To Create a Company Slogan, Tag Line Or Motto, Twist and Shout By Marcia Yudkin
This information is brought to you by mkt1on1 at http://db2bdh-ednxp4m49ogs247bq7q.hop.clickbank.net Picture this full-page magazine ad: From the horizon, a vicious funnel cloud rises to the sky, with telephone poles and other debris flying from it. A heavily fortified tank drives toward the tornado, a Discovery Channel logo blazoned on its rear. Across the bottom of the page stretches the word "StormChasers." In smaller white letters atop a dark cloud, this tag line ties everything together: It's all about being in the WRONG PLACE at the RIGHT TIME. A highly meaningful recombination of words we've heard or read a thousand times mightily pleases the brain. Just as the Discovery Channel twisted the saying, "being at the right place at the wrong time," the Economist magazine produced this wonderful attention getter: Great minds like a think. Of course, that's a rearrangement of the maxim, "Great minds think alike." Note that it not only switched the order of the words but also separated one of them into two words, altering their meaning while keeping each syllable the same. Here's a third example before I teach you how to create such slogans yourself, this one from the Florence Savings Bank, a community bank in Western Massachusetts: Why There is Safety in OUR Numbers This headline keeps the order of words in a familiar saying, "There's safety in numbers," but inserts an extra word that changes the meaning of the last word "numbers" from "a crowd" to "amounts." As with the others, the wordplay produces a warm feeling in anyone who loves language. It's not hard to produce similarly pleasurable sendups. First, brainstorm as many key words as you can for the message you're trying to get across. Second, look up these key words in lists of sayings such as the following: http://www.westegg.com/cliche http://www.findaphrase.com Do this research while glancing back at your list of keywords from time to time. Chances are, a possible combination of words will explode into your mind. Write it down and keep going. Third, look again at everything you've written down. If you haven't yet found the right twist, put all your notes aside and take a walk or wash the dishes. (Dropping a problem often brings up insights.) Last, fiddle with the exact wording of your best candidate until it looks and sounds as effective as you can make it.