Gorilla 76

10.20.09 More on taglines

You’d think in a world of busy people looking for the shortest way to get from point A to point B, a tagline would be valued and not seen as extra clutter. However, some critics are adamantly against using taglines.

Recently, I came across a great article on Brandweek.com by Jim Morris – “The Lost Art of Writing the Sticky Tagline.” It offered several solid insights.

First of all, it’s important to note that everyone remembers a good tagline.

• Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
• Got Milk?
• Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.

Why do these work? They’re simple, clever and memorable. These taglines have helped develop a lasting impression for their brand. Each of these lines has become such a staple in their product’s positioning that it would be hard to imagine the product without it.

That begs the question, what makes a good tagline? That’s where Morris’ advice comes in handy. He gives a nice, short list of tagline don’ts. To name a few:

• Don’t worry about length. If it’s long, it’s long. The most important thing you need to ask yourself is if it’s good. It could be the shortest tagline ever and be the worst thing someone has ever heard or read.
• Don’t try and overload your tagline. Say what you need to and cut out the rest. Be careful though, don’t cut it down so much that you are saying absolutely nothing.
• Don’t use exclamation points. Please!
• Don’t overpromise. Don’t underpromise.
• Don’t try to say everything. Instead, focus on saying one thing well.
• Don’t use the jargon of the business. We get it, it’s clever. But for the most part, potential customers aren’t going to understand it. As we all know, confusing the customers is never a good strategy.

You can read the rest of Mr. Morris’ article here. Enjoy.

And thanks for reading.

- Sharon

10.13.09 From the desk of intern Sharon

I’m a grown-up?

First I think that I should start off and tell you that no one more than me could be more surprised that I actually have a real grown-up job. But I suppose, much to my dismay, I could not be like Peter Pan and refuse to grow up. So this leads me to my second thought, what do I want to get out of my internship here at Gorilla 76?

Of course I could be totally cliché and say that I want the work experience. Well, unfortunately for you, it’s true. I want to be able to walk away from this internship not only learning from my mistakes, but as a result, becoming a better writer. I want to learn from people in a line of work that I want to be involved in. I want to walk away from this job better able to communicate with the people that I work with. I want real-life experience. Lucky for me all of this has already happened. Even luckier is that I am having fun learning the ropes.

The cool thing about this internship, which is true about any internship, is knowing that after I leave I will have learned something new. It could be something as simple as how to work a scanner – and, hey, we all know that sometime during our life being able to work a scanner is a handy skill. Or it could be something more important like how to find the right tone to a product or how to simplify my writing. Either way, I know that when I walk out that door, I’ve learned something new that I can take with me to my next job, wherever that might be. All and all, I think that the most important thing that I want to learn from this job is how to become better at what I want to do: advertising. I’m excited for the time that I have left and all the things to come.

And, hey, this internship won’t look so bad on my resume either.