Why do some brands move away from cult taglines associated with them, and find new ones? Why do others stick with the same tagline for decades? From Daag Acchhe Hain to The Mint With The Hole, Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye to Dimaag Ki Batti Jala De — some brand taglines have seeped into daily lingo and become larger than the brand itself. Henna Achhpal gets into the hows, whats and whys of the slogan saga
Google ‘brand slogans’ and you will instantly find hundreds of links listing the top brand slogans or the most memorable. Browse any of these links and you are bound to go down memory lane and perhaps even be in awe when you realize that a line you thought was a regular phrase was actually coined by a brand as part of its marketing campaign. Brand slogans seep into our lives deeper than we realize. We use them in daily conversation, as motivation or to feel good. How many times have you told a friend who was thinking slow, ‘Dimaag Ki Batti Jala De’, or said ‘Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hain’ to motivate someone or followed good news with the phrase ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’? When Rasna changed its cult tagline ‘I Love You, Rasna’ earlier this year, we began thinking about the technicalities of a brand slogan. What goes behind making those four or five words a part of consumer memory? How does a slogan become larger than the brand and what happens when a brand moves away from a successful slogan? Leading creative directors from the industry answer these questions and reminisce about some of the best slogans with us here.
MAKING OF A SLOGAN
A brand slogan may seem like it’s just a line, a couple of words strung together but it’s the simplest things that are most deceiving. Sainath Saraban, NCD, Leo Burnett India says, “We try to find a slogan that is relevant, sticky and versatile enough to transcend product-based conversation.” He explains, “It should be ideally judged by what the product means to the consumer, beyond the physical. When Thums Up says ‘Aaj Kuch Toofani Karte Hain’ it exhorts you to get a chilled bottle of ‘Thunder’ as well as do something ‘Toofani’. So it works both in a physical and metaphorical way.” Rajiv Rao, NCD, Ogilvy & Mather India says, “A great slogan is true to the brand, reflects its personality, motive, commitment and intention.” ‘Just Do It’ and ‘Think Different’ are ones that come to Rao’s mind instantly. He says, “They are tailor made for the brand. It’s like the brand itself is speaking instead of some copywriter saying it.” Rao continues, “There is no point of having a slogan for the sake of it. There are brands that want a clever slogan, but it sounds fake. Some banks say, ‘Just Bank On Us’. That’s a cheap pun. Or brands will say, ‘We’re Always There For You’. It’s not convincing. The slogan can’t be just a line, it should flow naturally. It’s about giving a powerful message that stays with the consumer.” According to Rao, the best slogans are casual and have a timeless quality. Haresh Moorjani, Group Creative Director, FCB Ulka says, “Once the insight behind the brand is clearly understood and articulated, only then must the process of writing the brand slogan begin. As they say, be clear before trying to be clever.”
MEETING SUCCESS
The insight may be clear, with the words falling into place effortlessly, yet some slogans become eternal whereas some fail to pick up. Amer Jaleel, NCD, Lowe Lintas & Partners India says, “Sometimes, however much you try, the slogan doesn’t take off and at other times, the slogan itself becomes the brand’s identity. For example, ‘What An Idea Sirji’ was not supposed to be a slogan, it was just supposed to be a line at the end of a commercial. Although the slogan is ‘An Idea Can Change Your Life’, if you ask somebody to identify Idea, they will say ‘What An Idea Sirji’.”
There’s clearly no foolproof formula to predict the success of a brand’s slogan. Rohit Ohri, Chairman, Dentsu India & CEO, Dentsu Asia Pacific South says, “It’s a lot of work. But there’s an intuitive insight you have as a seasoned advertising and marketing professional that you put into play.” Recollecting his time at JWT when they created ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’ for Pepsi, Ohri says, “It is one of the most memorable brand slogans created in the history of Indian advertising. It was a beautiful expression of what the consumer, the youth, was feeling at the time.” Explaining the insight, he says, “From a socio-economic perspective, the market had opened up and there were newer brands and experiences being introduced. Indians weren’t accustomed to indulging so there was a conflict in their minds. The idea was to communicate that this is the time to live to the fullest. That thought resonated beautifully through ‘Yeh Dil Maange More’.”
Talking of more slogans that had an impact, Rao recalls ‘Hamara Bajaj’. He says, “It’s not the cleverest line or something that is well-crafted but it is powerful. It was the time when everyone owned a scooter and every family had a Bajaj. It was a line that anybody would say because it was accurate to the time.” From recent times, Rao cites the example of ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hain’. He says, “Paint is such an industrial product and the category itself doesn’t have high involvement from the consumer. For the slogan to make the brand so human and give it character is brilliant. The slogan is not selling great looking walls or beautiful colours, it’s saying what you do with your house says a lot about you.”
IMPORTANCE OF A SLOGAN
But how important is a slogan to a brand really, does it hold the power to make or break a brand? Priti Nair, Director, Curry Nation says, “By itself a slogan doesn’t decide the future of a brand. It’s one part of a big picture. There will never be such a situation that if the slogan changes, the fortune of the brand will change.” On the other hand, Saraban says, “A solid brand slogan is possibly the greatest thing to happen to a brand. It adds longevity and allows the brand to have a clear personality in an otherwise cluttered environment.” Rao calls a brand’s slogan the ‘cherry on top’: “A great campaign can be great with or without the slogan. At times the slogan plays the most important role and at times it may just be the cherry on top.”
Then there are times when a slogan goes beyond the brand or campaign and becomes a part of daily conversation. Becoming a part of daily life is of deep importance to a brand, says Jaleel. He explains, “OLX and ‘Bech De’ have become synonymous with each other. When a slogan becomes a part of regular conversation, it means that the brand has become that much a part of the consumer’s life. It means a consumer, even before he has started using the brand, has adopted the brand and made it a part of his life.”
TO REINVENT OR REMAIN LOYAL
Identified by its cult slogan ‘I Love You Rasna’ for years, the soft drink concentrate brand changed to ‘Life Main Rasna Milaofy’ earlier this year. Nair says, “Rasna had introduced new products and saw the need to target a slightly wider audience consisting of all age groups from several segments. Our research showed that ‘I Love You Rasna’ was pulling us back to the children’s category. It was not taking us to the level of widening the horizon.” Moorjani says, “No slogan is cast in stone. When a brand evolves and its promise is enhanced or altered then perhaps it is a good time to look at a change.” However, moving away from a slogan that became its identity has not always worked in the brand’s favour. Frooti started out in 1985 with ‘Mango Frooti – Fresh And Juicy’. Over the years it changed to slogans such as ‘Frooti – Just Like That’ and ‘Juice Up Your Life’ but eventually went back to the original with a slight modification and is currently, ‘Fresh ‘N’ Juicy’. Even global brand Nike briefly moved away from ‘Just Do It’, a slogan which was coined in 1988, to ‘I Can’ in 1998 but returned right back to the original. Ohri says, “If you’ve reached a point of complete resonance with the consumers and the slogan has entered popular culture, then changing it is hugely difficult because that magic may not be created again.” Thums Up’s iconic ‘Taste The Thunder’ slogan was coined in 1980 which changed to ‘I Want My Thunder’ in 1996. After a mere three years, the cola brand went back to ‘Taste The Thunder’ in 1999. Today its slogan is ‘Aaj Kuch Toofani Karte Hain’ which was coined in 2012. Saraban explains, “‘Aaj Kuch Toofani Karte’ is a derivative of ‘Taste The Thunder’, it’s not a whole new take. It’s the brand providing more to the consumer in terms of pride of brand association without losing its heritage.”
Then there are those brands that have continually changed their slogans over the years. Surf Excel has moved from ‘Surf Ki Kharidari Mein Hi Samajhdari Hai!’ in the ‘70s to ‘Daag Dhoondthe Reh Jaaoge!’ in the ‘90s, to ‘Surf Excel Hai Na!’ in 1999. Its current slogan ‘Daag Acche Hain!’ was created by R Balki of Lowe Lintas & Partners India in 2005. Jaleel says, “There is one bogey in advertising called being contemporary, which results in a lot of changes. How you interpret that bogey is quite important.”
Yet there are those who continue to remain loyal to the same slogan over decades. Amul Butter has stuck to ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’ ever since it was coined in 1966 by Sylvester daCunha. In a Business Standard column daCunha writes, “When the tag line was coined, V Kurien only said, ‘I think it’s utterly mad; but if you think, it will work, go ahead’.” Nair says, “It all depends on the business needs of the brand. If the slogan is working for the brand then the ideal thing is to stick to it.” Raymond which came up with ‘The Complete Man’ in the 1990s continues to use the slogan till today. Rao concludes, “It shows how powerful the brand is that it doesn’t need to change its slogan.”
Feedback: henna@exchange4media.com
