One of the ways we all try to 'brand' is with a tagline. We rack our brains trying to come up with the perfect set of memorable words for a brand to live by. Then we invest millions of dollars for years, sometimes even for decades.

The truth is, if 'Match the Tagline with the Brand' were a television gameshow, we advertising people could go on and win the vacation home of our dreams. But could the average consumer?

Answering this question was the goal of a national poll we ran last year. Our survey looked at consumer awareness of advertising slogans and jingles, and whether or not these punchy pieces of copy created any connection to the brand.

The results were a little startling. (See table below.)

The survey found that many of today's ad slogans are failing to register with consumers. Overall, 16 of the 19 lines tested were 'heard' or recognized by at least one-half of the survey respondents. However, a remarkably high number of consumers were unable to correctly identify which brand or product these taglines were touting.

The best taglines, as with the best advertising, should be inextricably linked with the brand. The brands that fared best seemed to share a similar pattern: incorporate the brand name in the slogan and promote them year after year.

For example, insurer Allstate's "You're in good hands with Allstate" and their competitor's "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" continue to be identifiable and experience near universal recognition. One might conclude that if the lines were "Allstate: You're in good hands with us", or "State Farm: like a good neighbor, we're there", they would not have been as effective, even though the thought was the same.

The taglines tested are part of successful, long-running campaigns that have been backed by hundreds of millions of dollars. Also, their exposure has not been limited to just media advertising. The lines have been seen -- depending on the category -- on everything from counter cards to brochures, match books to packaging, and dealer posters to bumper stickers. And still they are often misidentified.

How many times have you heard someone say, "Did you see that great commercial for Coke?" and it turned out to be for Pepsi, or vice versa? The same is often true with taglines where the brand is totally separate from the line.

For instance, the automobile category found itself stuck in reverse when it came to being identified with its taglines.

The line "Like a rock" was recalled by an impressive nine out of ten respondents. But when asked what product this slogan identified, less than 40% were able to correctly say Chevy Trucks. Nissan fared worse as only 8% knew it was the originator of the ubiquitous "Enjoy the ride" themeline.

Surprisingly, BMW's long-running "The ultimate driving machine" experienced a not-so-smooth ride. Despite the fact that 60% were familiar with the slogan, only 11% knew it was the German auto maker's. Chrysler's "Engineered to be great cars" had nearly identical results.

BMW's result, given that within the industry "The ultimate driving machine" is one of the most well-known lines, is shocking. However, here again we are forced to recognize that most consumers do not work at agencies and are not as advertising-involved as we'd like them to be.

Other marketers who experienced this 'heard, but not associated' fate were Visa, GE and Burger King. Visa's line "It's everywhere you want to be," was 'heard' by 70% of respondents, but only 15% were able to make the connection between slogan and credit card company. And nearly nine out of ten respondents were familiar with "We bring good things to life," but only one-third knew

that General Electric was the bearer of such useful household items.

On the fast-food front, the varying successes of McDonald's and Burger King's slogans are sure to add more flame to the burger wars fire.

Burger King's "It just tastes better" clearly bested McDonald's "Did somebody say McDonald's?" line in terms of recognition, 79% to 54%. But when asked which company belonged to these taglines, only 14% correctly identified Burger King's, while 34% knew McDonald's. (Of course, we concealed the brand name in our tests if it was part of the line.)

The benchmark of any good advertising campaign, and slogan, is the lasting impression it has on the consumer. Incorporating the brand name in the logo helps achieve this. That's no doubt why marketers which feature their name in the taglines, like McDonald's and Allstate, did better than others in connecting with the consumer.

The only three slogans that were not remembered by at least one-half of all respondents were three of the newest, yet more generic, lines that stand alone without a brand reference.

American Express' "Do more" (19%), Blockbuster's "Go home happy" (18%) and United Airlines' "Rising" (10%) were the least recognizable of all the lines tested.

So what are advertisers to do? Forget about taglines? Absolutely not. A great line can be worth its weight in gold. It can form the underpinning for the entire thrust of the advertising.

It can be a call to action, not just for the consumer, but

for the entire internal organization and sales force. The more a slogan -- as well as advertising -- is inextricably linked to the brand, the more effective it is.

The truth is, great advertising is the sum of its parts. A tagline is just one of them. And it often functions as the brand's core promise, rather than a pithy memorable phrase.

One seemingly obvious suggestion, illustrated by the results of the survey, is to incorporate the brand name in the line! All of the top-five brands, ranked by recall of the brand unaided, did. None of the bottom ten did. (See table.) Brilliant, huh?