"Finger-lickin good" Enduring slogans (5)

The fifth in my series of enduring slogans is Kentucky Fried Chicken’s “finger-lickin good”. This evocative strapline actually originated by accident.

This blog post is now located on my website - just here 

Thanks to Marufish on Flickr for the pic

Have a break. Have a Kit-Kat. Enduring slogans (2)

My last post talked about the “Go to work on an egg” slogan which was created in 1957. In the same year Kit Kat’s ad agency J Walther Thompson came up with “Have a break. Have a Kit-Kat”.

I



This post has now been re-located to my website just here

Thanks to adslogans.com for the top pic.

Go to work on an egg . Enduring slogans (1)

This week I want to take a look back at an ad that first appeared in 1957 for the Egg Marketing Board.

Devised by Ad agency Ogilvy and Mather,  it's often been said that novelist Fay Weldon came up with the clever strapline – but in fact she headed up a creative team at the time and credits it to that team overall.  The full version of this blog post is now here

What makes a good strapline?

A “strapline” is both the secondary sentence attached to a brand name and the term used instead of the word “slogan” meaning a short memorable phrase used in advertising campaigns. 

In the US these are referred to as taglines - a word that’s increasingly used here too.

Whatever you’d like to call them they all have to do the same thing:

 

They need to catch the eye of your reader and hook them in.

And despite the fact that these are typically less than 8 words long they have to deliver against a whole bunch of other stuff too…

•  First, as I have just inferred, a good strapline needs to be short, crisp and concise 
•  It needs to demonstrate some benefit to the reader and perhaps make them feel good
• It should be memorable – this is often achieved by being witty through a play on words or the use of rhythm and repetition.  For example:

Have a break, have a Kit Kat (how this came about)

No FT, no comment

Don’t live a little, live a lotto

Don’t just book it. Thomas Cook it

Beanz Meanz Heinz (how this came about)

And the old… Drinka Pinta Milka Day

• They should also differentiate your brand – something which obviously escaped the 30 companies listed that use“simply the best”.  Probably one to avoid for your business!

Are good strapline writers hard to find?  Yes because this is the hardest skill a copywriter has to master. Personally I love the challenge but anticipate the headache!  Which recent headlines have caught your eye?

Need help with your strapline?  Here I am!