You don’t sell with slogans.
Advertising is seduction.
Not in a lurid or manipulative sense.
One of the definitions of “seduce” is “to attract.” Successful radio advertising attracts the targeted consumer to the sales message.
But just to illustrate a point, let’s fall back on the more common association to the word “seduction.”
In this example, “Bob” is a healthy, single adult male who perhaps is feeling a little bit lonely.
He finds himself at a loud, crowded cocktail party where he notices a healthy, single adult female whom he finds attractive.
She has a spirituality about her that he finds appealing.
He thinks, “Gee, if I had a chance to talk to that person in a quieter, more relaxed environment, I’ll bet we’d discover we have a lot in common.”
In short, he has a sales message that he hopes she will consider acting upon. And he’s trying to decide between two different verbalizations of that sales message.
One is:
“Boy, it sure is noisy here. I wish we could talk in a more peaceful environment. There’s a beautiful Japanese restaurant just up the hill with an incredible view of the city. Might you be interested in getting a bite to eat with me there and watching the sunset?”
Or he could say:
“You’ve tried the rest, now try the best.”
Of those two approaches, which do you think has the better chance of succeeding?
It’s not bad to have a Positioning Statement that forcefully reiterates your Unique Selling Proposition. Actually, that can be a very good thing.
But a good Positioning Statement — or slogan — can only reflect and reinforce your actual sales message. A slogan without a sales message to back it up is nothing more than Verbal Fast Food.
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Well said, Dan! That’s one thing I dread hearing from a client: “We need a good slogan.” Because it’s usually from a new client that I know very little about. (“Uh, okay, I just met you…and at this point I don’t know much about your business or your brand…but sure, let’s waste time coming up with a slogan when we should be working on an effective ad campaign.”)
And often they end up wanting to go with some stupid cliche like…well, like “You’ve tried the rest, now try the best.”
On a sidenote, I once had a sales manager who insisted that a slogan should be no more than 7 words, like 7 was the magic number. 7 words or less, you’re golden. More than 7 words…no, too much, people won’t remember and it won’t work. It sounded like one of those things this manager had just heard somewhere and accepted that it must be true. (Like those people who still say, “You should never start a commercial with a question.”)
A memorable longer slogan that comes to mind is “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” Talk about a strong positioning statement that reiterates their USP. But 9 words?! How could FedEx be so foolish?! 😉