The Art and Science of the Advertising Slogan
by Timothy R. V. Foster

Art and Science Menu
Introduction
A Slogan SHOULD:
1. Be memorable
2. Recall the brand name
3. Include a key benefit
4. Differentiate the brand
5. Impart positive feelings for the brand
6. Reflect the brand's personality
7. Be strategic
8. Be campaignable
9. Be competitive
10. Be original
11. Be simple
12. Be neat
13. Be believable
14. Help in ordering the brand
A Slogan Should NOT:
15. Be in current use by others
16. Be bland, generic or hackneyed
17. Prompt a sarcastic or negative response
18. Be pretentious
19. Be negative
20. Be corporate waffle
21. Make you say "So what?" or "Ho-hum"
22. Make you say "Oh yeah??"
23. Be meaningless
24. Be complicated or clumsy
And Finally...
25. You should like it 
26. Trends in slogans
Related Links
Slogan Nomenclature
Sloganalysis®

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10. A slogan should be original

In advertising, originality is king. A new way of sending a message can set a brand apart from copycats and also-rans:

Heinz:

Beanz Meanz Heinz
Knirps: You can break a brolly but you can't k-nacker a Knirps.
Mail on Sunday: A newspaper, not a snoozepaper.
New York State: I New York
Take beer. You can bet the brief calls for the brand to be seen as refreshing. So what do we get? Here:
Bud Ice: Extreme refreshment.
Budweiser: Refreshingly different.
Calders Cream Ale: Creamy, smooth, refreshing.
Hamm's: Hamm's the beer refreshing.
Pabst Blue Ribbon: For keener refreshment.
Pabst Blue Ribbon: Refresh! Rejoice! Remember! Pabst gets the call.

And then one day, came:
Heineken: Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach.
...followed, after many years, by...
Heineken: How refreshing. How Heineken.

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