COPY COP-OUTS: BAD TAG LINES AND MORE!
By Steve Cuno
Copy Cop-Outs
The Tagline as Brand

 
n the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Matthew McConaughey plays an ad agency creative pitching a diamond marketer. His Big Idea — “Frost yourself” — wins the business. In The Out-of-Towners, Steve Martin wins the New York City tourism account with the line, “Only in New York.” So if you believe Hollywood, a winning brand equals a one-liner.
          Real marketers, of course, know better. Or do we?
          On occasion, I encounter companies eager to show off their new brand. They proudly roll out their new tagline, sometimes with a new logo. In an uncharacteristic show of restraint, I keep my mouth shut. When people are giddy with pride is no time to point out that a tagline and a logo do not a brand make.
          There are as many definitions of branding as there are consultants. I define a brand as the sum total of your values, as evidenced by how you deliver on those values, at every point of contact.
          Your brand is what you stand for, and what you won’t stand for. It is your company’s personality. It is how you will and won’t do business. It is the customers you seek, and the ones you 		don’t. It is how you treat employees, partners, vendors, and customers. It is the care that goes into your product or service. It is your overriding principles, and your diligence in adhering to them.
          To the extent that you ride herd on your brand, it is manifest in the look and feel of your facilities, in the behavior of employees, and in all of your communications — in person, in policy, on the phone, online, in correspondence, and in advertising.
          A brand is not a one-liner. It is what you, your company and your people live.
          A brand is not an ad campaign, either. In fact, some of today’s strongest brands belong to remarkably quiet advertisers. There is no Nordstrom campaign touting impeccable service and upscale decor, no Barnes & Noble campaign extolling a hangout with book enthusiasts to help you find obscure titles, no Starbucks campaign bragging about aficionados who know the traits of coffees from around the world.
          These companies built strong brands through consistent delivery on values backed by passion. All without taglines like “Nordstrom — great service and real marble floors.”
          If you must have a tagline, fine. But

mistaking a tagline for a brand is like mistaking a poster for a movie. And no matter what kind of poster anyone cooks up for How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and The Out-of-Towners, the movies are what they are.


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