Brand Taglines

We have been asked on many occasions to create taglines for brands. In fact, I believe that developing brand taglines (and elevator speeches) are the most important next steps one can take once a brand has been positioned or repositioned. 

A tagline should achieve all of the following:

• Communicate the brand’s unique value proposition (promise)
• Be succinct
• Be memorable
• Cause a person to want to know more about or interact further with the brand

Achieving all of the above is more easily said than done. Over time, I have found that the less sophisticated the client, the more they are primarily interested in a tagline that sounds good, even if it doesn’t really say the right thing or anything at all about the brand. Many relatively unsophisticated clients would choose a tagline option that sounds great but that is completely off brand strategy over one that just sounds good but perfectly communicates the brand’s unique value proposition.

Yes, it is up to the brand consultant or marketing agency to create the perfect tagline, one that does all of the above, but I am amazed at how many clients are willing to walk away from their brand strategy to embrace a cool sounding tagline that means nothing. I have heard clients say, “I like that tagline because it could mean anything” or “I like that tagline because it could mean different things to different people.” Or worse yet, “That sounds so cool. Does it really matter if it communicates our brand’s promise?” Yes it does. Why bother with a tagline if it is not helping position your brand the way you want it to be positioned? Don’t settle for a tagline that just sounds good. Wait until you have found one that achieves all of the above criteria. You will be glad that you did.