A tagline should reinforce a company’s brand identity and show a benefit. They’re not suppose to be cute and catchy but strategic and meaningful.

Here’s an example of a great tagline:

Volvo
For Life

The tagline leverages the “safety” brand identity and shows a benefit (saving lives).

It’s just another way to say to the consumer that Volvo cares about safety. It’s really a brilliant tagline.

We always recommend tags because they can only help as long as they leverage the brand identity.

Brains on Fire has one (even if that’s not what they intended) “fascinate, inspire, reward, engage”. They may not call it a tagline but when you read all their stuff it comes accross as one (perception is reality thing).

I don’t think taglines are old school. I just bristle at having to say the name of the company withthetaglingattachedlikeaKlingon.

Is “Let it out” really their new tagline, or title of the campaign? As a consumer, that’s where I really don’t care. It’s Kleenex. And (again, as a consumer, not a branding person) I expect them to change it soon. So, how can it be a part of their identity if they’re always changing it?

From where I sit in the grocery aisle, I really don’t care what a brand has to say about itself. I care if the product/service/whatever does what I want it to do.

And maybe, just maybe, my non-branding background jades me because I’ve been exposed to so much advertising that I just don’t care anymore.

I don’t disagree that taglines work. I just wonder what other consumers think. Would I buy Nike shoes if they hadn’t said, “Just do it?” I can’t answer that.

Thanks for helping me refine my position, even if I’m not totally sold yet.

Kleenex has a tagline: “Let it out”. And if you visit their site: http://www.kleenex.com/NA/Default.aspx you’ll see that’s it’s a MAJOR campaign for them.

A good tagline is necessary. Always. The problem is that they are often done incorrectly. But just the fact that people think they’re unnecessary dumbfounds me. As a branding guy I’m perplexed by it.

We always recommend a tagline with an identity. If that’s “old school” then damn I’m guilty. Good taglines work and that’s a fact that can’t be disputed.

Bad taglines (one’s that try and be everything to everyone) usually don’t. So I agree with Spike on that but yet again will have to agree to disagree that taglines aren’t necessary. If that were the case why even have a logo/logotype? It’s all part of the identity package.

Just my opinion as a branding guy.

It IS important to remember that our customers are people. People with brains. I think it comes down to respect. If we treat our customers and prospects with respect, we’ll probably design better programs–and sleep better at night, too.

Sometimes taglines are necessary, sometimes they’re not. Google doesn’t need a tagline. Nor does Kleenex, now. Maybe they did in the day — “More disposable than your average hankie.” I can imagine that one today being, “Don’t share your germs.”

It is all well and good to talk about WOMM, but we still have to cross that uncomfortable barrier which is actually seeing and dealing with real people. Can you imagine how successful a candidate for President would be if they just sent out direct mail and email blasts and never went to the towns and shook hands? At the end of the day, we still have to take that step. It can feel weird at first and it can be scary, but it can be the most rewarding thing (I know I am preaching to the choir.)

Last year we did photo shoots with some of our customers that were first-time homeowners. We wanted to make sure that all of our materials showcased real people helped by our programs. I was never as connected to our mission as when these people showed me around their homes. The fact that we helped them achieve something so important was amazing. I have to stay connected to that when I am thinking about where we want to go with our programs and initiatives.