Advertising Slogans

 Slogans are used as a quick way for consumers to remember exactly what the company wants the consumer to know.  They are often very memorable and stick with viewers for a long time.  According to Encyclopedia Britannica, advertising is the “techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised.”

 In earlier times, word was spread by mouth.  When people wanted to get their name out in public for services, it had to be done by word of mouth.  This occurred until the mid 15 th century when the printing press was invented.  So what does that have to do with slogans?

 With the development of the printing press, companies could advertise in publications.  In the 17 th Century, a weekly newspaper in London began to run ads.  However, since the cost to print was expensive, those putting their businesses in the press wanted to reduce the space that was required.  That is when they began to shorten what the companies wanted to put into the paper. This is considered to be the birth of slogans by many historians.

 In addition to reducing the costs of putting advertisements in the press, they also wanted the consumers to be able to remember something about the company.  Since consumers are bombarded with many different advertisements on a daily basis, companies want to get their message quickly into the intended targets’ head.  There is no better way to do this than to give a clever, quick sentence that is easy to remember.

 While some slogans have been able to stick, not all slogans have the success that was hoped for by the companies.  This happens because they are often “generic, ready- to-wear, off-the-shelf lines that are taken out and shined up, ready to be used again and again when the creative juices have stopped flowing” (How Stuff Works).  If the intended target group thinks that the slogan being used is boring, then the consumer is also going to infer that the product is boring.  Conversely, if the target group finds the slogan catchy, they are more likely to remember the slogan and think to purchase the product.

 For a slogan to be successful, it should meet certain criteria. It should:  Be memorable- if consumers can remember the slogan, they will be able to remember the product.  Include a key benefit- sell the benefits, not the features. Companies should let consumers know what the consumer is going to get by using their product.  Differentiate the brand- the slogan should describe a characteristic about the brand that sets it apart from its competitors.

 Impart positive feelings about the brand- if a company talks poorly about its product, consumers are going to avoid it thinking it is a poor product before even trying the product.  Trendy- often, slogans follow the slogans of other companies. The latest trends have slogans that are either a single- word line or are all in three words.

 Let’s look at some product slogans to see how well they have done: Just Do It

Be All That You Can Be

The Ultimate Driving Machine

Don’t Leave Home Without It

Good To The Last Drop

With the person at your table, come up with a slogan a company could use to sell their new product. Make sure to use the previously discussed criteria to create a perfect slogan. You will have ten(10) minutes to complete your slogan. Write it down on paper and hand it in. We will read all of the slogans after they have been collected.