Wednesday, June 18, 2008

When an Ad Tagline Goes Wrong

Why is it so important to get Ad Tag Lines, or even Ad Copy, right? Here's an example:

Today I saw a Sherwin Williams van driving down the street. As you may know, Sherwin Williams is a large company who specializes in paint. The logo on the side of the van had a can of red paint being dumped on top of the earth with these words: Cover the Earth.

I can understand what these people had in mind when they thought of this logo...they wanted to show that they are covering the earth with colour...which is great.

But it looks really bad. Why? Because it looks like paint is making our earth toxic because it's being smothered in it. This is sending the wrong message, especially with the growing sensitivity to keeping the earth clean and minimizing our carbon footprints.

The solution here is to effectively show what you want to say and do it in a way that people are going to be enticed by it. Why not a picture of the earth with a swirl of colours and the words "Bringing Colour to the World" or "Colouring the World".

When writing copy or tag lines, the reader needs to be enticed to buy the product. They also have to understand what your intention is. Right from the start, there needs to be emotion in the copy. Once people feel that emotion, you've hit the right spot and have drawn them in.

I recently wrote a brochure for a home builder who was including a 'spa-like' bathroom in their homes. Those looking at the brochure needed to be pulled in by the essence of what was being said. The goal here is for the customer to want that spa bathroom and the relaxation that comes with it. And that's what I directed my copy towards. The feeling of peace, relaxation, stillness and oneness.

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