Top 7 Iconic Brand Taglines Of All Time

This is a list of taglines that, in my personal opinion, bring out the brand essence or USP in a striking and memorable manner and is not based on any survey or quantitative metrics. In the absence of metrics, this will be a set rather than an ordered list. So let's get to it.

Lay's

"No One Can Eat Just One" or alternatively "Betcha can't eat just one".

The best marketing lines are true, not merely based on truth. Go on, try it. Procure an innocent packet of Lay's, eat just one chip and then don't eat any more of the remaining chips. Keep the packet in your secret drawer and open it in private from time to time, smell it but don't eat another molecule of it. Let me know how long you're able to hold out without eating more of this classic junk food.

I do not know how this legendary tagline originated but I would imagine the origin story goes as follows - The team at Lay's were conducting consumer FGDs (Focus Group Discussion), observing keenly as the participants waxed eloquent while munching the product. After they were gone, burping and licking their fingers presumably, the brand manager (BM) was left behind with his deputy. They enter the FGD room. It hadn't gone the way they had hoped. The BM looked pensive as he scanned the packets of Lay's strewn around. He observes that none of the packets are half empty or have a few pieces left in them. In fact there isn't a single crumb left in the 15" by 15" feet room. The place has been licked clean! Gears move in his head and the BM smiles and comes up with this epic line. <Mad Men theme plays in the background>

As a child I was a fan of chips in general. Uncle Chipps was the dominant brand back in '95 when Lay's (then Ruffles Lay's to be precise) made their entry into India and they went on to capture a lion's share of the Indian chips market. Today they have 30% market share of the Rs. 9000 Cr ($ 1.1 Bn) Indian potato chip industry. Bingo (ITC) and Balaji follow with ~10% each. Incidentally Lay's competitor in the US market, Pringles, have a similar tagline based on the same insight that reads, "Once you pop, the fun don't stop.". However the Lay's tagline feels more direct and inviting and hence deserving of a place here.

Iridium by Motorola

"Geography is History"

I saw this first back in the 90s, I think on Star TV via cable network. This was the dawn of foreign content for us avid content hungry desi folks. My uncle used to operate one of those local cable companies so I had a front row seat to this revolution. In between mostly Hong Kong focused ads like "Visit the Kowloon Panda Hotel" and HSBC, I caught this gem of a TVC for Iridium by Motorola (now Motorola Solutions ). Towards the end the iconic tagline appeared. I was taken aback at why would they be talking about my school subjects. It took a while to sink in. The tube light finally lit up in my head. Geographical barriers were a thing of the past thanks to Iridium. The name itself was impressive. Iridium. Something precious, rare. This remains my favorite tagline to date. Never mind the fact that the company ran into troubles and the largest media launch in history, pun intended, had to be called off midway.

When I grew up to become a marketer, I wondered how they came up with that line. So simple yet so profound! Did they copy it from somewhere? I did some digging and found some quotes with Geography and History for example - "Geography is the history of the world beneath our feet." by Mark Lawrence and "Geography is history in place, history is geography in time." by Élisée Reclus, but nothing that uses the two Social Sciences in the context that Iridium used it in. I would like to believe it was another 'Mad Men' moment where some marketing genius sitting in a smoke filled room coined this iconic tagline.

McDonald's

"I'm Lovin It"

More temptations to eat junk food on the way. McDonald's has had about a dozen different taglines but the blockbuster has been "I'm loving it". It was conceived by Heye and Partner (DDB) in 2003 and launched globally in over 100 countries. The global launch, with Justin Timberlake singing the associated jingle, was a huge success. The campaign had a positive commercial impact with a 9.6% rise in in-store sales and also did well at the awards nights (Clios, Effies and Cannes).

The iconic image of the Golden Arches resting upon the tagline became humorously memed into a T-shirt design which I am hesitant to share here due it's NSFW (Not Safe For Work) nature. Just do an image search for "I'm loving it T shirt" if you don't know what I'm talking about but remember come back to read the rest of this article.

Nokia

"Connecting People"

Nokia was founded in 1865 as a pulp mill in a small town called Nokia in Finland. By the 1970s they were into forestry, cable, rubber and electronics and making their foray into networking and radio industries. Today what comes to mind about Nokia is how they lost the huge share they had in the mobile handset space to Samsung, Apple and others. Adopted in the 1990s, the Nokia logo reinforces the brand purpose of networking and connecting the world. The tagline can also be thought of as a description / quality of the people at Nokia as the people who make connections, who are the "connecting people" so to speak. It's short and relatable. The human element of the brand is further amplified by the unforgettable image of hands reaching out to touch fingers. The fact that one of the hands belongs to a child further accentuates the emotional appeal.

What you may not know is that they took the tagline beyond marketing collateral and incorporated it into the company culture. As an intern at Nokia I learnt that if you get a call during a meeting you are not supposed to cut the call but instead you're expected to answer the call in between the meeting. That was what I remember most about that internship apart from the swanky Nokia 8800 they gifted me.

Jaguar

"Grace.. Space.. Pace.."

Launched in the 1960s by the premium car brand, this tagline packs the maximum information possible in the shortest message. Grace signifies the brand's image of being high end, both with respect to status as well as craftsmanship. Space refers to the spacious & comfortable interiors of their cars and Pace to the power and speed of their products.

Whether a product of a light bulb moment or conscious consumer research to unearth the most important things their target customers look for in their car, this tagline takes the cake for covering so many aspects in a few characters. I place a lot of emphasis on brevity in marketing copy, it being the soul of wit. Many brands have tried this route of coming up with a tagline consisting of 3 or more rhyming or alliterating nouns / adjectives / verbs stringed together but amongst them, this one by Jaguar remains the G.O.A.T.

Avis

"We try harder"

Remember my point about truth in advertising? Well what if the truth is not in your favor? What if you are not the biggest or best brand out there? Embrace the truth. Do not claim to be something your brand is not. Car rental company Avis was smaller than the market leader Hertz. Instead of claiming to be bigger or better they decided to turn the negative into a positive with this clever tagline. We are number two, so we need to try harder to satisfy our customers.

From a consumer psychology perspective this works on two levels. Firstly, we try harder means Avis employees will go out of their way to make the customer happy. This too in an industry where customized solutions are desirable by consumers. Prospective customers feel they have a better chance of getting their additional demands fulfilled with Avis as they try harder. Secondly, an admission of the truth makes the brand come across as honest and reliable. No wonder this campaign led to a 28% increase in car rentals for Avis the year this campaign was launched. Truly an all time great tagline.

L'Oréal Paris

Because you're worth it!

How do you sell a premium product in a price sensitive market? Say that your product is worth the extra money because of so and so reasons? In the early 70s, McCann thought that instead of the company justifying the worth of the product it, was better to let the consumer think of themselves as being worthy of the extra cost of L'Oréal Paris line of beauty products.

By shifting the focus from their product to the buyer's aspirations and self worth, they crafted an iconic tagline that is in use to date albeit with minor variations here and there e.g. "Because I am / we are worth it". The slogan encourages women to believe in their beauty and sense of worth and also to fulfil their ambitions.

How will these legendary taglines of the past made by humans fare against those of the future crafted by AI using vast stores of consumer data available at its disposal? That remains to be seen. I will go get pop corn. Hope you enjoyed this list. If you would like to see M.O.T.S. (more of the same) type of content, drop a comment saying so, preferably along with your favorite tagline.