Taglines for Success

"Got Milk?," "Just Do It!," and "Good To The Last Drop." What companies do these taglines represent? The National Milk Processor Board, Nike and Maxwell House Coffee, respectively. These taglines have fulfilled their mission of achieving successful branding for the organizations they represent. Further, they have become integrated icons in business and in our culture.

Taglines help describe an organization’s unique selling points and add personality to a company’s marketing identity. Not all taglines become iconic, but most are expected to represent their company’s core message and help keep the company’s name in front of consumers.

Is your company’s tagline doing its job? Put it to the test with a bit of research; ask customers, employees and others in the community if they recognize the tagline. Does it capture attention? Are you incorporating your tagline in all marketing materials? Is your company in need of a new tagline? Taglines reinforce a company’s positioning statement and ultimately help increase sales. Is yours doing its job?

To begin creating a new tagline, seek a creative agency that understands your business and works well with your core staff. Bring critical material to the creative process. What does your organization do to improve your customers' lives? Know the benefits (not the features) that you provide to your customers.

The creative process of developing successful slogans or taglines is important. Successful slogans are short, snappy, and create excitement. Many taglines can also be described as "catchy" and should be universally understood by all of your target demographics. They are designed to attract attention and define the organization they represent. Slogans must also be easy to verbalize; you want consumers to repeat your tagline (either in their mind or out loud).

Once your tagline is created, consistently expose it to your target market. Incorporate your tagline in all marketing materials and have fun showing it off. A fitting tagline can become as well-known as a company’s name and helps increase sales.

The Marketing Game

Looking to break away from traditional advertising and expand into a new marketing vehicle to share your branding message? Gaming is becoming a viable marketing platform for many companies seeking to interact with specific markets.

Gaming has a dedicated audience, and there are plenty of companies anxious to utilize new marketing opportunities to target these players. Currently, the videogame industry is worth $25 billion, with 110 million players worldwide. Video games reach 70 percent of males aged 18 to 34—a significant demographic. There are a variety of strategies to access these gamers, such as advertising on gaming Web sites, in-game advertising and advertising on gaming community platforms.

From movies to television to gaming, consumers are interacting with products and services while enjoying their favorite recreational activities. For most companies targeting teenagers and males from 18 to 34 years old, the question is not whether gaming is a potential advertising medium, but how often and when a company should advertise in this medium.

Advertisers can interact with consumers in a new and dynamic way thanks to the innovative technology now available in games via handheld gaming devices, computer programs, Internet gaming and even on wireless phones.

Of course not all products and brands will find the gaming medium a profitable advertising venture. However, for those interested in tapping into the forever expanding gaming opportunities, now is a good time to jump into the gaming avenue and incorporate brands into this technologically-growing phenomena.

2008 Marketing Minute Archives
January/February | March/April | May/June | July/August | September/October | November/December