Be careful what you promise

Earlier this month an intriguing precedent was set for slogans used for companies. The global entity that is Red Bull saw itself on the receiving end of a class-action in the United States of America (of course!) for not living up to its promise “Red Bull gives you wings.”

Now just to clarify the plaintiffs weren’t upset that they hadn’t grown a nice pair of wings but more so that Red Bull was not living up to its promise of improving performance.

Having a slogan is an essential branding point for many businesses, large and small. What we are seeing now amongst those disgruntled clients, is that the law is indeed on their side if you are seen to be misleading or false advertising in your promise.

So how do you come up with a slogan that won’t land you in hot water? Here’s some tips.

Evoke emotion: Affiliate your brand with a statement reflecting an emotion that is positive and that your customers want to be associated with.

LG: Life’s Good
Nike: Just Do It.
Aston Martin: Power, beauty and soul.

Descriptive: Describe what your business actually does as your tag line or slogan. This is particularly useful if your business is new or may need a bit of explaining.

Waitplate: Welcome back to sensible eating
Shared Marketing: Innovative Branding
Nokia: Connecting people

Play on words: Have a bit of fun with the industry your business is in, your business name or even the product itself and put a bit of a humorous spin on it.

Category 5 Plumbing & Gas: Taking the coast by storm
Canon: See what we mean
Volkswagon: Think small

It will be interesting to see if this successful lawsuit against Red Bull will open up the floodgates to other large companies if an M&M does melt in someone’s hand and not in their mouth or KFC if a patron doesn’t lick his finger’s after eating KFC. Let’s just hope common sense will prevail.

If you are looking at changing or creating a slogan for your business, give us a call or drop into our office at Runaway Bay and we’ll even shout you a coffee, we promise!