thoughts on taglines or descriptor lines

First.

I believe the amount of time people spend on developing or thinking of taglines is nuts. Yes. They are important but in the scheme of things I would envision if you are analyzing your time (or people’s time in general) by billable hour, the amount of time invested in this type of thing is … well … not a good investment.

Second.

Here is why I think the time invested is out of whack. In general, here are the guidelines for developing a brand line.

• If the company/brand name is more aspirational/inspirational, or less descriptive, like Nike’s company name, err on the side of aiming for a more descriptive tagline telling people what the company offers or does (like Nike’s original line of “superior performance athletic shoes”).
• If the company/brand name is more descriptive of the product/service that is being offered then the tagline can assume a more aspirational feel & direction.
• The exception: when a company has achieved such a strong awareness that it has achieved a brand status, meaning that people know what the company actually does/offers, a tagline can take on more of an aspirational aspect (use Nike as an example when it shifted to “Just do IT” after they had attained 90+% awareness).

Third.

The main rule of the road for descriptor/tagline development:

When the logo/name of company and tagline are stand-alone, make sure people can tell you exactly what that company does or offers. In other words, don’t be tricky or creative and lose an opportunity to be clear about who and what you are. And this is REALLY important when you come out of the starting blocks. Look. You can always change later. Upfront be clear. Making people guess (and you don’t have enough money to answer their guessing) is a silly investment.

Why? Anything other than meeting that main rule translates into having to invest a lot of money, and time effort, to educate people.

There you go.

All these “inspirational taglines” and such are kinda silly.

Do other things to inspire people.

Plus. I am also a believer that a tagline can change. Almost as often as you would like (as long as it stays in the same sphere of character).

There you go. Tagline 101.