7 tips for creating a top tagline from a copywriting expert.
Tagline. Strapline. Slogan. Catchphrase. Whatever you call it, these few words can be your brand’s most powerful asset. Get them right and your simple, relevant and timeless tagline can last for years, or even decades.
A great tagline can do a lot of the heavy lifting for brands, especially if the brand name is abstract or uninspiring. It should convey what a product or service stands for, strives for, or believes in – or, most importantly, what’s in it for your customers. And ideally, it will become firmly entrenched in your consumers' hearts and minds for years to come.
After decades of creating more taglines than I can remember, here are my seven key steps for creating a meaningful, timeless tagline for your brand:
1. Know your brand. Know your audience
Don’t start brainstorming taglines until you have a clear understanding of your brand's core message, values, benefits, and target audience. What makes your brand unique? What emotions do you want to evoke in your customers? If you’re not sure, hire a brand strategist to point you in the right direction – it could be the difference between success and failure.
Once you’ve figured out your brand proposition (ideally in just a few pithy words), you can start playing with those words to create a tagline. But make sure you…
2. Keep it short & simple
The world’s most memorable taglines tend to be short. And succinct. Nike’s ‘Just do it’ and Apple’s ‘Think different’ are much touted examples, but there are so many more. In New Zealand, take Spark’s ‘Hello Tomorrow’ and Toyota’s ‘Let’s go places’ … they’re all made up of just two or three words.
One of my favourite taglines I’ve created is‘Turning lives around’ for Lifewise – three simple words that totally sum up the transformative effect of this social services agency. Similarly, ‘We spot change’ for MoleMap was a simple, clever way to demonstrate why MoleMap is different from their competitors – and convey the powerful reason to your skin checked.
There are plenty of longer taglines out there (think Mastercard), but the discipline of creating a tagline in 2 to 3 words is a very good place to start. Or, if you’ve come up with a more wordy tagline, can you shorten it with losing the meaning?
When it comes to taglines, less is definitely more.
3. Be all about ‘you’, not ‘us’
Try to avoid the word we’ in taglines. If it’s not about ‘us’, it can only be about ‘you’, the customer. (Full disclosure: I’ve broken this rule once or twice, but it’s a great place to start.)
Ask yourself ‘what’s in it for my customers’?’ Dig deeper and find out what they’re looking for, rather than what you offer. What need does your product or service answer? If you’re unsure, carry out some market research.
A great example of a customer-centric tagline is “I’m lovin’ it”. It doesn’t tell me that McDonald’s sells hamburgers, but it tells me that I’ll love the food, the service, the experience, and the brand.
4. Make it memorable
This is the hard part … and a very good reason to avoid AI tagline generators. Sure, you can start with a generator to get your brain fired up, but remember that most AI-generated taglines are likely to be clichés.
To create a truly memorable tagline, it helps to get playful with words. Some simple tricks include:
Alliteration – alliteration is a terrific tool to craft a catchy catchphrase (see what I did there). ‘Maybe it’s Maybelline’ is a famous example. ‘Should’ve gone to SpecSavers’ is another. The simple alliteration takes it to a whole new level of catchiness.
Rhyming – ‘Beanz meanz Heinz’ is perhaps the most famous example of a rhyming (or rhythmic) tagline. A local example is Genesis Energy’s ‘With you, for you’ strapline – four short, succinct words that speak volumes about their customer service.
Repetition – such as ‘Have a break, have a KitKat’. While this strapline is a whole six words long, the repetition is what makes it memorable. And of course, it has inspired decades of award-winning ad campaigns, making it one of the most enduring and recognisable taglines around the globe.
Onomatopoeia – or in other words, naming something by imitating the natural sound it makes. ‘Snap, Crackle, Pop’ is a brilliant example of this – your brain immediately pictures a tasty bowl full of snapping, crackling, popping rice bubbles.
Total opposites – another handy technique for creating catchy and playful taglines. ‘Expect more. Pay less.’ for Target says it all, while ‘Say yeah, nah’ totally reflects the Kiwi drinking psyche.
5. Avoid corporate jargon
You’ll never create a compelling and memorable tagline if you use clichéd words or corporate speak (even if you’re a B2B business). Generic taglines like ‘we’re building tomorrow’ will never stand out from your competitors or stick in the mind of your potential customers.
For Impact Lab, a New Zealand company that estimates social value, I created the tagline ‘Do good, better’. They could have used ‘Understand your social impact’ or ‘Measure, Compare, Invest’. Instead, this short, sharp line nailed what’s in it for their customers – namely not-for-profits striving to do good, better.
6. Inspire emotion, or action
Good taglines aren’t always clever or catchy. Instead, they’re simple and authentic. Aim to build a powerful emotional connection and inspire people to feel something – whether it’s excitement, empathy, hope or happiness. Or even better, to take action.
AirBnB’s ‘belong anywhere’ is so simple, yet deceptively powerful. To ‘belong’ is to feel at home, wherever you are. And ‘anywhere’ conveys that their services are worldwide.
Uber Eat’s new strapline: ‘Get almost, almost anything’ is another stand-out example. They could have said ‘We deliver almost anything’, but instead they created a playful, highly memorable line that’s also a call to action.
A brilliant campaign and tagline that I’m hoping will stick around for years. Which leads me to the next point…
7. Don't go changing
In my humble opinion, the best taglines are the truly timeless ones that have been used for years, or even decades. Nike’s ‘Just do it’ is arguably the world’s most famous example of a tagline that has become a mantra for millions of athletes (and not-so-athletes too).
Or my personal favourite, ‘Should’ve gone to SpecSavers’, is a consistent, highly memorable and engaging slogan that’s loved and recognised across the globe, even by those with dodgy eyesight.
On that note, many brands seem to chop and change their taglines as often as their T-shirts. There are many reasons for this; either to reflect a new vision, a new offering or new audiences, or simply because the old tagline wasn’t working.
However, it has been proven time and time again that a powerful, enduring tagline can improve help brand recall. So if your customers know, love and respond to your tagline … don’t be in a hurry to throw it away.
And, if you can’t nail a great tagline yourself, feel free to get in touch. In the words of our tagline, it’s ‘where brands begin’.
Sarah Walter is founder/creative director of The Namery®, a boutique New Zealand agency specialising in names, taglines, tone of voice, and bringing brands to life through words.
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