As far as good taglines go, Just Do It gets a lot of accolades.
As far as good taglines go, Just Do It gets a lot of accolades.
As someone who creates taglines, I like it too—in part because it’s illustrative. It’s a great example of how a tagline should work as part of an overall branding effort … of how it’s like the cherry on the sundae, the just-right accent that pulls together the other elements of your branding materials and makes them resonate even more deeply. Also, it’s beautifully and purposefully open-ended. It, what?
As someone who creates taglines, I like it too—in part because it’s illustrative. It’s a great example of how a tagline should work as part of an overall branding effort … of how it’s like the cherry on the sundae, the just-right accent that pulls together the other elements of your branding materials and makes them resonate even more deeply. Also, it’s beautifully and purposefully open-ended. It, what?
By itself, it might seem a little naked. But taglines don’t exist by themselves. They exist as a part of your larger marketing and creative efforts and you can count on those materials to create a platform and context for them—which means, you don’t have to ask your tagline to say it all. And yet, it’s pretty common to find taglines that struggle under the weight of trying to say it all.
Here’s an example of a tagline that tries to say too much: Unique, comprehensive and creative strategies serving your legal and business interests … blah blah blah. On a similar note, I was writing for a B2B client (industrial focused) a while back and was asked to create a tagline for one of their divisions. The client said they wanted a line like this …and I quote … “the most innovative and complete line of hydraulic hose solutions for today’s competitive world.” This throws in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. It tries to say everything and ends up saying nothing.
If you spend some time looking at taglines, you’re sure to find plenty that are overburdened by a “must-say-it-all” mentality. The result is, of course, that when you try to say everything you end up saying nothing—and ringing up lots of agency fees to say it.
That’s why I like to think of the tagline as a verbal logo. Done well, the best logos shine with a certain economy of design that conveys everything they need to without sinking under the weight of trying to say too much. Taglines should shine with a certain economy, too: of message. So take the time and do the brand work necessary to get down to the gooey center of what’s so sweet about your bank or credit union and make that substance the heart of your tagline.
This is part 2 of our 3 part series on what makes good taglines good, and weak taglines weak. .
