What is a Slogan?
If any brand is to stand out in the competition, the team behind it must ace the marketing game. An effective marketing strategy requires a solid and memorable brand persona that converts viewers into loyal customers. A slogan is one of the critical elements of establishing and sustaining this brand persona.
In short, a slogan is any short and memorable phrase used in commercial advertising to promote a brand, service, or product. Slogans take place in product packaging or commercials on traditional and alternative media platforms. Slogans attract the viewer’s attention to the brand and encourage audiences to purchase the promoted products. They should highlight the gist of your brand and products in a simple yet catchy way.
Slogan vs. Tagline
There are many different ways of establishing a unique brand identity. Tagline is another one of these ways. There are some differences between a slogan and a tagline, which are useful for you to know.
Slogans are used to commercialize a particular product and promote a service to lead the audience to purchase more. Taglines are to inspire the audience and let them associate your brand with a particular idea that does not have to be specifically linked with what you are selling.
The main goal of finding a slogan for your services is to promote it to a greater extent. Slogans, which are used in product packages and various commercials, tend to trigger sales.
Taglines, on the other hand, aim to attract the audience’s attention and raise awareness about your brand image in general. It is much more linked with building a brand identity that would stick in minds. In opposition to the slogans, taglines do not change frequently with every different product your brand proposes to the market. They have to be more permanent since the main goal is not to sell but to keep your brand memorable.
It might be challenging for even experienced copywriters to grasp the nuances between a slogan and a tagline. Though at times they might be used alternatively, being able to divide these two terms from one another raises a brand’s chance of mastering the marketing game.
Just like slogans, taglines are usually composed of simple and catchy words. Nike’s “Just Do It” is a popular example of a tagline. It is not particularly about a single product that Nike offers but addresses the brand itself in a broader term. The phrase connotes a sense of immediacy and activity, which helps the audience link the sports brand with a coherent idea and image.
Apple’s “Think Different” is another example of a popular tagline. Rather than promoting a single and exclusive service that the renowned technology brand offers to its customers, it recalls an idea that refers to the overall image of the brand. This tagline is used to represent the brand as standing out in the crowd with original ideas and makes the loyal purchasers feel the same way.
Types Of Branding Slogans
Slogans cannot be narrowed down to a few simple sentences. Being the backbone of successful marketing for your brand, they require attention and expertise.
There are a few types of branding slogans, all of which address a different motivation and function on behalf of the viewers.
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Descriptive Slogans: A descriptive slogan usually avoids various word games and cuts straight to the point. It tells your audience what your brand, or the particular product of your brand, does, aims, and addresses. It directs a more literal message to your potential customers and depends upon reliability and clarity.
BMW’s famous slogan, “The ultimate driving machine,” is one effective example of a descriptive slogan.
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Creative Slogans: In the hands of experienced copywriters who know how to think outside of the box, creative slogans aim to impress the viewers in ways that no other brand has done before. They go for immediate interest and response from the viewers. They do not only inform the brand and product but also entertain the masses. Most of the time, they are unconventional, playful, and even inspire the viewer to think.
Lays’ “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One” is one example of a creative slogan, not only attracting viewers’ attention to the product but also challenging them to purchase it with a friendly tone.
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Persuasive Slogans: The gist of marketing is to persuade the viewers to purchase your products. Persuasive slogans have such compelling messages that they drive your target audience to give your brand a try before becoming loyal customers. These usually use imperatives to influence the viewer. Writing a persuasive slogan without sounding too commanding and even noisy might be a challenging business. A copywriter who knows the very highlights of the brand and product will come up with a persuasive slogan that is right on point.
KitKat’s years-long slogan “Have a break, Have a KitKat” is one example of a persuasive slogan. It calls the audience to consume the product in a simple and effective way.
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Emotive Slogans: Emotional appeal triggers purchases. Emotive slogans go for an emotional response from the viewers. By making people feel something, and associate the feeling with your brand and products, these slogans tend to build intimacy with the audience.
Coca-Cola’s “Open Happiness” is a good example of an emotive slogan that stands out. It immediately juxtaposes the product with the feeling of joy.
How to Write a Catchy Slogan or Tagline
We see successful examples of slogans and taglines on a daily basis on TV commercials, billboards, and even noisy pop-up advertisements on web pages. Writing a catchy and clear-cut slogan and tagline may seem a bit easier than it really is.
If you are in the process of coming up with a slogan that will stay in the audience’s mind for a long, there are a few essential steps that you need to consider.
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Decide What You Go For: Slogans do not accept wordiness. You also do not want to miss fire the gist of your brand. Even though you have thousands of ideas about your brand that could be polished with a slogan, narrow them down and decide what you want to say. This includes not only the ideas your slogan will deal with but also your language in addressing it: do you want your brand language to be assertive and commanding or friendly and playful? It is time to get your head together and determine.
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Brainstorm: Do a blackboard exercise or doodle on your tablet. Create a space for your wild thoughts to wander freely. Brainstorming is a key and essential triggering factor for every good idea that has ever come into the world. Purge your brain out of every idea you are dealing with, write or draw them down, and experiment with them until you get the creative spark.
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Get Inspired (but do not plagiarise): It is never a bad idea to search through all the other successful examples and get inspired by other brands’ trademarks. You can get your inspiration even from the most unexpected. However, do not forget that inspiration and plagiarism are not the same. Avoid stealing the ideas of other marketing professionals, and be alert while coming up with the perfect tagline for your brand.
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Get Inspired (from your brand): This might be tricky, but even your brand that currently lacks a tagline could be a powerful source of inspiration. Consider your logo and start with it. What is the visual language in the logo you chose for your brand? What does it tell? In times when you are overwhelmed with so many ideas wandering, refer to your logo and aim for consistency. If your slogan is coherent with what your logo says, it builds trust and a solid brand identity.
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Test Your Slogans: You will come up with several ideas while looking for the best slogan for your brand. Do not hesitate to test your slogans. Do not forget that you will not be the judge of your slogan, but the audience will be. Ask your colleagues and even your relatives: try to make sure that your slogan is meaningful, clear, memorable, and presents a clear-cut connection with your brand.
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Choose and Put Into Action: Deciding on a slogan is as challenging as coming up with it. After testing it and making sure that that will be the best choice, it is time to finalize your work. Put your slogan into action, let it be featured in your marketing campaigns, and see what happens.
Tips for Writing a Best Slogan
Sometimes, even the most successful crew can face a creative block. Simple tips and guidelines are always efficient for a creative professional. At times, if you need further help with diversifying and polishing your ideas, do not hesitate to visit this list.
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Make it punch: Do not forget that what you go for with a slogan is to get an immediate response from the viewers. It should not drive the reader to philosophize on life but raise awareness for your product. A slogan should be short, clear-cut, and on-point. This is the key to memorable outputs.
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Aim to inspire and impress: A slogan must stir your audience to give a try to your brand and purchase your products. Do not forget that it needs to inspire and impress the people. It could either go for emotional appeal or use the magic of persuasion in doing so. Either way, do not let your slogans hang in the air and fade away. Let them make a change.
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Keep it simple: Clarity is the key to effective advertising. If you try to convince viewers to purchase your services, you need to avoid lengthy explanations and keep it simple. It is not a novel you are writing but a slogan for your brand that will skillfully present the very gist of your brand.
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Make it timeless: It is usual for slogans to evolve and change over time. However, it is best for you if your slogans and taglines can endure the passage of time. When the trademark of your brand is able to get a response from different generations at different times, it means that it goes for a universal feeling and/or idea. Keep in mind that timeless slogans are the most memorable ones, and renowned brands use them on their behalf. Think of KFC and McDonald’s famous taglines, “Finger-licking good!” and “I’m loving it!” and realize how they have managed to sustain the same appeal for years.
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Think outside of the box: Do not hesitate to be ridiculous when you are trying to come up with slogans and taglines. Keep in mind that the most creative ideas are born when people challenge their limits and stand out.
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Include the brand’s name: Though it is not a rule, sometimes it could be helpful for creative professionals to come up with slogans when they include the brand’s name. Slogans, after all, are tools of branding. Do not hesitate to include your brand in it and go for greater brand recognition.
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Use alliterations, puns, and rhymes: This is not a poetry class, but writing a good slogan requires expertise as much as poetry does. If you want your trademark to stay in people’s minds, push the limits of language. Go for creativity, and experiment with literary devices to come up with catchy slogans.
Slogan Creation Tools
If the tips above were not helpful enough, or the creative block overwhelms you, you can also use the power of the AI. There are numerous slogan creation tools out there that help you with the fog in your mind and come up with the best slogan for your brand.
These slogan-creation tools work with a simple mechanism: they come up with taglines depending on the keywords you give them. Based on your input, the tool generates slogans and taglines tailored to your brand image.
You do not have to use the slogan creation tool to finalize your work. It could be your starting step as well. While you brainstorm, give all of your ideas to the tool as input keywords and let it inspire you. You can even determine the tone and length of your expected tagline and direct the process in the way you want and feel in control.
5+ Free Slogan Creation Tool Examples
In order to save you from searching for the best slogan-creation tools, we have listed a few of them here. These slogan-creation tools are completely free, and they offer you creative guidance while you save time and money.
Shopify Free Slogan Maker: Being a popular e-commerce platform for businesses, Shopify also provides users with free slogan and tagline maker tools. The tool works with your keyword inputs. In case you need more guidance, Shopify provides users with the most browsed and used keywords for different industries. If you are coming up with a tagline for an eyewear brand, you can make your choice accordingly on the website and let Shopify generate slogans for your particular product.
Designhill Slogan Maker: Designhill is a creative marketplace that also provides its users with free slogan and tagline maker tools. The website offers creative professionals an array of memorable slogans in just a few clicks.
Grammarly AI Slogan Generator: The renowned Grammarly offers its users a free slogan-generating service. All you need to do is share basic details about your brand and product. This tool also lets you choose the formalities of your slogans, such as the tone and length, and makes it much more flexible for you to get inspired. You can, then use Grammarly to check if your language is mistake-free.
Canva Free Online Slogan Generator Magic Write: Canva’s online slogan generator, Magic Write, works with simple inputs. Whether you are looking for slogan ideas for your flower shop or accessory brand, you can insert Magic Write what you want and let it come up with creative ideas for you. Canva also offers users several examples of how the tool works.
Copy.ai Free Slogan Generator: The fifth and last one of our slogan generator recommendations is copy.ai’s free slogan generator tool. The tool simply provides users with ten different alternatives based on the input given by them. The different alternatives make it easier to brainstorm, get inspired, or just choose among.
10+ Successful Slogan Examples
Keep in mind that a successful slogan to only introduces your brand and products but also builds a bridge between your audience and your company image.
As we have handled in this article, even the most seemingly simple slogan requires a lengthy process of hard work and creative expertise.
Here we curated for you some of the best examples of slogans that stay in our minds for generations. These come from different industries that have changed from cosmetics to food; the common point for all of them is that they reflect on the strength of their brand and promote it skillfully.
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Subway – “Eat Fresh”
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Lays – “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One”
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McDonald’s – “I’m Loving It”
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Levi’s – “Quality Never Goes Out of Style”
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Mercedes-Benz – “The Best or Nothing”
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Dunkin’ – “America Runs on Dunkin”
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Maybelline – “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline”
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Airbnb – “Belong Anywhere”
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Disney – “The Happiest Place on Earth”
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Toyota – “Let’s Go Places”
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L’Oreal – “Because You’re Worth It”
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Nokia – “Connecting People”
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FedEx – “When there is no tomorrow”
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Coca Cola – “Share a coke”
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Visa – “ Wherever You Want to Be”
Most Known Slogan Examples
Brands have created slogans for years, but not every one of them stays in mind. The key to a memorable slogan is clarity, simplicity, and the ability to come up with clear-cut ideas.
Here are the most known slogan examples. You can either get inspired by the success these achieved or scroll through them to feel a bit of nostalgia.
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Vivident – Chew and Smile
The years-long slogan of the popular chewing gum brand has stayed the same for years and has not lost its gist while traveling around different geographies and being translated into different languages. Its simplicity makes it memorable, whereas the imperative tone in the slogan drives people to associate the brand with happiness and joy.
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Red Bull – Gives You Wings
The energy drink brand Red Bull is a good example of the coherence between the brand logo, advertising language, and tagline. The trademark of the brand immediately associates with energy and gives Red Bull its reputation, which has been going solid for years.
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Head & Shoulders – You never get a second chance to make a first impression
The famous slogan of the anti-dandruff shampoo subtly appeals to the universal desire for making a good first impression and being liked by others. Without evoking any negative connotations, the slogan aims to convey its message to the audience.
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Netflix – See what’s next
The most popular streaming service provider of our age, Netflix, has skillfully touched upon its customers’ needs in one simple slogan. The slogan encapsulates the platform’s strength in providing viewers with hundreds of alternatives to watch and spend time with. The slogan connotes a sense of continuity which attracts loyal customers.
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L’Oreal – Because you’re worth it
L’Oreal’s famous tagline stays in our minds for so long. The success behind these four words is the strong emotional appeal. As a cosmetic brand, L’Oreal goes to impress its audience by creating a sense of uniqueness.
