Sam Horn - Intrigue

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sam Horn POP! Get More Bang For your Advertising Buck


$5 FOOTLONG.
What company is associated with that ad?
Chances are, you said Subway.
Which makes Subway execs very happy. It means they’re geeting more bang for their advertising buck because their ad is becoming part of our vernacular. It has “legs.”
Why is this 3 word tagline so successful? It features several POP! techniques:
1. It’s PURPOSEFUL (it brands their product in your mind.)
2. It’s ORIGINAL. (no one in that market has used this measurable phrase which gives the impression you get a lot for your money. In a tough economy when everyone’s pinching pennies, this makes it relevant and top of mind.)
3. It’s PITHY. It’s less than 7 words long (most iconic taglines are because we can only keep 7 bits of information in short term memory, i.e., Nike’s “Just do it.”)
4. It’s ALLITERATIVE (words that start with the same sound give our mind a hook on which to hang a memory - ala Dunkin Donuts, Dirt Devil, Best Buy, Rolls Royce.)
5. It’s said with disctinctive INFLECTION AND IAMBIC METER (Put it in a beat to make it easy to repeat. Great examples are Paul Harvey with “And now . . . for the REST of the story” and “Takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.”
Does your company slogan, product tagline or ad campaign have the above elements? If so, good for you. It’s maing money for you because people are repeating it and becoming your word-of-mouth advertisers.
If not, buy a copy of POP! Create the Pefect Pitch, Title or Tagline for Anything and start applying its 25 innovative techniques to help your product, service and business get noticed, remembered and bought . . .for all the right reasons.