When you hear the phrases, “Just Do It”, “Be All In” or “Impossible is Nothing”, do you feel motivated to grab your yoga mat or put on your running shoes? These iconic taglines from Nike, lululemon, and Adidas respectively demonstrate the power of a well-crafted tagline.
Is your Challenger Brand ready for a tagline to be remembered by? What about a slogan? Not sure the difference between the two? We’ll break it down with examples to help spark your team’s creative process.
What’s the Difference Between a Tagline and Slogan?
A tagline is a short, memorable statement that captures the essence of your entire company. It often appears with your brand logo, like Walmart’s “Save Money. Live Better.”, or Apple’s “Think Different.” You can think of tagline as a brand’s mission statement condensed into a few words. It’s used for the long-term and is part of building a lasting brand identity.
By comparison, a slogan is typically a few words or a short sentence created for a specific product line or marketing campaign. Slogans are designed to be less long-lasting than a brand’s tagline as they evolve over time.
Creating a Tagline for Your Challenger Brand
For example, lululemon’s brand tagline, “Be all in” is an overall brand ethos that represents the brand’s vision and commitment to living a full life. That is, to dream big, push boundaries, and go farther.
In 2017, lululemon launched one of their first-ever global campaigns with a bold goal of broadening their public perception beyond yogis to attract customers with a variety of fitness interests, from surfing, to swimming, running, tennis, and the everyday. They launched the “This is Yoga” slogan and campaign to prove yoga is more than physical practice. This campaign highlighted how the meditation and self-discipline of yoga transcends physical practice, inspiring movement in various aspects of everyday life. This created a logical stepping stone for customers to see lululemon not just in the box of yoga, rather as all the ways we can move – and be moved.
lululemon’s “This is Yoga” campaign was a transformational jumping off point to expand their market share. In early 2022, they signed Canadian tennis up-and-comer Leylah Fernandez, launched tennis-specific apparel, and introduced their inaugural in-house running shoe, the Blissfeel, on International Women’s Day. They continue to expand their offerings into trending sports like golf.
Lululemon is a great example of leveraging a powerful tagline and slogan to elevate your business. Even as a market leader within the yoga space, applying a Challenger mindset enabled them to see opportunity to grow.
Their tagline is a “take-action” tagline, and is one of five types of taglines. Here’s an explanation of all five, with Challenger Brand examples.
What Are the 5 Types of Taglines With Examples?
1. Take-Action Taglines: What Should I Do?
- Lululemon – Be all in
- Greenlight – Raise financially-smart kids
- Lovevery – Play to learn
2. Benefit Taglines: What’s in It for Me?
- Glossier – You look good.
- Tiktok – Make Your Day
- Asics – Sound mind, sound body.
3. Descriptive Taglines: What Do You Do?
- Lush – Fresh, handmade cosmetics
- Village Juicery – Do Small Things With Great Love
- Sephora – Belong to something beautiful.
4. Superlative Taglines: Who Is the Best?
- Haute Hijab – The world’s best hijabs for the world’s most powerful women
- Callia – The best experience sending flowers
- Casper – The best bed for better sleep
5. Provocative Taglines: You’ve Got My Attention!
- Fresh N’ Lean – Feed your potential
- Xicama – Rooted in Wellness
- Oura – the future of health
What Are Some Tips To Write a Great Tagline?
Here’s four steps to get started creating a tagline for your Challenger Brand.
- Research industry leaders. It’s important to understand what’s resonating in your industry, as well as the type of tagline that competitors are using.
- Choose the type of tagline that best represents your business. If competitors tend to choose one type, can you stand out by choosing another?
- Focus on one idea in your tagline. The goal is to distill your brand down to a core ethos.
- Brevity is key. Ideally your tagline is less than 5 words.
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How To Choose the Right Tagline
When you have a few contenders, ask these questions to narrow down to your top pick:
- Is it easy to say?
- Is it memorable?
- Does it reflect your brand personality?
- Does it fit neatly below your logo?
- Does it resonate with your target audiences?
Ask each member of your team to give their rating on each of these questions to reveal the winner. Moreso, you can go beyond the internal team with market research, presenting options to brand advocates and loyal customers to get their perspective.
How To Use a Tagline Effectively
Once you have settled on a tagline, be sure to use it often. Brand building is a game of repetition and your tagline can be a powerful tool to win more market share.
Wherever your logo appears, aim to have your tagline below or beside it. Use your business tagline on your business cards, signage, vehicles, displays and social media profiles. The more you use your tagline, the more it will become synonymous with your business name.
Elevate Your Challenger Brand
We’ve covered how powerful taglines can be to build the foundation of a lasting brand that resonates with customers. We’ve also explored the nuances between taglines and slogans, recognizing how their combined impact can be transformative for a Challenger Brand.
Interested in learning more about writing a strong slogan for your Challenger Brand Strategy? Check back on your blog for the upcoming post!
