Do Taglines Still Matter?

In the wake of all the chatter about Burger King’s new-but-not-improved tagline ("Be Your Way"), I came across this interesting piece on TalentZoo.com’s Beyond Madison Avenue blog. Brian Keller posits the idea that maybe the tagline doesn’t matter anymore – that taglines “probably stopped working… over a decade ago” and that no one but agency folk really care about them anymore.

The very idea that the tagline is obsolete goes against the grain of all I’ve learned and how I’ve worked (and still work) as an advertising/marketing writer. Creating taglines is one of the first steps in our branding/positioning strategizing – and it still seems to resonate strongly with our clients as more than just a vain exercise. 

But I have to admit, when I saw the jumbled list of corporations and taglines that Keller posted, it did kind of jar me. How many well-known taglines/slogans are interchangeable? “I’m Lovin’ It” – couldn’t it work for Macy’s as well as McDonalds? “Just Do It” – everyone knows it’s for Nike (so there’s validation for the “it still matters” camp) – but couldn’t it also equally apply to, say, Home Depot?

Good food for thought… and a creative challenge to writers and agencies, to make sure that when we do create taglines, they are truly exclusive to and identifying of a particular, unique client – and not just nice words that could apply generically to a slew of different clients.

I'd Rather Have it My Way

Can we talk about the new Burger King slogan for a moment? BK recently announced / debuted its new advertising slogan. Drumroll, please... curtain up... and voila! Introducing:

"Be Your Way"

Excuse, me... what's that again?

According to a BK press release, the new tagline "reminds people that no matter who they are, they can order how they want to in Burger King restaurants and that they can and should live how they want anytime. It's OK to not be perfect. Self-expression is most important and it's our differences that make us individuals instead of robots."

How is this new tagline better than "Have It Your Way," the restaurant's classic old slogan (which hasn't been used much in the past decade but, remarkably, remains as memorable and identifiable today as ever)? That line essentially gave me a pretty solid selling proposition: at BK, I can customize my sandwich. Sure, it may be fast food, but BK will still make it to order for me, just the way I would like to have it. Plain, simple, boom. I get it.

But "Be Your Way"? A company spokesperson attempted to explain the decision, saying, "We're trying to elevate 'Have it Your Way' to a state that's much more emotional and centered around around self-expression."

OK, enough. "Be Your Way" is just plain awkward language, for starters, and a bad attempt at pop psychology beyond that. From a fast-food restaurant chain. Burger King, please just give me my Whopper the way I want it and let's not try to make it a statement of personal individuality or self-expressionism. It's a sandwich, for crying out loud. May I just have it my way and be on with it?

Bad Grammar and the Bottom Line

Now this just makes me happy. 

Adweek reports there's "evidence that slovenly prose affects the bottom line." 

Really? People actually care about correct English in advertising? Apparently, a few different studies now indicate that consumers really DO care about errors in copy – grammar mistakes, typos – to the point of it possibly swaying their decision to do business with the offending company. I guess it's not just writers, editors, proofreaders and English teachers who feel that way...

Read the article here, and rejoice.

All Aboard for a Creative Awakening

Oh, Amtrak. 

You infuriate and delight me. Delayed trains and crowded seats can annoy me beyond belief. But once your wheels start rolling, and I settle in and realize that I’m stuck with you for the next 3, 5, 7 hours or so (depending on my destination and your ever-apt-to-change schedule), I start to appreciate you. The relative quiet and limited distractions (this is not Acela, so no reliable Wifi to distract me) do wonders for my reading – I always manage to get started on a new book – and my writing – I always manage to pump out at least a new blog entry or two.

So it was with amusement that I read recently about Amtrak’s fledgling program wherein they are offering "writers' residencies": long round-trip rides aboard Amtrak trains dedicated solely to the purpose of writing. Essentially, a longer version of the same creative inspiration I find myself enjoying on my sporadic trips. 

I am intrigued. If a short trip to Vermont produces one or two blog entries (not to mention the occasional work-related writing I also accomplish), what could a week-long trip produce? A short story? The beginnings of a novel?

I’m keeping tabs on this program, to see if it really gets off the ground and flies – or I suppose I should say, "rolls" along successfully. For now, I shall sit back and enjoy the momentary mini-residency – and creative spark – that my current short journey provides.

I Love it When Copy Carries the Day

One of my highlights from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was this powerful TV spot from Guinness.

Created by BBDO, NY, specifically for the Olympics, it was released before the games, but then pulled to comply with rules re: official sponsors and Olympic competitors. Hopefully we’ll see it on-air again now that the rules no longer prohibit airing. The music is strong and the visual is striking… but it’s the words that carry the weight of this spot, as the image remains static for most of the full 60 seconds. You have to read the captions to get the message.

As a copy guy, I love it when words bear the burden of telling the story and conveying the message… and I think they really pulled it off with this one. 

Up for debate: how this message actually sells Guinness beer. But an inspiring, well-written message, nonetheless.

Waxing Philosophical on a Trip to Costco

I fear my appreciation for humanity diminishes with every trip I make to Costco.

I really don't shop at the wholesale warehouse store that often – maybe once every few months. But invariably, I leave feeling a little less optimistic about the human race. It starts in the parking lot, where every trip to Costco is like a visit to the mall at Christmas time. Drivers aren't their best selves in a Costco parking lot. It's every man for himself, frantically searching for a spot and avoiding any general sense of courtesy or basic rules of driving. And in spite of well-marked corrals for the return of shopping carts, many shoppers choose to leave their carts pretty much wherever they can, as close to their car as possible and other drivers be damned.

Honestly, the parking lot alone is enough to make you want to abandon the journey altogether – which we actually did yesterday, when Rich declared, simply, "Nope. Not today." Add in the threat of a coming snowstorm and every horrific thing about shopping at Costco is magnified a hundred-fold. That was the situation yesterday – and we graciously admitted defeat after one quick loop around the lot. Even if we had been able to find a spot, it wouldn't have been worth facing the frenzied crowd of "staples shoppers" inside – those irrational masses who insist on hoarding milk and bread at the slightest mention of snow.

But we returned today, determined to get our goods and save our dollars. The parking situation was better, so we stayed. But the experience inside was sufficient to once again reduce my fondness for the human race. There's something about the Costco experience that reduces many people, who in some other setting I might respect very highly, thank you, to some level of primal shopping fanatics who are oblivious to the presence of others. I think that's what astonishes me the most – how this particular shopping environment can reduce one's sense of awareness (and concurrent courtesy to others) to a primal level. It's that every-woman-for-herself attitude that begins in the parking lot and extends throughout the entire shopping experience.

Maybe it's the giant warehouse/circus atmosphere that overwhelms and transforms people. Maybe it's the sensory overload that hits you smack in the face when you enter, with row after row and shelf after shelf of EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN ONE STORE!, from snow shovels to TV sound systems to cantaloupes to undergarments to milk to dishtowels to couches to potatoes - all in BULK SIZES! and at HUGE SAVINGS! Maybe it's all those FREE SAMPLES RIGHT HERE LADIES & GENTLEMEN! TRY YOUR FREE CRACKER WITH OUR SPECIAL DIPPING SAUCE - YOURS FOR ONLY $7.69 TODAY!

It's a dangerous mix of free food plus bargains galore just around the next corner plus the fear that if you don't get it first someone else will (whether it's a parking space or a free piece of brownie or the last 48-roll package of toilet paper) that throws everyone into a "me-me-me" fit of obliviousness. And it's not so much a frenzied mass of shoppers like you might find on Black Friday, with people fighting to the death (sadly, sometimes true) for the last Xbox. No, at Costco it's more like shoppers fall into a trance-like state... the "Shopping Dead" if you will... pushing their carts around, eyes glazed over, rudely cutting in front of someone else for their free sample (and one for my husband please) or stopping short right in front of you because, "Oh, do we need Osteo Bi-Flex? Look they have it right here next to the orange juice."

When I'm finished with my occasional Costco experience, I'm reminded of quotes from two of my favorite thinkers. It was Albert Einstein who said,

"I love humanity, but I hate humans."

And it was Charles M. Schulz speaking through the voice of Linus who said,

For their sakes, I'm glad Albert and Linus never had to make a trip to Costco.

May the Force (of air across reeds to produce sound) be with You

You haven't truly heard the theme from "Star Wars" until you've heard it played on an accordion by a subway musician. I was blessed to hear a short portion of this musical oddity recently and it stayed in my head for way longer than it really deserved to. I think that's because:

A - I hadn't heard an accordion in way too long and it made me smile.

B - It was totally unexpected and refreshing in a weird, New York City kind of way.

And C - The theme from "Star Wars" is probably the last song I'd expect to hear played on an accordion. OK, well maybe not the last one - I guess it might be more odd to hear a heavy metal or punk rock song jammed out on an accordion.

But somehow, it worked.

It's fun to hear or see things out of context, in a new and different way or from someone's alternate interpretation. It has a way of forcing you to reconsider the song, or object, or whatever it is that's out of context or outside of the place we normally associate it with - and to hear it or see it with fresh ears or eyes. For me, it's always a welcome diversion to be jolted into experiencing something from a new perspective – especially in the midst of a routine, mundane activity like riding the subway.

May the force be with you, in new and unexpected ways.