I need a slogan! Where’s my Magic 8 Ball?

Yesterday I discussed writing compelling headlines, or in the case of email messages, subject lines. A significantly more difficult assignment is writing a slogan. I’ve had the thrill of success in this endeavor over the years. It wasn’t without a lot of conversations coupled with research and some profound thinking.

As stated in this article in Inc. magazine, “Really great lines primarily come from having a very, very deep and thorough understanding of your client’s audience.” It’s rarely luck and it’s not typically a eureka moment. Yet, when the idea hits you, you have an instant awareness that you’ve found it.

There are many wonderful slogans in the history of advertising. Without a doubt, you can recite at least five of your favorites without even thinking about it. I suspect Nike, Apple, Maxwell House, DeBeers, Avis, Coca-Cola and Wheaties are top of mind for many of us. The list bespeaks the staying power of a superlative slogan.

Here are some I like with my own observations:

M&M’s: The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hands. 
I remember as a young boy thinking that was a brilliant line. I love chocolate, but I hated having to eat it super-fast lest it became a gooey mess in my hands. (I grew up one of seven boys - I didn’t dare put any food down…ever). M&M’s solved three problems for me: 1) I could eat them slowly 2) I never had to put them down 3) If a bigger brother muscled me into sharing, I still had some for myself.

Pringles: Once you pop, you just can’t stop.
So true! Pringles are addictive. The rhythm and the rhyme of the line really helps this slogan to stick. The tagline also told you that you weren’t alone; that others just like you kept eating chip after chip. It almost seemed like you were being given permission.

BMW: The ultimate driving machine.
Does this slogan need an explanation? Yes? No? Briefly? For its target audience, the line speaks to their passion coupled with a need to express their economic status. You’ve arrived when you arrive in a BMW. (Doesn’t that sound like a good tagline?)

Energizer: Keeps going and going and going.
You have to love the person who convinced the Energizer brand team that a pink bunny wearing sunglasses and beating a bass drum incessantly would be a perfect visual complement to the tagline. I can still see that drum stick swirling with the whooshing sound accompanying it. Memorable.

Memorex: Is it live, or is it Memorex?
The product promise is captured in this tagline. Back in the day of reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, hissing was a major annoyance to audiophiles. Memorex introduced a line of tapes that promised to deliver hi-fidelity so crystal clear, you’d swear you were listening to it live. It’s a thing of beauty when you can’t tell the difference.

Chrysler: Imported from Detroit.
This tagline put an exclamation mark on Chrysler’s bold announcement that it was reclaiming its place as one of the world’s top automobile manufacturers. It spoke of a fierce pride, of strength, resiliency and a heritage is a reflection of the city it calls home. The commercial and tagline not only reignited a lover affair with the people of Detroit, but revived optimism in Chrysler’s beleaguered dealer network. Powerful.

Honorable Mentions:
Motel 6: We’ll leave the light on for you.
U.S. Army: Be all you can be.
FedEx: When it positively, absolutely has to be there overnight.
Hallmark: When you care enough to send the very best.
Alka-Seltzer: Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.
U.S. Marine Corp.: The few. The proud. The Marines.

This list could go on forever. Feel free to add your favorites in Comment below.

If you find yourself in need of a slogan, hire a professional (like me), and expect to invest weeks, if not months, working through the creative process. Great slogans are not found in an online slogan generator, a Magic 8 Ball or a fortune cookie. It’s an iterative process. At times, the back and forth may become aggravating, but don’t settle until you know the words deliver on the promise of your brand and resonate with your audience. It’s too important to compromise or settle on something that’s just okay. A brilliant slogan can reap rewards for your business for years to come.

LiveJournal Tags: slogan,tagline,Magic 8 Ball,Inc.,Nike,Apple,Maxwell House,Avis,Wheaties,DeBeers,Clairol,M&M's,Pringles,BMW,Energizer,Memorex,Chrysler,copywriting,precision in communication,ghost writing,ad copy freelance,marketing communications consultant,social media writer,blogging

Headlines headline today’s headlines

I love writing headlines. As newspaper and magazine editors have known since the dawn of print publishing, the headline is the hook that reels in the reader. I relish the challenge of phrasing a headline that commands attention. I like to think of myself as the master of the headline - or in the case of email – the master of the subject line.

Like most writers, I have a rolling editorial calendar for this blog that I follow religiously. Ahem, sort of. I make exceptions when I am motivated to add my voice to a topic that is dominating social and/or traditional media. Or in the case of Overstock.com, I feel compelled to comment. My calendar is very simple; it consists of three columns: A) Date  B) Topic  C) Central Idea. Typically, I use only one or two words in the Topic column. Here’s last week’s Topics column:

Monday – Buzzwords
Tuesday – Innovation
Wednesday – Engagement
Thursday – Happy Thanksgiving
Friday – Disruption

Today’s entry is Headlines. Real original, right? Column C does the heavy lifting. Here, I describe the point of the post. I keep it brief explaining my idea in one or two pithy sentences. Today’s entry in Column C: It's the hook that reels the reader in. I am the master of the headline.

Believe it or not, quite often conceiving the headline is the last thing I do before publishing a blog post. As I wrap up this entry, I have yet to craft today’s title. In fact, I haven’t an inkling of one. I’m not worried though, I have a knack for delivering in the clutch.

Top Headlines Today
Let’s review a few headlines in various publications:

US man leaves jail in missing tourist case – Is he a contortionist? The tourist case is no longer missing if he left in it.

Bankruptcy Could Disrupt American Airlines' Rebranding – Gee, ya think?

FCC twists knife in AT&T's chest; Criticizes 'false claims' over acquisition of T-Mobile – Was it a pen knife, butcher knife or a machete?

Tech Firm Implements Employee ‘Zero Email’ Policy – Really? Can I work for you?

How to Spot a Liar in 20 Seconds Flat – Walk into the sales department? Talk to a politician?

Clearly, crafting a clever headline is a talent. Unfortunately, most news headlines tend to be dull. My favorite is the last one, although the first one gets props simply because it’s humorous when taken literally.

That is the risk with headlines: if not written well, they get noticed, but the response is usually anything but what the writer or editor intended. So be sure you put some deep thought into how you title your press releases, newsletter articles, brochures, blog posts, email messages and every item on your web site (or hire me to do that for you).

Excuse me, it’s time to write a headline.

LiveJournal Tags: headline,subject line,editorial calendar,copywriting,precision in communication,ghost writing,ad copy freelance,marketing communications consultant,social media writer,blogging

The worst practice of best practices

“We’re following best practices to ensure we become a world class organization.”

Really? Doing as others do assures you an ascent to world class status? Seems to me it will more likely deliver you to the land of mediocrity. Following in another’s shadow casts a dim light and a “me too” label on your brand.

Best practices is not the mindset of innovators. Of mavericks. Of risk-takers. It also isn’t in the biography of the men and women who made fantastic life-changing discoveries in science and medicine, created new industries with their inventions, or altered the business and social landscape with their hi-tech applications.

“Why would I want to use best practices? I don’t want to be like everyone else.”

If only more leaders would think like this, we’d truly have differentiation and stronger competition in the majority of our industries. Executives would drive their companies based on a clear vision, rock solid set of values and an unshakeable confidence that they will out-think, out-wit and out-work the opposition.

Instead, we have executives who succumb to the quarter-by-quarter profit demands of Wall Street, react to what they are hear from prospects, customers, the channel, analysts and the media and adjust their strategy regularly to ensure they don’t miss the boat the competition is captaining.

It’s a bizarre mindset, being a leader who follows. And it’s quite possibly the worst practice of best practices.

LiveJournal Tags: best practice,innovators,mavericks,risk-takers,buzzword,credibility,copywriting,precision in communication,ghost writing,ad copy freelance,marketing communications consultant,social media writer,blogging

What’s with all the disruption?

There’s so much market disruption these days that it’s the new norm. Or so it seems with how often the buzzword is thrown around by marketing and PR professionals, analysts and the media.

To get ahead of the curve, some have turned to predicting disruption.

So the question is, can a product be disruptive before it’s released to market? Bloomburg Businessweek believes so. To promote its coverage of disruption, the company placed an arresting full page advertisement in the November 7, 2011 issue of Advertising Age with the single word headline “Disruptive.”  The dominant image behind the headline is the cute yellow dancing robot, My Keepon. The copy proclaimed that My Keepon “is poised to shake up the $83 billion toy market.”

Really? I suppose they could be right. The robot is quite cute and its range of dance moves and sound effects will likely prove very entertaining to youngsters. Toys ‘R’ Us purchased exclusive U.S. rights to sell My Keepon, and they have planned a big push for this holiday season. BeatBots LLC couldn’t have asked for a better retailer for the little guy.

We’ll see if My Keepon lives up to expectations and turns the toy robot market segment on its ear. Or will this be another example of a company deploying a buzzword to create some hype for itself?

LiveJournal Tags: disruptive,Bloomberg Businessweek,My Keepon,Toys R Us,Advertising Age,BeatBots LLC,buzzword,credibility,copywriting,precision in communication,ghost writing,ad copy freelance,marketing communications consultant,social media writer,blogging

A bountiful harvest

As another year winds down, we pause to reflect and give thanks for all that is good in our lives. Family. Friends. Love. Food. Health. Home.

I hope you have much to celebrate and plenty of occupied seats at your Thanksgiving table.

Let’s get engaged

Are you engaged? Whether or not you have a significant other or someone you’ve committed yourself to, chances are, the label engaged fits you in some capacity.

Engaged is an attribute marketers and customer relationship professionals ascribe to a company’s customers.  There are varying degrees of engagement, a continuum if you will, and strategies continue to evolve to move customers along that continuum in an effort to marry them to a brand.

When the concept of engagement first entered the customer acquisition, retention and experience discussion in the mid 2000’s, the advertising industry was leading the conversation. According to Wikipedia, the Advertising Research Foundation announced the first definition of customer engagement at the re:think! 52nd Annual ARF Convention and Expo in March 2006:

"Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context."

I’m not exactly sure what this definition means, and many others didn’t get it either. So, a number of subsequent trial balloons were sent up by marketing, customer relationship and advertising professionals. None stuck. In 2007, Richard Sedley adapted a definition put forth by Ron Shevlin, a respected authority on customer engagement, that seemed to resonate well:

"Repeated interactions that strengthen the emotional, psychological or physical investment a customer has in a brand.

This and similar descriptions of an engaged customer gained traction and companies began to seek out authorities to help them establish customer engagement strategies.

Remarkably, or perhaps I should say, disturbingly, by late 2007, customer engagement was already being described as a buzzword. It took less than two years for some to grow weary of the discussion. That’s incredible. It didn’t dim the din, though. The noise grew in the ensuing years along while many flavors of engagement evolved:

• Customer engagement
• Employee engagement
• Online engagement
• B2B engagement
• Channel engagement
• Social engagement

When social media exploded onto the scene, it turned the customer engagement dynamic on its ear. Suddenly, engagement was no longer entirely controlled by the vendor. Consumers had the tools to develop or participate in communities outside of any vendor domain. Communities were created around a brand and the company had nothing to do with it. In some cases, companies found themselves in the awkward position of having to ingratiate themselves with the community organizers to earn themselves an invitation to join.

Corporations also took a proactive approach, though, and established their own social engagement strategies and programs. Social engagement is all the rage today and the noise around it is louder than ever.

Engage in all its forms continues to be a marketing buzzword and a driving imperative for many customer-centric companies. The power of attraction simply cannot be denied.

So, dear reader, as a consumer, you are engaged. You just didn’t know it.

LiveJournal Tags: engage,engaged,customer engagement,social engagement,jargon,buzzwords,catchphrase,innovation,credibility,copywriting,precision in communication,ghost writing,ad copy freelance,marketing communications consultant,social media writer,blogging

I just innovated, hear me roar

Is it just me or is the power of the word innovation so diminished in business and industry that it rarely fires the imagination and sometimes barely captures the attention of customers, prospects, media, analysts and The Street?

Oh really? Another innovation? (Yawn)

The noun is thrown around like candy at a children’s parade. Marketing and executive management have homogenized the term by applying it to visions, ideas, products and services that may be unique and somewhat differentiated, but fail to rise to the strata of innovation.

Some companies have a strong heritage of innovation and consistently deliver on breakthrough ideas, processes and products. Think Apple. Google. 3M. Toyota. GE. These companies have earned the merit badge and can tout their achievements in branding and advertising with no shame.

The problem I have is that many other companies co-opt the term and debase it. They announce a revision or next generation release of a mature technology and assign and speak of new capabilities that aren’t really much of a leap forward; rather, they’re the next logical progression.

In business and economics, innovation is the catalyst to growth. It’s this spirit that fuels the American economy. But innovation is so over-hyped now, it’s nauseating. It frustrates me that it has become another buzzword.

LiveJournal Tags: corporate communications,jargon,buzzwords,buzzword bingo,catchphrase,innovation,credibility,copywriting,precision in communication,ghost writing,ad copy freelance,marketing communications consultant,social media writer,blogging