Sloganeering
Some of the world’s vaguest and therefore worst writing appears in company slogans. The company slogan is among the first thing a new entrepreneur dreams up and is often a blandly general proclamation that could relate to any other business of its type. Sometimes any other business, period. Memo to business owners: hold off on that company slogan till you know what you’re offering besides a quality product and good service. To pick on some dear compadres, you can tell that the Atlas Games slogan, “Charting New Realms of Imagination”, predates the company’s distinctive identity. Sure, it ties into the name and all, but it could describe almost any game company. A slogan reflecting what Atlas has become might be somewhere more in the neighborhood of “Cool Games For Cool People.”
The other day I passed a van for an animal control company. It had a big photorealistic picture of a raccoon on it, as well as ad copy touting its humane, harm-free procedures. Its slogan was specific enough: “The Animal’s Choice.” On a few moment’s reflection, though, one can’t help but think that the animal’s choice would be to remain lodged in the wall under your eavestroughing.
The best bad slogan I’ve seen in a while was on a yard sign where roofers were at work reshingling a house. I read it as a stray piece of jagged, dislodged shingle zoomed to the sidewalk a few feet ahead of me like a Home Depot shuriken.
The reassuring slogan read as follows: “Fully Insured Since 1964.”