I was listening to copywriting legend Drayton Bird the other day and he was talking about an advertisement that he thought was one of THE worst he’d ever seen.

The advert in question failed to convey clearly what the product or service was, failed to say why that product or service was worth buying, and the brand name wasn’t exactly screaming from the poster, either.

The advertising agency responsible obviously thought they were being creative, being clever.

Unfortunately they failed with the other (more important) C word… communication.

That lesson from Drayton reminded me of some TV ads I’d seen recently.

I could remember seeing the ads before.

I just couldn’t remember, in every case, what the brand was.

Which suggests…

The advertisers need to have a think about their adverts!

A fun quiz for you in a moment but first…

Let me introduce you to Arthur Benjamin

I think I was introduced to Arthur in 2007.

Via his TED Talk (www.TED.com).

I remember his name for TWO reasons.

Firstly, he introduced himself as “The Mathemagician” – combining his academic love and knowledge of mathematics with magic and performance.

Secondly, having set the expectation that I was about to witness something special, Arthur delivered…

BIG TIME!!

In my opinion, it’s one of the most incredible TED talks ever.

If every student had a maths tutor like Arthur we’d live in a very different world, for sure.

Arthur Benjamin is AMAZING with maths.

He’s also really good at coming up with a tagline.

A tagline is that word or phrase which a company uses to sum up its brand or its offering.

For example, take Nike.

It’s famous tagline is “Just Do It”.

That’s an easy one to remember.

So, here’s that fun quiz I was promising…

See how you get on with identifying the company or product behind the tagline.

Hint: Some are modern and some are “old”.

There’s just 10 for now.

Which companies said or say this…

1. Think Different
2. I’m Lovin’ It
3. Because You’re Worth It
4. The Power To Surprise
5. There Are Some Things Money Can’t Buy…
6. When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Be There Overnight
7. Drive The Change
8. The Future’s Bright…
9. Get Organized . Grow Sales . Save Time
10. Any Time, Any Place, Anywhere

How many did you get?

All the answers in a moment.

First, here’s a summary on taglines:

They DON’T have to be creative or clever

They DO need to be memorable

They SHOULD say something about your brand or your offering (or both)

They are most successful when you hear people using them in ordinary conversation.

Simples!

But was the fun quiz so easy?

Here’s the answers so you can see how you did…

In order, the answers are:

1. Apple
2. McDonald’s
3. L’Oreal
4. Kia
5. Mastercard
6. FedEx
7. Renault
8. Orange mobile (now part of EE)
9. Infusionsoft
10. Martini

How did you score?

Actually, if you got 3 or 4 that’s pretty good.

A score of 5 to 7 is very good.

Anything 8 and above is EPIC!

You’re so… (if your score was epic you’ll probably know how the line finishes)

Not got a tagline for your business?

Why not start thinking of one.

It can help to get you message across.