The Post
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Bond/sixes: Bad Straplines™
I have this thing about corporate taglines /straplines: I don’t like them. Or rather, I only like them when they’re there to perform a function, and do so realistically and truthfully. As statements they can be a bit ‘empty’, and too often they’re used to fill a space under a logo.We can argue for and against straplines until the end of time, but here are some that particularly don’t do it for me…
Believe in better
Crudely speaking, Sky are suggesting “other providers aren’t as good as us”, and maybe their satellite service IS pretty reliable (at a price). However, on Sky channels today you’ll find Verminators, America’s Top Model, Dating In The Dark, Oops TV 2, etc. And I’ve found their customer service to be no better or worse than any other corporate giant. It’s a strapline that over-promises. “Where possible, believe in slightly better”, would be more accurate.Today, Tomorrow, Toyota
In the Great Book Of Strapline Clichés, the three-word alliteration is on page one. And this one’s painful, nauseating and overblown. About ten years ago they used, “The car in front is a Toyota” – far more interesting and engaging.Helpful banking
…as opposed to the other type of banking. Where some are overblown, the aspirations of NatWest’s strapline are so modest as to be utterly invisible.We can be bothered
I guess Simply Health are trying to be irreverent, but to me the colloquial approach doesn’t feel right for a high quality provider of something so important. Fine for a plumber, but for surgery?Where do you want to go today?
Asking questions is always bold. Here, the answer for most working people is, “Well, Microsoft, where I WANT to go is irrelevant, I HAVE to go to the same place I went yesterday”. But it’s also gut-wrenchingly, eye-rollingly awful in every possible way. Aspirational. Idealistic. Hateful.For the journey
Sometimes the style of delivery is the biggest problem. The Lloyds TSB TV campaign is mawkish and lowest-common-denominator patronising, and the strapline quasi-religious. Julie Walters’ whimpering, sympathetic, “For the journey” at the end is simply the inch-thick icing on an extremely sickly cake.All this said, some might argue that a good strapline is the one you remember, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons.
But there are good strap lines out there, too. They add something. Sometimes they even mean something. So it’s only fair to cover these in another blog.
Posted by Vince on November 23, 2011
Categories:
Advertising Bond/sixes Branding Observations
2 Comments
Another entertaining post, and I have to agree.
That Simply Health strapline is surely among the worst I’ve seen recently – surely it’s a given for any service provider to be ‘bothered’ to do the job you’re paying them for!
On the other hand, some do perform a useful descriptive or mission-statement purpose, as you’ve said; Nokia’s ‘Connecting People’ being an example (you may disagree!)
I suspect some of the worst straplines are often driven by people outside the process (senior execs) or desperate creatives/marketeers who doubt the strength/integrity of their company’s brand. How else can some of the most awful examples be explained?
If you spend time developing a strong brand, and delivering on your promises to your customers, it will surely achieve more than any strapline.
Great post, and I totally agree with the sentiment. Everyone involved in ‘developing’ straplines should be made to watch Crazy People for a healthy dose of honesty and realism…