Just do it (Nike). Das Auto (Volkswagen). Connecting people (Nokia).

Sometimes it feels like the world is awash with taglines. Some get etched on your brain like the ones above. But most of them just vanish. And yet the question turns up time and again here at the agency: Does my company (or product) need a tagline?

It’s easy to think that the job is all about a catchy phrase but a good definition of a tagline is “a phrase that is easy to remember and that summarises what a brand or a product stands for”.  So, in actual fact, it’s also about going into what a company really stands for.

How does the company differ from its competitors? Which promise do customers value most? What are the differences between various markets? The barrage of questions is almost endless. The bigger the organisation, the harder it is to find something that unites.

The trick is to think first and then write. The ideas need to be discussed several times both at the agency and at the customer. When the right words turn up, the phrase is often accepted without much resistance.

An example: A couple of years ago the agency did a project for Alektum Inkasso. This business is made up of a number of agencies who all say they are good at collecting money from debtors. But nobody thought about what many clients value, that is if you do the job well, you win back customer relationships. Together with Alektum we realised that this thought was something to build upon. We then arrived at the following tagline: “Get your money back. And the customer”.

Now a lot of competitors are talking about the importance of keeping good relations with those in debt. But Alektum Inkasso was first and is therefore, according to all positioning theories, king of the castle. And with its tagline “Get you money back. And the customer” the company makes it even more difficult for competitors to lay their hands on the concept of customer relationships.

What then is the answer to the question in the heading? Well, if you have thoroughly thought through what the company stands for, a tagline is suitable because it conveys and strengthens this thought. Otherwise it’s better to resist the temptation. As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet:

“Words without thoughts never to heaven go”.

By the way, “Das Auto”, Volkswagen’s tagline, was first used by Opel in the ‘70s , but that’s another story.