What’s in a tagline?

Taglines. Over the years I’ve written a few and heard all the rules about writing them. Keep them short. Write about the product’s benefit. No, describe its characteristics. No, sell the product. Don’t include the company name. It should be something you’ll keep forever, right? Uh, not quite.

Is shorter better? “Got Milk?” Perhaps. Although I’ve easily recalled BASF’s tagline, “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy; we make a lot of the products you buy better.”

What to write about? Call for sales: Volkswagen’s “Drivers wanted.” Benefit to consumer: Burger King’s “Have it your way.” Description: Carlsberg brewed “probably the best lager in the world.” I’m hard pressed to find one that did all three.

“Always Coca-Cola” included the product name as does Allstate, so I think you’re in good hands using it in the tagline.

Don’t change it? GE did. They first had “We bring good things to life.” The company and product development changed so much, that now their tagline is, “Imagination at work.”

This month a furniture store in the UK, Sofa King, is also changing their tagline. After nine years of ending their commercials with the same line, the Advertising Standards Authority caught on. “Our prices are Sofa King Low,” has been deemed offensive. (But hilarious.)

Regardless of all the supposed rules, my friend Bill Thomasson gave me the best advice. Make sure they’re available, defendable, memorable, and sustainable. Then just do it.

Instead of a photo this week I’m including a link to this  “Drivers Wanted” VW commercial: “Cornering.” It still makes me laugh.

Which tagline makes you happy when you hear it?