Great Websites draw you in and reward you with pleasing images, designs, colors, and sounds. They make it easy for you to find what you visited the site for in the first place. A good Website also gives the visitor valuable information not found anywhere else. These objectives guided TEO in designing and populating our new Website. We hope that you will surf around and get to know us a little better at www.teo-usa.com. Enjoy! 

Additionally, we have made it easier for BRANDWORTH News readers to share their views and ideas with us. Please visit our new blog at www.brandworth.blogspot.com to give fellow bloggers and us your thoughts.

We look forward to publishing exciting, fresh, and relevant new articles soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the last of our three-part series on Integrated Identity.

Chuck Sink, Editor

Feature Article

The word slogan, taken from the Gaelic slughgairm, or battle cry, was shouted by Scotsmen centuries ago (no doubt as they were being defeated by the English). The word is still alive and well. Some slogans are very clear and relevant but too many are confusing and ambiguous. Marketers often feel better about their brands when using a slogan, but few of them do much good at all. The truth is, they are good or memorable only when they sum up what the product is all about.

An effective slogan has to deliver what it promises. It has to satisfy the customer in order to enhance the brand franchise. Other elements of effective slogans should identify a company's strengths and deliver a (strategic) message. Good slogans tell a story, but all too often that story is what management thinks is relevant, not what the customer wants from a company, product, or service. Slogans that have met these guidelines and have included the right ingredients were the subject of a study published by Northwestern University's of Integrated Marketing Communications. "You're in good hands with Allstate," "Please don't squeeze the Charmin," the Pork Council's "The Other White Meat," and Wheaties' "Breakfast of Champions" were all cited as good slogans, sharing the virtue of simplicity.

For slogans to be effective, being memorable is not enough. The customer must be told what the company, product, or service is about. A great example is De Beers' "A diamond is forever." It has been recognized as one of the best slogans of all time.

Slogans used to reposition a company can backfire if the brand experience doesn't live up to the slogan. In the mid-1990's Sears unveiled "The Softer Side of Sears." This slogan was used to change the mind-set of its core customers (women) and to broaden the focus of their market. But, the "softer side" didn't live up to customers' expectations.  Sears struggled to maintain the momentum of the initial campaign and later changed its slogan to "The Good Life at a Great Price." 

       Despite the apparent lack of recent entrants into our lexicon, many slogans have earned their place in American culture. "Just do it," "Have it your way," and "Where's the Beef?" are but a few. Most companies would love to be in those strata of effective marketing. It's a level where brand equity takes on a life of its own.

      Slogans are still a major part of the advertising tool kit. Clever slogans can even turn a negative into a positive: "With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good."

Feel free to call Haden Edwards or Chuck Sink at (603) 622-7200, or email us: chuck@teo-usa.com