Hit by any of these great taglines?

Some of these great taglines are current. Some are classics. Maybe you have some great taglines of your own?

  1. Love them back — CESAR Canine Cuisine.

    Begins with a verb – always a plus. Taps that emotional connection people have with their dogs. And yes, people do look for ways to give back to their beloved pets.

  2. Good. Better. Behr. — BEHR Paints.

    If you insist on saying that your product is the best, this is a fine way to do it.

  3. Click It or Ticket — NHTSA’s seat belt communications program.

    It’s a bit clumsy — IMHO, both parts should be verb phrases. But you can’t beat the rhythm and the rhyme. And you can’t argue with the results: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Click It or Ticket is the most-successful seat belt enforcement campaign ever, helping create the highest national seat belt usage rate of 85 percent.

  4. Drive one — Ford.

    Okay. Maybe I will. Current tagline “Go Further” is a big step backward IMHO.

  5. Proud sponsor of the comeback — MetroHealth System.

    This was my favorite new tagline for a while. And it’s all in the great word “comeback.” After all, isn’t that what everyone is trying to do when battling an injury or disease?

  6. More saving. More doing. — The Home Depot.

    Two promises from one tagline. And the tagline has excellent balance — look how both phrases within the tagline begin with “more” and end with a two-syllable word ending in “ing.” Almost genius.

  7. You’re in good hands — Allstate Insurance.

    Using the word “you’re” (and putting it up front) makes this tagline intensely customer focused. Creates a picture in the minds of the readers. Stayed relevant for decades, which is no small task.

  8. Can you hear me now? — Verizon Wireless.

    Verizon took a phrase commonly uttered by phone users and built a brand around it. Verizon stayed with the line for some time (important), put massive ad dollars behind it, and the rest is history. And, when your tagline becomes a part of American pop culture, you’ve really hit it big.

  9. Nationwide is on your side – Nationwide Group.

    Another old-school company with a long-standing tagline. Look at how this tag is perfectly built. The three-syllable name up front (“Nationwide”) balances and rhymes with the three-word phrase in back (“on your side.”) And the small word “is” sort of provides a point on which everything balances. And did I mention that the tagline provides a powerful and comforting benefit.

  10. Be all that you can be — U.S. Army.

    And here it is: IMHO, the greatest tagline ever. Uses only single-syllable words, six syllables total. Begins and ends with the same word for balance (not sure that’s ever been done in a tag line before.) Aggressively challenges the reader. Used from 1980 to 2001.

Author Joe Starin heads up Hit by a Brick, an independent copywriting resource.