in the mind of the consumer about our identity, " said Thacker, who also credits business-naming trends with the popularity of the company slogan.
"Many of our companies today have fallen into what is called ‘the no-name trap,’ their letters are what they are calling themselves by, like CSI or something like that, which doesn’t mean anything by itself," he continued. "You have to make it mean something by adding something to it. We have a society which is really fond of TLAs -- three-letter acronyms. It really doesn’t say anything about what your company does."
While leading companies boast large advertising budgets, smaller companies do not have the same revenue available, which Orlando fears may lead smaller businesses to believe that creating a slogan is a wasteful expenditure.
"When you look at somebody like Nike or Reebok, Southwest Airlines, they spend millions of dollars to get you to identify with their brand. Like the Nike ‘swoosh’ and their slogan ‘Just do it,’" she said.
"Small business owners are going to think that they’re not able to afford something like this. That’s really not true," she continued. "It doesn’t cost a lot of money. Small business have to find a way to be able to cut through the clutter and get their company recognized."