How to Create a Meaningful Company Slogan that Sets Your Brand Apart

2/18/2019 - By Andrew Bowen, APR

Every day, I see and hear taglines and slogans for companies and organizations that are meaningless to their stakeholders. Perhaps you do, too. A few examples: The Curious Bank; Quality is in the Details; Nothing sucks like an Electrolux; It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken; Always in Beta; Every bite is a different temperature; Be Stupid; Better than it has to be since 1923.

Ouch.

Creating a memorable, meaningful, relevant, motivational company or brand tagline or slogan must be a disciplined process that starts with a team brainstorm. The brainstorm team must be composed of no more than 10 senior and junior people from several disciplines in the organization.

I prefer a group that includes the CEO on down through HR to IT, PR, marketing, sales, operations, maintenance, accounting, security, shipping, receiving, fulfillment and so on. The more gender, ethic and age diversity, the better.

The entire brainstorm should last no more than one hour, and it should be audio recorded. Questions for the group can vary somewhat, but if you will CONTACT ME, I’ll share with you the top 12 questions we ask when Clearview leads messaging brainstorm sessions.

Normally, the audio recording will be about 5,000-6,000 words, and it is a gold mine you should cherish. When analyzed and distilled down to a written executive summary of about 1,000 words, you have a treasure trove you will use to create taglines, slogans, key messages, searchable keywords, talking points, soundbites for spokespersons, social media posts, speaker notes, web copy, sales copy, audio and video scripts, recruiting efforts, elevator pitches and more – all the uniform messaging you need that characterizes your culture, mission, vision and beliefs.

A Wonderful Example

In preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2019, the leading Florida CPA/financial advisory firm Saltmarsh Cleaveland & Gund eagerly participated in a rather animated messaging brainstorm we led in November. The general consensus of the brainstorm group was that the firm wanted to celebrate 75 years of success, a look backward, but also wanted to articulate its intention to be a player for decades to come, a look forward.

We distilled the 5,000-word audio recording transcript to this slogan, widely used and displayed everywhere during the 75th anniversary celebration this year:

A foundation for the future built on generations of trust.

All of those words individually and collectively were counted numerous times in the brainstorm written summary. The task was to put them together in a meaningful way, which I believe we all did.

The 1,000-word executive summary with various key messages, key words, soundbites and other messaging was also vital in helping Saltmarsh’s smart marketing team and graphic designers develop the 75th anniversary logo and content on the Saltmarsh 75th Anniversary Landing Page.

A branding success story and a role model for all organizations seeking to define and differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

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About the Author | Andrew Bowen, APR
Andrew Bowen (Accredited in Public Relations) is one of the most seasoned, experienced and trusted PR professionals in the nation. Bowen has four decades of experience in the communications industry as a newspaper reporter and editor, political press secretary, government public information officer, advertising/public relations agency executive, author, crisis communications counselor, executive media interview coach, and firm owner.