Proof of Slogan
March 25th, 2008 by ChrisWhat’s a Proof of Slogan? This is the all-too-frequent brainstorming meeting wherein a group of talented, qualified, intelligent people spend time trying to come up with a series of executions that revolve around the new or old tagline developed for the brand.
Smith Brand Widgets - Engineering Your Life
Planner: “How about a take on the Engineering an Empire show? We could do line drawing animations showing off the components of the product!”
Creative Director: “I can see a microsite featuring a 3D personified version of the product where the user can perform surgery on a virtual customer - kind of like Operation!”
Please, stop the madness. This kind of gimmicky, taffy machine concepting gives the digital ad business a bad name. Small wonder that most of these initiatives collapse as soon as the media juice is turned off.
To piggy-back on Jeremy’s latest post, the preferable approach is to produce something of value to the audience that complements the overall brand image and promise, rather than the actual words of the tagline.
Avoid the temptation to value cleverness over utility - even though the rewards of the two aren’t equal. The former’s rewards are immediate and apparent - the smiles on the faces of your coworkers and the tangible feel of a piece of creative. The latter’s rewards are unclear at first, revealing themselves over time as adoption increases in the marketplace.
Tags: brainstorming, branding, concepting, Ideation, taglines
