- Jim Morris

Many of the finest minds in the marketing world will tell you that, when it comes to cooking up a good tagline, there’s really only one: “Don't.” To wit: don’t bother cooking up a tagline. Longtime creative Luke Sullivan thinks taglines are “just one more thing to cram in an ad.” Legendary adman Neil French is (leave it to the Brits) even more succinct. Taglines are, in his view, “a complete waste of time and energy.”Many of the finest minds in the marketing world will tell you that, when it comes to cooking up a good tagline, there’s really only one: “Don’t.” To wit: don’t bother cooking up a tagline. Longtime creative Luke Sullivan thinks taglines are “just one more thing to cram in an ad.” Legendary adman Neil French is (leave it to the Brits) even more succinct. Taglines are, in his view, “a complete waste of time and energy.”

These gentlemen could not be more mistaken.

In my view, a good tagline is far and away the single most valuable piece of marketing you can invest in. Notice, however, that I said good tagline. Most attacks on taglines are based on the fact that most taglines suck. Fair enough. But these foes ignore the fact that the harder-to-come-by, good-to-great tagline isn’t just valuable, it’s a brand’s best shot at immortality.
Crafted well, a tagline functions as a handle, a simple way to grasp what’s different and special about a brand. Far from being rendered obsolete by digital technology, a tagline is an absolute necessity in an age of byte-sized digital quickness and compression. It conveys a message in less time than a tweet and less space than a text message. People recall good taglines that debuted before they were even born. I ask you: What podcast or viral video can boast that degree of stickiness?

Of course, I confine my accolades to the good tagline, which obligates me to help define that. Well, no better way than to borrow a page from the “Don’t” people. Here then, some tagline don’ts:

DON’T pay attention to most of the don’ts you hear (uh, except for mine, I mean) such as “Don’t be negative” or “Don’t make the line long.” Why? There are too many examples that broke these rules and worked:  Nobody Doesn’t Like Sara Lee, and There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.

DON’T mistake a descriptor for a tagline. Words that simply describe a business (Joe’s Bakery. Breads, cakes and pastries) do not a tagline make. A tagline is a catchy word cluster that speaks to a brand’s personality and consumer experience: Lulu’s. Dim Sum and then some.

DON’T use tradespeak; most consumers are not fluent in it. Arcane or esoteric language cannot evoke the reaction you want. A dangerously inscrutable example: Hamamatsu. Photon is our business. Huh?

DON’T participate in the latest tagline fad. Words du jour (naturally, for example) quickly become meaningless. The latest craze: The missing malevolency claim: Excedrin. What ache? And: Glad Bags. What smell?

DON’T end your tagline with an exclamation point. Exclamation points usually smack of fake excitement or enthusiasm, and it’s like screaming at your customer. Nobody likes to be screamed at. Consider what an exclamation point would have done to the iconic tagline from Nike: Just Do It! A tagline crime.

DON’T try to say everything. On the other hand, try to say something. Preferably one thing. Like a Rock (Chevy Trucks).

DON’T be stupid. Here’s one to chew on: Solutions That Work. Really? As opposed to solutions that put you out of business?

DON’T ever overpromise unless you’re being funny. Loyola University. Where Extraordinary Lives Begin. Harvard might be able to justify that line, but Loyola? Once you get past notable grads like Bob Newhart, the list sort of drops off.

DON’T underpromise unless you’re being ironic.  Delta. We get you there. Excuse me, but, shouldn’t any airline do that?

DON’T shy away from cleverness, rhythm, rhyme, playfulness, intrigue, even provocativeness. These are precisely the qualities that make a line evocative, likeable and sticky. After everyone else (include Apple) boasted about thinking outside the box, Taco Bell stole the show with: Think Outside the Bun. Okay, on that note, now it’s your turn.


Jim Morris (a/k/a Tagline Jim) is a marketing consultant who can be reached at: Jim@Communicaterer.com.