Monday, 27 February 2012

Do Slogans Still Have A Part To Play In Business Today?


 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/management-advice/9075668/Think-Tank-Brands-still-need-words-to-get-the-message-across.html

 
 Discussion on - an article taken from the Telegraph online, posted on the 11th of February 2012.

 
Inspiration gained:

 
  •    How slogans can animate a company and its employees, not just shape what consumers might think about its brand
  • The most affective slogans, with examples
  • Slogans that are not very affective, with examples
  • And how now brand names are used more than catchy slogans
 
 Why slogans do animate companies?

 
It can only take three words to animate a company, for example:
‘Never knowingly undersold’ - John Lewis
‘Every little helps’ – Tesco’s
‘Just do it’ – Nike

 
One of the most iconic is ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’ – Heinz Baked Beans. Which has been used since it was founded 1967 within a pub. This being particularly clever because of the similarity of the words and the letter (s), which should be at the end of the words with a (z), still has an understandable but unique affect.

 
These slogans have animated these companies within the United Kingdom and overseas. Creating massive brands, which can be recognized purely by three simple words.

 
These simple words are used especially by brands such as Nike because of their strong global presence; the words are more understandable than John Lewis’s slogan ‘never knowingly undersold’, which may be more difficult to a global audience to understand.

 
Although it "acts as a reminder to our customers of our pricing policy', a company spokesperson has explained, "its main purpose is as a discipline upon our central buyers to ensure that, in arriving at their selling prices, the best possible value is offered to our consumers".

 
This shows that John Lewis’s slogan has more than one meaning, which could be confusing for potential consumers and for people understanding the brand.

 

 
However the simplicity and shortness of Nike’s slogan means it only has one meaning and therefore helps to make it more memorable and easier to brand their products with. For example the slogan often features on their products such as t-shirts. This makes the slogan more affective for the business and more recognizable to a wider audience.

 

 
Other factors of a business may be more important than slogans:

 
Slogans need to be used well to be affective in a positive way otherwise they can have a negative affect and give the wrong impression of a brand.

 
Designed to demystify the intimidating world of DIY, Ronseal's "Does Exactly What It Says On The Tin" was originally rejected for being too boring.

 
Audi's ingeniously re-purposed "Vorsprung Durch Technik", spotted on a wall and plundered unapologetically on a factory visit, was similarly rebuffed in research, this time for being "too German".

 
Slogans have also become less of an important factor more recently due to the name of the brand or company being seen as a lot more important.

 
Understanding and leveraging their power remains an important and potentially lucrative task for marketers’ because, as Mark Twain once put it: "Actions speak louder than words, but not nearly as often".

 
Images are arguably more important than three words. Visual association is a lot more common with the colour red for example being associated with ‘coke a Cola’. An advantage of a strong brand image is also that there is no language barrier like slogans that are used.

 
‘Jingles’, jingles are often used to create brand recognition, which is very recognisable, especially for children. For example ‘BN, BN’ was immediately recognisable when being advertised on television and a lot more affective on the younger generation.

 
However, finding a brand name, which is simple, memorable and catchy, seems to be key to success for many businesses nowadays.

 
For example: ‘the twitter affect’, in 2009 twitter was the most spoken word in the UK according to the global language monitor dater. By that time the business had only been running for four years.

 
Moreover the card industry is an example of where businesses have used unique names to create more affect, for example: Funkypidgeon.com and Moonpig.com

 
No copyright intended 

 
Images taken from:

 
 
 
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=joh+lewis&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1279&bih=605&tbm=isch&tbnid=eoSje12J9ShwXM:&imgrefurl=http://searchlocaljobs.co.uk/john-lewis-jobs/&docid=7L3x5DNyePhX0M&imgurl=http://searchlocaljobs.co.uk/john-lewis-jobs/images/John%252520Lewis%252520Store.jpg&w=250&h=166&ei=7OlLT9m3MYuu8QPzwtmzDg&zoom=1

 
 
 
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=nike+just+do+it&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1279&bih=605&tbm=isch&tbnid=VkEj8vb1aRvrXM:&imgrefurl=http://blog.crowdspring.com/2010/07/tagline-slogan-marketing/nike-just-do-it/&docid=O3mDE8zfqD_diM&imgurl=http://blog.crowdspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/nike-just-do-it.jpg&w=581&h=581&ei=DupLT4GoMInu8QO2t9C0Dg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=121&vpy=170&dur=419&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=121&ty=120&sig=102174241805041392403&page=1&tbnh=118&tbnw=130&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

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