When carefully defined, taglines and slogans can reinforce your brand’s value proposition and provide a reason for your audience to connect with your message. In fact, many brands are recalled by their taglines and not by their names – it is the tagline or slogan that influences their perception in the market and helps consumers identify the service or product that they provide. Here are some reasons why taglines and slogans really matter:

They facilitate top of the mind Brand recall:

Good taglines are memorable and provide top of the mind recall and salience for the brand. It makes differentiation/comparison/ evaluation easier and helps consumers with the purchase process and decision. Good taglines become a very critical piece of the brand identity- customers tend to remember well-crafted taglines- even better than the brand names. This helps in clearer understanding and positioning of the brand in the hearts and the minds of customers. It also attracts attention and delivers an accurate picture of what your Brand is all about.

L’Oréal’s slogan “Because You’re Worth It” was launched in 1973 and has proven to be timeless. The message is all about what the woman thinks – her self-confidence, her decision, her style. Today, these four words clearly showcase what the brand represents; an astonishing 80% of women recognize and respond to this positive phrase and powerful sentiment. What makes the tagline even more powerful (and beautiful) is that L’Oréal uses it all across its operations – “in its philanthropy, its products, and its thoughtful celebration of women”.

They clearly highlight your Brand’s Value Proposition/ Promise:

If you’re thinking “My brand doesn’t need a tagline,” or, “Taglines are of no use”, you are mistaken. Although some great companies do just fine without one, a tagline helps communicate your brand promise in a clear, concise, and memorable way. The tagline also serves as a constant reminder to your customers as well as your employees of what your Brand seeks to stand for in the hearts and the minds of its customers. And in that it reinforces your brand’s identity.

Take FedEx for instance. Their tagline “The World on Time” showcases exactly what FedEx can do – deliver packages on time! And that’s not all. A tagline as powerful as this evokes an emotional response; when customers read or hear the tagline, they realize that FedEx chooses punctuality over everything else. Through its tagline, FedEx conveys it understands how important time is for its customers (and hence for itself) and ensures their package, their message, and their “world” is delivered on time.

Amul, with its “The Taste of India” tagline brought about a paradigm shift in the Indian retail market. The tagline highlights the commitment of the brand in taking quality food products to every individual in this vast nation; products the common man could never afford. By making non-essential items such as chocolate and ice-cream available to the aam aadmi, AMUL ensures its products reach every rural corner of the country and “The Taste of India” reflects this value proposition accurately.

They can help in unifying all Brand Communication:

Good taglines and slogans can effectively anchor and act as a start point of all marketing communications and campaigns. Since companies market their products using a variety of channels including billboards, print, email, mobile, and social media advertising, a strong tagline or slogan binds all the elements of the campaign together. This creates a strong brand recall in customers’ minds. If your social media posts are fun and exciting, but your product packaging plain and boring, you risk sending mixed signals that will only confuse your consumers and leave them feeling your brand can’t be trusted. A tagline or slogan can be used not just for advertising purposes, but also on promotional items such as bags or caps or t-shirts and even on the actual product packaging. The end result? Familiarity, consistency, and hence trust across channels, products, advertisements, and consumer groups.

Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ is one of the simplest and most powerful slogans of all times – a slogan that was coined in the year 1988 and exudes strength and drive even today. And their consistency has certainly paid off; reports suggest that the slogan enabled Nike to increase the share of their sport-shoe business from 18% to 43%, ($877 million to $9.2 billion in worldwide sales) in the first ten years!

To sum it up…

Whether you’re a big company or small, a well-thought-out tagline or slogan can surely make your business. Although in the grand scheme of branding, crafting a tagline is becoming more commonplace and almost trivial, especially in a digital world where attention spans have shortened and screens have become pocket-sized. But ignoring the importance of taglines would be a huge mistake. As we have shown, they play a very important role in letting consumers quickly and efficiently sum up what you are all about. They capture the true essence of your brand’s promise in a few words. They conjure up positive images of your brand. They aid in brand recall. And they ensure brand consistency. And that, like Boost, is the secret of their energy!

 

Looking to craft an effective tagline for your brand? Write to us on info@lokusdesign.com.