Cool Slogans, Long Forgotten About.

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Slogans make or break brands, in fact they are “the thing” that is actually “branded” on a product, if we were to use farm or cattle metaphors. And good slogans stay with a brand for many years and help shape not only the brand but often times society. Take for instance the Energizer Bunnie, it has become a cultural reference. Granted, it is often times used in a sexual connotation, but still, it is a good example of a slogan breaking into the main stream.

For whatever reason some great slogans fade away after what is considered a short while. There is never one reason why that happens, sometimes it’s a change in the marketing strategy and other times it is a change in the product line, regress of the fact we are often times left wondering, why did they toss away a perfectly good slogan. Below I have collected several slogans that are not in use any more (or are about to become obsolete), but ones that I believe are worth remembering or even inducting into the Slogans Hall of Fame if there was ever such an institution.

Drivers Wanted

This VW slogan has been used for a decade plus and in my mind it is truly a great one. This slogan is actually the smaller version of a larger idea: “On the road of life, there are passengers and drivers, Drivers Wanted”. Since this is not a luxury brand, at least not in the US, this slogan does a very good job at positioning the brand as an elite brand sans the elite price tag. This is an aspirational slogan meant to make “the lesser fortunate” or those with a bit less money in the bank feel good about this car. After all, most of us would like to lead, not follow, right?

Know now.

This is the slogan for News and Information giant Reuters, it’s origin and history are a little unclear, but it fell to gods of change as Reuters became Tompson Reuters. This is not such a well know slogan, it has nothing on “just do it”, but it is the epitome of great thinking. Reuters does so many things that it would be difficult put it into once sentence, much less two words, but here they are.

This slogan is smart and sassy. It has some poetry to it, and most important it describes and positions Reuters almost effortlessly. How much more would you need to know about this company, if you came from another planet?

Think different

Much has been said about the Apple slogan that lifted the brand from the brink in the mid-late 90′s. Although it is grammatically wrong, it is thematically right. Everything in the Mac OS is meant to have the user think differently, and coupled with imagery of people who did think differently it was a slam dunk. Still with Apple entering more and more into the main streem, the slogan and camping was soon abandoned, after it did exactly what Apple wanted it to do: make consumers understand the leadership associated with the Apple brand. Great products helped that understanding too.

Priceless

The Priceless slogan in and of itself, is not that cool, but it is the overarching idea behind a very successful advertising campaign. The campaign featured slice-of-life kind of moments meant to make all of us go “ahhhhhh” and ending with the word “Priceless!”. The whole thing ends with the line: “there are somethings money can’t buy, for everything else there is Master Card. The Priceless campaign continued to evolve and finally got it’s own life as people began creating there own Priceless ads – the clear sign of success. The slogan is still associated with the brand but that association is not as strong and direct as it once was.

Audi – Never Follow

With Audi being owned by Volkswagen it makes perfect sense it’s slogan would be a continuations or extension of the parent brand – VW. Although most companies owning more then one brand of cars don’t use similar slogans, in this case it works, and works well. That said, it is worth noting that other brands in the Volkswagen family do not follow this logic, of course the VW-Audi relationship has lasted longer then any other brand in the Volkswagen portfolio.

As in the VW case here is an aspirational slogan now fashioned to fit the personality of cosumners who have the cash to spend on such a car. Yes Virginia, rich people have aspirations too.

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