Far too often, as if they’ve pulled terms from a cliche-word-generator, an organisation’s first most important message is meaningless. Their 2-10 word opening story – as a value proposition, slogan, tagline – fails. It fizzles instead of flying, is a three cent mess, rather than being a Million Dollar Message. And instead of inspiring more … Continue reading The seven words your value proposition, slogan or tagline should NEVER have
Category Archives: Tagline
Do all the political parties have a random cliche slogan generator to create their key message? After all, this is their value proposition. Or, is the brief to be so bland that people are bored into voting for them? Even ‘at least the election has got more interesting’ Jacinda Ardern has not taken the opportunity … Continue reading Are these the most boring political slogans ever?
Never, ever, believe anyone who says that creating a tagline or slogan or positioning statement is easy. It can’t be since it is a massive challenge to condense your message to a succinct 2 – 10 words that express your heart and soul and value proposition. Crafting a what, how and why proclamation takes mental … Continue reading PledgeMe starts its story (tagline) perfectly
The billboard I walk past often first got me interested when The Good Taste Company’s dips, endorsed by chef Michael van de Elzen, used the term “My great tasting dips are good from scratch”. Originally, it was the ‘good from scratch component that took my fancy Good from scratch is very close to, though obviously different to … Continue reading Good Taste cook themselves a million dollar message
Now advertising agencies are good at imagination and creation, at mocking-up and perfecting collateral associated with a brand. But, and at the risk of being hung out to dry, those skills don’t cross-credit for your first, most important story – (or tagline). These two to 10 words are a real challenge to uncover no matter … Continue reading Why ad agencies are terrible at taglines
Where does a company’s story start? Often right from its brand name. But often that doesn’t really tell you what it does, what it promises, why a consumer should care. That means a tagline has is in fact its headline. It is the beginning of a company’s story. Indeed, it is what someone can and … Continue reading Why your company’s tagline has to do your message’s heavy lifting
Inspired, or rather uninspired by the use of the world ‘solution’ in a brand name or tagline, the thought came around what other words should be given the big miss. Without too much trouble, superior, excellence, committed, unique.There’s two good reasons to steer well clear of such terms. They mean nothing – and, in actual … Continue reading ‘Solution’ is not the solution – even if it sounds like it should be
Show me someone who knows it all – and I’ll get them to run for god. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your point of view) no one knows everything. No writer, no matter how intelligent, can know the ins and outs of a particular industry or sector. No business person, in spite of a depth … Continue reading Collaborative message making means you can make 1 + 1 = 3
Look at the following picture outside Trade Aid’s central Wellington shop. Then check its tagline (which indeed is the first thing you see) Hand made change Three words that combine to make a distinctive, different and desirable message. Not only does it reflect the change that Trade Aid is helping to bring to under-developed economies, … Continue reading A tagline…nailed
Or, why your tagline needs to nail your company’s promise If your company name doesn’t indicate what you do, then the tagline, sometimes known as a slogan, is especially important. It needs to be distinctive and different; and that’s what makes it valuable. That’s because it is the start of your conversation with your customer. … Continue reading Would you start a story by giving it a misleading headline?