Marketing slogans have long been a critical element in creating a corporate identity and building brand awareness. The most compelling lines deliver an electric surge to consumers — a current that stays in their minds year after year after year. Just think of the ultimate one-liner: “I love you.” It’s universal. It’s powerful. It’s the best example of human feeling simply explained and 100 percent straightforward.

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Over the past 10 years, the marketing profession has produced very few memorable lines. In fact, most slogans today mean nothing, do not spell out a unique selling proposition and get no traction with the consumer.

Take the auto industry. Can you -remember even one car company slogan? In my book, I cite the success of BMW’s long-running slogan, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” The rest of the industry has been scrambling for years to come up with great lines — and has failed. What about financial services? No great lines today, just meaningless words — Bank of America with “Higher Standards,” UBS with “You and Us.” These lines have achieved little attention or retention.

Even the political arena has fallen into the valley of slogan boredom. There hasn’t been a memorable slogan in presidential campaigns since Hal Riney, a copywriting expert and agency founder, created Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign slogan, “It’s Morning Again in America.” Walter Mondale, Reagan’s opponent, could only muster “America Needs a Change.” Snore.

A Compelling Story
Slogans should tell a unique story about a product or service, one that is honest and rings true. Here are some lines from years past that do just that:

• “When It Absolutely, Positively Has to Be There Overnight.” Federal Express ran with this line for 15 years. Absolutely spot-on in defining what the company does and why you should pay attention to its service.
• “A Diamond Is Forever.” Created by a young female copywriting expert in 1948, this line will be around as long as humans exist.
• “Coke. It’s the Real Thing.” And every other sugared water is not. Exactly! Coke should have put this slogan on the forehead of every employee and left it there.
• “Nothing Comes Between Me and My Calvins.” The brilliant launch of the first real designer jeans used Brooke Shields. This tagline put Calvin Klein on the map; it was sexy, sassy, and completely impossible to ignore.
• “Come to Marlboro Country.” This line perfectly reinforces the brand identity of the Marlboro cowboy and puts in your mind the fantasy of a beautiful western expanse where cattle roam free, trout jump in spring-fed streams and a ruggedly handsome cowboy in chaps takes a drag on a Marlboro while scanning the unlimited vista from atop a beautiful palomino horse. So it should come as no surprise that Marlboro gets thousands of letters a year from folks overseas asking, “Where exactly is Marlboro Country?”

Change Is Your Enemy
The decision to change a slogan warrants serious consideration. Over the past two decades it has become fashionable for companies to come up with something new on a regular basis. But this constant upheaval makes the whole exercise worthless. No one — not your employees, your customers, or your potential customers — can be expected to keep up with multiple versions of what your business stands for.

It reminds me of a story about Rosser Reeves, a legend at the Ted Bates Agency in the 1940s and ’50s. A client confronted Reeves one day and asked why he should continue to pay a substantial annual fee when the same ad ran time after time, year after year, without ever changing. Reeves replied, “To keep your people from changing what I’ve done.” Truer words were never spoken.

Here are seven tips to help you create a great slogan:

1. Think about incorporating your company name.
2. Try to use a phrase that rings true with all employees, no matter what their division or job skill.
3. Even if you don’t operate worldwide, assume you do.
4. Don’t throw out an old line because it’s old. In fact, you might have an old slogan that could be brought back or updated.
5. Don’t create a slogan by committee.
6. Create a jingle that brings the slogan to life.
7. Once you have a slogan that is shorthand for what your company is all about, stick with it forever.

– Steve Cone, author of Steal These Ideas! Marketing Secrets That Will Make You a Star (Bloomberg Press)

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