Creating slogans – what to remember?

A slogan is a short linguistic message that can affect brand recognition. It is a kind of business card for a company, and its content should match its mission and strategy. It is one of the most important tools in the process of creating a brand image.

Creating effective slogans requires not only creativity and practice in concisely conveying ideas, but also sociotechnical skills from their creators. Good slogans stay in the recipients’ memory for a long time, and are often willingly repeated by them, which is a factor in their success.

Corporate slogans take the form of a short form, thanks to which they can be presented together with the corporate logo on various elements of visual identification, which increases the communication power and positioning of the brand. Their conciseness forces the creators to include only the most important things, thanks to which this communication is characterized by coherence and clarity.

Of course, creating a catchy slogan is an extremely difficult task, which is often worked on by numerous groups of copywriters. The best ones can cost even hundreds of thousands of dollars! So what should you remember when starting the process of creating it? First of all, you should take into account a few basic features on which the most recognizable slogans are built. And these are primarily:

Avoiding the banal

Sounds… banal? It seems so, but you can very often come across slogans like: “the best for your skin” or “the taste of the highest quality”. This is unlikely to distinguish the brand from others, and it certainly will not make it memorable to the recipients. Originality and everything that is not associated with a hackneyed platitude are important in a slogan.

Word games, double meaning

What distinguishes an attractive slogan from a boring one is the use of interesting word games. Recipients love ambiguities. A witty slogan with a hidden meaning, or one with a double meaning, makes it more memorable. Examples include: “Keep your hand on Plusie” (Plus GSM), “nie ma jak u Malmy” (a pasta manufacturer who used a line from a song by Wojciech Młynarski), or Mocne cigarettes, which once used the slogan “mocniny w gubie”.

Consistency

It seems like “obviously obvious”, but not everyone remembers it. A good slogan is one that is consistent with the brand, product and its target group. Examples? A slogan for a banking company should not be too “casual”, due to the nature of the institution (e.g. “Bank BPH – simply fair”), while for producers of youth brands, too rigid a slogan will not work (e.g. Top Secret and “strictly cool clothes”).

Communicating benefits

This is where we should start, because it is the first thing that the recipients pay attention to. “What will I get from it?” “What benefits will I receive after making a purchase?” “What will this product give me?” The slogan must therefore meet the customer’s needs and communicate the benefits associated with purchasing products of a specific brand, while avoiding the banal phrases mentioned in the first sub-item.

Memorability

There is a large group of slogans that, despite the language barrier, are known all over the world. These are slogans that are not translated into the native language even in non-English-speaking countries, but are nevertheless understood and remembered. For example, McDonald’s and “Im lovin it”, Adidas “Impossible is nothing”, or Nike “just do it”. These brands are known all over the world, and most people, upon hearing the slogan itself, would be able to assign it to the right brand. Creating a slogan that will be as well known as the name itself is a huge challenge that not everyone can meet.

About the last slogan mentioned in this subsection – do you know what the famous “just do it” has in common with… the death penalty? Well, this slogan was created in 1988 during the development of a promotional strategy for Nike. The brand was to appeal to both people who are just starting their adventure with sports and to professionals in this field. The creator of the slogan did his best to create a slogan that would attract crowds and be catchy. Dan Wieden – because that’s who we are talking about – remembered the words spoken by Gary Gillmore, who 11 years earlier was sentenced to death for murder. Just before his execution, he was asked if he had any final words to say. All he said was… “let’s do it.” Wieden simply changed the “let’s” to “just,” and thus one of the most popular slogans in history was born.

Introducing a brand to the market involves a constant struggle for recognition and customer acquisition. This is such a difficult task that it is sometimes difficult to stand out due to strong competition. Many factors contribute to how a brand will be perceived by customers, including a catchy slogan. With this properly constructed, you can achieve a lot, which can have a real impact on the company’s success.