I’m a big fan of Seth Godin. I almost always find his ideas stimulating. More often than not, I agree with him but I take exception to his blog posting of Saturday, Feb 19:
What’s a slogan for (banal on purpose)
At MWC (Mobile World Congress), Claes Magnusson saw the following slogans on 25 different high tech booths.
Built Around People, Shaping Tomorrow With You, Leading A Smarter Planet, Your Messages Shape Our Future, Now What?, The Power Of Now, Today Changes, Power To You, Powering The Smartphones Of Tomorrow, Just Add Friends, Connecting the world enabling value, Creating experiences TOGETHER, Delivering Tomorrow’s Experiences Today, No Longer Just An Idea, Bringing You Closer, Smart Devices, Simple World , Innovation Delivered, Simply Your Solution, The Future Changes Everyday, Take Charge Of Profits, Simply Different, Deploy Everywhere, There Is Here, Discover What’s Possible, and No Hidden Surprises.
What are they for? Do they mean anything at all?
I think the big company corporate slogan is like heavy paper on the annual report, white space on the billboard and a suit on the sales rep. It’s a signal, a sign that the company is big, that it’s able to waste time dreaming this stuff up and waste money yelling about it. No one actually reads the slogan (at Yoyodyne, the internet company I founded in 1992, our stolen slogan was,”Where the future begins tomorrow.” It was written on our business cards and everything. I don’t think 1 person in a 100 commented on it).
Not everything you do actually gets a response. In fact, most of it doesn’t. But each effort is a tiny brick in the wall of perception, even when it appears to be dumb and even senseless.
Seth is on to something here, but I think he went a little overboard. “No one actually reads the slogan.” Really, Seth? Isn’t that a gross overstatement? Taglines and slogans not only do get read, the good ones even get remembered. “It’s the Real Thing.” “This Bud’s for You.” “I’m Loving It.”
The real question is whether the taglines mean anything. Seth starts to pursue that issue but then gets caught up in his own rhetoric. Too bad because I think that’s the real question to be asked about taglines and slogans, especially the ones developed for tradeshows, meetings and events.
It’s true there are some “dumb and senseless” taglines out there. I’ve walked many a show floor and attended many a conference myself. Sadly, there are probably more bad slogans out there than there are good ones. So do we eliminate the practice altogether? How about holding ourselves to a higher standard, instead? How about becoming better marketers and insisting that our event taglines actually deliver on their purpose?
We can start by asking ourselves some hard questions.
Does this tagline communicate my company’s primary brand position?
Does it convey my brand’s personality or a key brand attribute?
Does is succinctly state the company’s core business value proposition?
A primary marketing message?
Is that message easily grasped?
Does the message resonate for the audience at this event?
Great taglines can cut through marketing noise and differentiate a brand, product or service. How about yours? Is it dumb and senseless? Or does it attract, engage and inspire?