Ad slogans that are actually really good

[It's Not Rocket Surgery!]

We usually make fun of ads and slogans that suck. But what are some ad slogans which work and are good?

Here's one that I like: Trucks Bring It.

[Jophiel]

Soup: It's Good Food

I have no idea how healthy soup is relative to anything else but, emotionally, I feel as though a bowl of soup is innately healthy and filling.

Edit: Apparently the proper slogan is "Soup is Good Food", coined by Campbell's.

[voguevixen]

"Nothing sucks like an Electrolux!"

I can't think of a real one off the top of my head.

[MsWhatsit]

Timex: Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

I don't know if Timex really does take a licking and keep on ticking, but I think of them as durable watches, mostly because of this slogan.

[Krokodil]

"Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." Back in '73(ish), for one day, McDonalds gave a free Big Mac to any kid who could recite that. It was probably the canniest investment they ever made, after Ray Kroc's milkshake machine.

[voguevixen]

Originally Posted by Krokodil

"Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun." Back in '73(ish), for one day, McDonalds gave a free Big Mac to any kid who could recite that. It was probably the canniest investment they ever made, after Ray Kroc's milkshake machine.

I remember trying this as a kid! I missed pickles though. ::sad trombone:: (I think it was a lot longer than a day - possibly the length of the campaign?)


Oh! I thought of a great one! Have it your way

[Alessan]

"Don't be right, be smart."

An old slogan for an Israeli car insurance company. It's good advice not just for driving, but for life in general.

[C. Montgomery Burns]

"The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup." And I hate Folgers coffee, so it must be good.

"Chevy. Like a rock." Ever hear a better slogan for a pickup truck?

This one is reaaaally old, but "Pepsi Cola hits the spot, 12 full ounces, that's a lot, twice as much for a nickel too, Pepsi Cola is the drink for you!" Memorable and tells you exactly what the product is, and why it's the best product.

[Odesio]

"Every kiss begins with Kay." It's insidious but it's a good slogan.

[Haredye]

10 posts before any mention of Nike and "Just do it."?

For shame.

From the late 70's early '80's and Coca-Cola: "Have a Coke and a Smile."

[Tangent]

Nyquil: The nightime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so-you-can-rest medicine.

[Alan Smithee]

I once drove by an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) that had this on the marquee:

Pancakes make people happy

I thought it was absolutely brilliant because it is so simple and so true. And isn't that what every marketing campaign is basically trying to convince you about their product? But with pancakes...man, you just gotta say it.

[postcards]

Back in the early 1980's Nikon used the slogan: "Making Light Work For People".

I always liked the double meaning inherent in that.

(Of course, I could only afford to shoot Pentax back then, and I use Canons now, but a good slogan sticks with you.)

[John Mace]

Come on guys! No mention of "Think Different"?

[friedo]

I've always been a fan of "AJAX: Stronger Than Dirt." And it is.

[cornflakes]

"I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." It's forty years later. Vietnam and the rest of the 1960s are history, but it's still a heckuva ad.

[BACI]

I think the best one I've encountered recently is Sony's: Make.Believe

For some reason when I see it it works on a whole different level to if they'd said "Sony: Excellent Electrical Appliances", or the like.

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by John Mace

Come on guys! No mention of "Think Different"?

That slogan made my wife (a teacher) absolutely insane. "Think DifferentLY!!!!"

[ZipperJJ]

Originally Posted by Odesio

"Every kiss begins with Kay." It's insidious but it's a good slogan.

I came in to post this too.

[Tangent]

Fahrvergnügen

[Reyemile]

I liked Sprite's "Image is nothing, thirst is everything, obey your thirst" campaign. Unfortunately, they abandoned it relatively quickly for exactly the kind of cheesy image-mongering they were deriding, but what can you do?

[Annie-Xmas]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

I once drove by an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) that had this on the marquee: I thought it was absolutely brilliant because it is so simple and so true. And isn't that what every marketing campaign is basically trying to convince you about their product? But with pancakes...man, you just gotta say it.

I like "Come hungry. Leave happy." Sums it up quite well.

[Jim's Son]

For New Yorkers anywhere near a TV or radio in the 1970s or 1980s "Crazy Eddie-his prices are INSANE!". No doubt plenty exist on you tube. No that wasn't Eddie doing the commercials. He was too busy cooking the books.

[Hello Again]

Originally Posted by C. Montgomery Burns

"Chevy. Like a rock." Ever hear a better slogan for a pickup truck?
.

I remember Ad Age made fun of it, saying you should avoid the slogan "like a rock" when your sales are falling (which they were, at the time).

Thirded on"'Every Kiss begins With Kay." Evil and brilliant.

You also can't say anything against "A Diamond is Forever" in my book. According to legend, the copywriter (a woman) was working late on a slogan for DeBeers. She put her head down to rest, wishing she could come up with one good line. When she woke up, she wrote down "A Diamond is Forever" and entered the realm of advertising myth.

More so than any of the other Coke slogans (even "I'd like to buy the world a Coke") I have always admired their ca.1993 international slogan "Always Coca-Cola." It translates infinitely (I have some logo gear in Bulgarian) and says something both powerful and simple.

[digs]

Ex-Ad Agency Creative Director here (wrote a lot of "positioning statements").

Worked with a guy that'd burst into brainstorming sessions proclaiming Listerine's tagline:

"Says what it does. Does what it says."

Like "Just Do It", a good slogan for your life.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

Originally Posted by kenobi 65

That slogan made my wife (a teacher) absolutely insane. "Think DifferentLY!!!!"

She's parsing it incorrectly. It's not an adverb. The ad isn't telling you to think in a different manner.

It's telling you to think about their product as something different. It's clearly an homage to the famous Think small VW ad, which has the same grammatical construction.

[Fish Cheer]

"Does she ... or doesn't she?"


Relevant Age of Persuasion episode. (Terry makes the point that advertising people actually don't call it a "slogan", but a "tagline".)

[postcards]

Originally Posted by iamthewalrus(:3=

It's telling you to think about their product as something different. It's clearly an homage to the famous Think small VW ad, which has the same grammatical construction.

No, being Apple it was more a take-off on IBM's famous 'THINK' slogan, dreamed up by Thomas Watson.

[Agent Foxtrot]

"Trust Sleepy's for the rest of your life." Awesome double-meaning for a mattress dealer.

[MareIt]

The Washington Post had a brilliant ad campaign for years. It still appears now and again...

If you don't get it, you don't get it

[standingwave]

We Sell Things That Suck!

It's unforgettable and quite accurate.

[Lord Mondegreen]

In Australia, General Motors cars are sold using the brand name Holden. Holden Special Vehicles makes high performance versions of ordinary Holdens which are of course much more expensive.

Their slogan is "I just want one." Given that for half the price you can get a car which already gives pretty good performance (more than enough given the speed limits in this country), it really captures the only possible justification for buying one.

[Alan Smithee]

Originally Posted by kenobi 65

That slogan made my wife (a teacher) absolutely insane. "Think DifferentLY!!!!"

Your wife should read up on "flat adverbs." Or watch this video of a hot dictionary editor explaining them.

[straykat23]

2012 Passat commercial ("Rocket Man" mondegreens)

You're going to have to cut and paste - link-fu not operating this evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWy-LCGDsd8

[BrainGlutton]

The Dogs Kids Love to Bite!

[digs]

My baloney has a first name,

It's O-S-C-A-R.

My baloney has a second name,

It's M-A-Y-E-R...


O-S-C-A-R M-A-Y-E-R was one of our clients, and whenever we sent ads over to them, we were SO tempted to put in small print under their logo at the bottom:

"People killing pigs for people."

[johnpost]

we try harder.

[Tim R. Mortiss]

I used to work at General Dynamics, making nuclear cruise missiles and other deterrents. We always joked that we should do a parody of the General Electric slogan: "G.D. - We Blow Good Things To Hell."

[Lust4Life]

Where I live (In an urban area) a new housing estate was built next to a main commuting road.

As the drivers in the evening rush hour were edging forward, average speed two miles an hour, they would each in turn spend a fair amount of time beside a sign saying "If you lived here you'd be home now".

Probably not original, but a very effective slogan.

[iamthewalrus(:3=]

Originally Posted by postcards

No, being Apple it was more a take-off on IBM's famous 'THINK' slogan, dreamed up by Thomas Watson.

I'm curious about this comparison. I see it mentioned in a variety of places on the web, but I haven't found much analysis of it. I don't see much in common between the two, except that IBM and Apple both make computers. In 1997, IBM was no longer a significant Apple competitor that I know of, so it seems odd that Apple would focus on them.

Compared to the VW campaign, the Apple campaign uses the same sentence structure, very similar typography and style, and attempts to convey a similar philosophy: this product is a quality product but bucks the industry trend.

[Philster]

>Little. Yellow. Different.

>M&M's: Melt in your mouth -- not in your hand.

>How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

>Plop plop; fizz fizz; oh what a relief it is

>Jaws 2: Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

[ArrMatey!]

Not a great slogan, but apparently one that sticks in your mind...

A fellow Doper was driving me to the hospital a few months ago, and I was giving directions. When I pointed out that the new hospital was at the corner of York and Roosevelt, she immediately added, "Where you always save more money!"

Celozzi & Ettleson are long gone (and yes, the hospital is built on the land that said car dealership was on), but their slogan lives on!

[Yeticus Rex]

Originally Posted by Odesio

"Every kiss begins with Kay." It's insidious but it's a good slogan.

I heard that commercial so much as of late......that when I got out of bed in the middle of the night, my wife has often heard me sing the bastardized jingle......"Every Piss begins with Pee."

[SciFiSam]

Ronseal, makers of paint and other DIY materials, had an ad in the 1990s wth a bloke in work gear standing outside a shed saying 'Ronseal. Does exactly what it says on the tin.'

It was an unusual ad for how simple it was, and the phrase took off so much that you've probably read it used by people who've never even heard of the ad - within ten years it had become entrenched in the English language as an idiom, not just an ad slogan.

I remeber loads from the eighties:

A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play!
A lot less bovver than a Hover.
For mash get Smash.
Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet.
The Milky Bars are on me!
Ariston, and on, and on...
Vorsprung Durch Technik.

[Paul in Qatar]

Some years ago, the Royal Navy had a great recruiting slogan, The Team Works.
The Royal Marines' are (I think) still using, 99.9% Need Not Apply.

[LilyoftheField]

Motel 6 - "We'll leave the light on for you"

Evokes that 'coming home' feeling...

[Tangent]

I love what you do for me, Toyota!

[TBG]

Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?

[Bumbershoot]

N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle's makes the very best- choooocolaaaate!

ETA: Where's the beef?

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by C. Montgomery Burns

"Chevy. Like a rock." Ever hear a better slogan for a pickup truck?

Standing alone, it would be pretty good: even though I am turned off by macho bragging, I'd normally have to admit that in this case, it works.

But I am made so wary by the misuse of Heartland Rock in other ad campaigns that I immediately assume that the producers of the ad are using the lyrics in the wrong way. (See: Born in the USA, Fortunate Son. I'd almost lay bets that someone's misused Little Pink Houses somewhere, too.) So even if it is appropriate in this case, I am not losing anything by assuming it is an unintentionally ironic use of the song, since it is only an ad.