By Pam Teel
In business, a slogan is “a catchphrase or small group of words that are combined in a special way to identify a product or company,” In many ways, theyare like mini-mission statements.
Companies have slogans for the same reason they have logos: advertising. While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations of a brand. Both formats grab consumers’ attention more readily than the name a company or product might. Plus, they’re simpler to understand and remember.
The goal? To leave a key brand message in consumers’ minds so that, if they remember nothing else from an advertisement, they’ll remember the slogan. A great slogan has most or all of the following characteristics: It’s memorable. It includes a key benefit. It differentiates the brand. It imparts positive feelings about the brand.
Although both “slogan” and “tagline” tend to be used interchangeably, they actually serve two different purposes. A slogan encompasses a company’s mission, what it stands for, and even how it’s helping customers in the individual campaigns the company might run. A tagline is a catchy quip that evokes an image of your brand in the minds of your customers. Taglines enable people to make lighthearted associations with your business: Taglines are more often next to the company’s logo on official advertisements, and are dedicated more specifically to brand awareness than slogans. Slogans carry a brand’s values and promises as the company grows and evolves, and can be promoted under an overarching company tagline. Here are examples of some of the best brand slogans of all time.
- Dollar Shave Club: “Shave Time. Shave Money.”
- MasterCard: “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”
- M&M: “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands”
- De Beers: “A Diamond Is Forever”
- Meow Mix: “Tastes So Good, Cats Ask for It By Name”
- Verizon: “Can You Hear Me Now? Good.”
- The U.S. Marine Corps: “Semper Fi”
- Ronseal: “It Does Exactly What It Says on the Tin.”
- The Mosaic Company: “We Help the World Grow the Food It Needs”
- Pitney Bowes: “We Power Transactions That Drive Commerce”
- Nike: “There Is No Finish Line”
- Nike: “Just Do It.”
- Apple: “Think Different.”
- L’Oréal Paris: “Because You’re Worth It.”
- California Milk Processor Board: “Got Milk?”
- BMW: “Designed for Driving Pleasure.”
- Tesco: “Every Little Helps”
- Bounty: “The Quicker Picker Upper”
- Lay’s: “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One.”
- Audi: “Advancement Through Technology”
- Dunkin’ Donuts: “America Runs on Dunkin'”
- McDonald’s: “I’m Lovin’ It”
- The New York Times: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”
- General Electric: “Imagination at Work.”
- State Farm: “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There”
- Maybelline: “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.”
- The U.S. Marine Corps: “The Few. The Proud. The Marines”