A great marketing strategy always leaves an unforgettable impression. Be it a brand logo, brand name, or brand tagline. All such elements are known as the face of a brand. In our day-to-day life, we hear and say many words and phrases, some of which reside in our memory longer than others. For example, if I say “Connecting People”, your mind may enlighten with the memory of Nokia. According to human psychology, the tagline of companies seems to stay in our memory for a longer time. Talking about taglines, taglines must be highly witty, relevant, and memorable. In this blog, we will read about 3 brands having impactful stories behind taglines.
Nike- Just Do It.
Nike owns the iconic brand tagline, i.e. Just Do It. The story behind this tagline states that when the brand created this tagline, Nike was in a tough spot of competition with Reebok. While Reebok was already ruling the world with its marketing strategy, like the aerobics launch, Nike was coping with the extreme pressure of cut-throat competition. But right after the creation of Nike’s tagline, its sales picked up massively. Nike intended to target sports enthusiasts with its tagline. The hype for ‘Just Do It’ was insanely high. When the tagline caught people’s attention, not just athletes but everyone resonated with it. People started making interpretations of ‘Just Do It. Here are some examples that justify-
- Too lazy to work on Mondays? Just Do It.
- Unable to complete a set of push-ups? Just Do It.
- Procrastination doesn’t let you meet the deadlines? Just Do It.
The brand was flooded with letters from people worldwide telling the team Nike how those 3 simple words have been an ultimate source of inspiration for them.
This was one incident that soared Nike’s brand value. Another incident occurred in 2020, which rendered Nike’s sales to elevate more than ever.
In 2022, when racism was one hot topic discussed in each corner of the world, Nike came up with the idea of delivering this humble message through an Ad. The series of the Ad included such statements-
Don’t turn your back on racism.
For once, Don’t do it.
And that’s how Just Do It was changed to Don’t Do It for some time. The best part was that they delivered an on-trend, humble, and appropriate message but still maintained the brand’s spirit.
Red Bull- Gives You Wiiings.
Red Bull being an Australian company, offers energy drinks. The drinks manufactured by Red Bull are positioned as premium and trendy beverages. Earlier, Red Bull had the brand tagline ‘Red Bull Gives You Wings, which was sued for nearly $13 million. Let’s read the whole story.
The brand Red Bull bore the tagline ‘Red Bull Gives You Wings’ for quite a long time. It gained massive popularity from the initial stage. The brand manufactured an energy drink and claimed it gives the ultimate energy to run errands. The tagline was a metaphor for the brand. After 20 years of success, the brand fell prey to its gallantry.
Benjamin Carethers, a US citizen, sued Red Bull for not giving him wings. The person filed a case against Red Bull for false advertising. He stated that after consuming Red Bull for 10 years, he neither got wings nor had he seen an improvement in energy level. The case was filed in the New York Federal Court. Red Bull settled the matter with Benjamin by agreeing to pay $10 to all the customers who bought Red Bull in the last decade. But the customers were expecting 2 Red Bull products worth $15 instead of cash of $10. In the end, the final payout cost a total of $13 Million to Red Bull.
Hence, to keep the brand tagline alive, Red Bull added two more i(s) in the word ‘Wings’.
Apple- Think Different
IBM has always been Apple’s biggest rival. Back in the old days, IBM was running a campaign to which they gave the name ‘THINK’. Now Apple wanted to justify that they have dead-end competition with IBM. To acknowledge that none amongst the both is less than the other, Apple came up with the genius marketing strategy of introducing their tagline, ‘Think Different. It is stated that some copywriters crafted the tagline as ‘Think Differently’, which is grammatically sane. But the authorities changed it to ‘Think Different’. This gesture also proved that Apple is no less than IBM. Thereby both companies share cutthroat competition amongst them. As a result, the incident went viral, and Apple gained many new customers from around the globe.
Wrap Up
From the above 3 examples, you might have understood how a brand tagline impacts the marketing strategy. An impactful brand tagline distinguishes the company from companies that provide the same product or service. Moreover, a creative tagline can give an extremely positive outcome and help improve a business’s marketing strategy.