Taglines

I have been thinking about taglines recently. It is a difficult subject. There is very little literature that I can find, nor so many rules, on what constitutes a good one. My thoughts are: 

1. Taglines should be the end point of a strategy or strategic process. It seems to me that too often they form the start of a process; people trying to think of a tagline before working out what they want a it to do. 
2. Taglines are given undue prominence. We all remember a couple, but it is probably difficult to recall more than half a dozen. If so few burn into our consciousness why do organizations spend so much time on them?
3. More often than not taglines are all about internal agendas; who has the power to decide, to influence, to 'own' the tagline internally. The amount of meeting time, argument, politicking and money spent compared with the recall of tagline can be quite alarming. 
4. Taglines act as a shorthand for where the company wants to head. Some taglines may be very short-term and some very long-term but they will reflect a direction. 
5. Taglines generally need context or meaning around them. They are too short to really mean much in themselves. They become, at best, a hook upon which to hang lots of meaning. 
6. Taglines have impact. They are generally short and colloquial but not always (one of my favourite is "never underestimate the power of playstation" which is quite a mouthful)
7. There are no rules about how to generate them, or who can generate them. Or even whether you need one.

Here are, according to The Tagline Guru, the 100 most influential taglines since 1948. 

As I have never written the taglines that I have been involved in creating anywhere this is a little list of the ones I can remember; just for me. Sorry if appears a little indulgent, but I losing brain cells rather more rapidly than I used to. 

Play On (and on and on and on and on) - LEGO

Know Your Stuff - Virgin Money

________ better  - NYSC

A revelation in every cup - GMCR

Human Energy - Chevron

No funny stuff, just money stuff - Virgin Money

People Changing Politics - DEMOS

Welcome to the New Frontier - Frontier communications

A Better Cup of Tea - Twinings

Trust your car to the (Texaco Star Logo)

Bring It - New Jersey Nets