Why is brand building still focusing on slogans today???

In today's world where all kinds of fancy marketing emerge one after another, there are still some brands that insist on using advertising slogans. Are they sticking to their own ideas or being complacent?

In March 2024, Adidas released a new brand slogan: "You Got This". Many marketing accounts posted articles lamenting that Adidas has undergone a major brand transformation, completely replacing the "Impossible is Nothing" that has been used for 20 years.

However, this statement is not accurate. In 2011, Adidas changed its brand slogan to "Adidas is all in".

For example, in the 2014 World Cup, Adidas’ communication theme “All In Or Nothing” was based on this slogan.

So, why do people only remember “Impossible is Nothing” but not “all in”?

It’s not that the copywriting skills of “all in” are not good enough, but the communication element of slogans has begun to decline since 2011. Most of the slogans that many people are familiar with now were born more than ten years ago. Moreover, there are still many brands today that have no slogans at all, which does not affect brand management.

Some time ago, I have clearly expressed this point of view in a tweet - " My personal slogan continues to be pessimistic ."

The reason for writing it at that time was this: Today, brand communication is less and less dependent on slogans. If companies do not invest in hard advertising, especially 15-second TVCs and series of print drafts, slogans will not be of much use at all.

This is indeed the case. Just like when you mention those old brands that became famous through hard advertising, such as Melatonin, Liuliumei, Hengyuanxiang, etc., as well as some mature big brands such as Nike, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola, you will immediately think of their slogans.

However, when it comes to brands that have emerged in the past decade, such as Lululemon, Dyson, DJI, Haidilao, Huaxizi, Guanxia, ​​etc., you can't even remember their slogans. This is because they don't invest in hard advertising.

After I said this, many people were puzzled and asked me in private messages or in the group: Do we still need to think of a slogan when doing brand strategy planning today? Do we still need to learn how to write advertising slogans in the future? After all, most of the cases in my book "Transparent Copywriting" are various advertising slogans.

So in this article, I will talk specifically about slogans.

The construction and operation of a brand requires a series of basic elements, such as brand name, trademark (logo), VI, slogan, jingle, mascot, personality, IP, brand story, etc. (I have written about what these elements specifically refer to and how to create them in "30 Lectures on Brand").

When it comes to a specific brand, of course it does not need to have all the constituent elements. Moreover, few brands have designed all the above elements at the moment of their birth. In fact, most brands gradually improve their brands and continuously modify and upgrade the constituent elements during the operation process.

If we broaden our horizons and look back at the long history of brand origins, you will know that the earliest brand elements were brand names and trademarks, and slogans appeared around the 1880s.

At that time, newspapers began to appear on the historical stage, and many companies wanted to place advertisements in newspapers, so advertising slogans came into being. Later, for example, with the emergence of radio, advertising songs also began to be added to brand menus.

That is to say, advertising slogans are the product of mass media. In other words, when companies no longer place mass media advertisements (TV, newspapers, outdoor, radio), and communication changes from advertising-centered to content-centered, the importance of advertising slogans naturally decreases. When a brand creates content on platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, and TikTok, Xiaohongshu, etc., where are advertising slogans used? How much role do they play?

However, the fact that corporate communication no longer relies on slogans does not mean that slogans have lost their value. To be precise, slogans no longer have external communication value, but they still have internal strategic driving value.

First of all, advertising slogans can best reflect brand strategy (clarifying brand core values, image personality and emotional attitude, brand concept and values, etc.), as well as market strategy (targeting core target groups, building differentiated advantages, clarifying product categories and market segments).

For example, BMW's slogans "Pure Driving Pleasure" and "BMW IS JOY" define the brand's core value, clearly explain the consumer benefits that the brand brings to customers, and provide reasons for purchase. Chivas's "Live the Knightly Style" and Hengshui Laobai Gan's "Drink the Manly Flavor" and "Time Gives Manly Flavor" are all about shaping the brand image and personality and winning customer recognition and resonance.

Another example is Pepsi’s classic “You are the new generation of Pepsi”, which is targeting the target group and differentiating itself from Coca-Cola. Apple’s “Think Different” is also targeting the target group (professionals and young people who pursue fashion), differentiating itself (IBM, the big brother in the personal computer market at the time, had the slogan “Think”), shaping the brand image and expressing its values.

There are also slogans like Buick GL8's "Business Class on Land", Afu's "Afu is Essential Oil", Sylphy's "Happy Family Car" series, etc., which all express who the brand is and describe the basic product attributes, categories and market segments.

In December 2022, Liu Qiangdong returned to the stage after four years. At the "offline business philosophy study meeting" for all JD employees, he denounced some middle and senior managers for using PPT and empty words to fool him, exaggerating but executing poorly, and being arrogant and complacent.

Liu Qiangdong said: “You managers, stop talking to me about fancy new concepts and new words. You should return to common sense and the five essential elements of business: product, price, service, cost and efficiency.” “All strategies should return to cost, efficiency and experience.” He also said: “Low price is the most important weapon for our success in the past and will be the only basic weapon in the future.”[1]

After the media reported this meeting, it resonated with many people and was forwarded, and became a hot search on Weibo. At that time, I also forwarded and commented on it in my various reader groups.

Liu Qiangdong’s speech actually set the tone for JD.com’s development in the next few years with the “low-price strategy”. It is reported that after this meeting, JD.com’s HR department has redesigned its employees’ KPIs based on Liu Qiangdong’s latest spirit. Some business lines have removed the “average customer price” target from their KPIs. Previously, the key goal of these business lines was to pursue a higher average customer price[2].

However, the strategic adjustment of a mature large enterprise cannot be achieved by simply distributing the boss's speeches and meeting minutes and letting everyone follow the rules. It must be reflected in the brand strategy. So at the beginning of 2023, JD.com changed its brand slogan to "More, Faster, Better, Cheaper".

During the Double Eleven event, the theme of JD.com’s press conference was “Real Cheapness”, and the company vowed to use the most sincere and low prices to bring consumers a real bargain and blind-shopping experience. During the 618 event that just passed this year, JD.com’s communication theme was “Cheap and Good”.

(Pay attention to the brand slogan under the JD.com logo in the upper right corner)

It can be seen that "More, Better, Faster, Cheaper" is emphasizing that JD.com must return to its roots and occupy the minds of users with "low prices" again, which will be the new direction of overall operations. The reason why the word "heavy" is used is because "More, Better, Cheaper" was originally the brand slogan proposed by JD.com in 2013.

In those days, JD.com relied on low prices and authenticity to compete with Taobao and snatch users. For example, during the Spring Festival in 2012, JD.com had a slogan called "It's better to have quality than to have you kiss it" (the brand name was still JD.com at that time). During the Double 11 in 2013, JD.com's theme was "Not only low prices, but also fast speeds", and the theme for the Double 11 in 2014 was "Same low prices, buy the real thing. JD.com Double 11, real. low".

At the end of 2015, JD.com upgraded its brand and changed its brand slogan to "Only for quality life". This shows that JD.com was catering to the consumption upgrade trend at that time and shifted its core target group from all users to the middle class with higher income, pursuing high-quality goods and better life experience (comparable to Tmall, which changed its brand slogan from "If you like Tmall, just buy" to "For an ideal life, go to Tmall" in 2017).

Therefore, starting from Double 11 in 2016, JD.com began to emphasize its "good stuff" label and upgraded the Double 11 promotion event to its own "Global Good Stuff Festival". This practice continued until 2019 (the Double 11 communication theme of that year was "Good stuff you care about, buy it on JD.com").

Xiong Qingyun, vice president of JD.com and general manager of JD.com’s marketing center, who was responsible for implementing the brand upgrade, said in an interview with the media at the time: “From more, faster, better, and cheaper to only pursuing quality life, this is a very important brand strategy upgrade in JD.com’s history. It is also a sublimation of the company’s transformation from quantitative change to qualitative change after more than 10 years of hard work by all JD.com people.”[3]

On May 20, 2020, JD.com once again implemented a brand upgrade and announced that it would change its brand slogan to "Live up to every passion."

JD.com believes that people are no longer simply paying for goods, but are willing to recharge for feelings, dreams, future, personality, self-satisfaction, and circles. The reason behind this is that consumers love and yearn for a better life, so JD.com must take on responsibilities and bear the responsibility with an attitude of "not letting down".

Moreover, this slogan is equivalent to elevating JD.com's brand proposition from functional appeal to emotional and spiritual appeal, which means that JD.com wants to break through more consumption scenarios and enter the consumer's lifestyle. Of course, I personally think that the proposal of this sentence is also related to the outbreak of the epidemic at that time and the changes in social and cultural psychology.

Looking back at the changes in JD.com’s slogan several times, we can clearly see the changes in JD.com’s overall strategy. This is the value of the slogan.

Of course, many people who shop on JD.com every day may not have noticed that the slogan below the JD.com logo has changed, but it doesn’t matter. Today’s slogan may have no effect in terms of communication, and consumers have no knowledge of it. However, it still has a strong guiding role in the internal brand building of enterprises, especially when the brand faces important issues such as upgrading, renewal, and rejuvenation.

In fact, this is also the key to our learning of slogans. The focus is not on how to create this sentence, but to observe and analyze changes in corporate strategies through this sentence to better understand business and the market.

Secondly, advertising slogans have integrating and guiding significance for the marketing communication behaviors of enterprises.

Don Schultz, the "father of integrated marketing," emphasized that companies should view all marketing activities as a whole, integrate different means of communication and promotion, and send a unified voice to consumers. Only by "focusing all efforts on one thing" can the effect be maximized.

This statement is quite correct, but where does this "same voice" come from? How can companies ensure and standardize the information they convey in various promotional activities, dissemination content, and sales policies? At this time, it is very necessary for the brand to have an explicit slogan to represent this voice.

Especially in the traditional era, brand communication was centralized. Companies could complete their communication work with one TVC, one set of print drafts, and one slogan to let consumers form long-term cognition and memory of the brand and establish continuous communication. The advertising slogan is this "same voice".

For example, Nongfu Spring has many classic slogans, such as "Nongfu Spring is a little sweet", "Natural weak alkaline water", "We don't produce water, we are just nature's porters", "What kind of water source breeds what kind of life", etc., which are actually expressing the core value and brand image of Nongfu Spring's "naturalness", defining the category cognition of "natural water", and reflecting the company's business philosophy.

All Nongfu Spring's promotional activities are carried out in the direction and tone set by these slogans, such as inviting consumers and media to visit the water source and witness the natural quality; launching a large number of brand story videos about finding and exploring the water source; and public welfare activities to protect the water source.

This year, Nongfu Spring launched green-bottled purified water and launched a large-scale advertisement with the slogan "Red bottles are healthier, green bottles are a little sweeter." Although it emphasized that "all Nongfu Springs come from natural water sources," this wave of business actions obviously violated its consistent brand strategy. From the user's perspective, it was like attacking their own enemy with their own spear, which could easily cause cognitive confusion.

I guess that Nongfu Spring knew that this move went against the brand strategy it had adhered to for more than 20 years, but it still did it in the end. It was probably because after experiencing the turmoil this year, it faced tremendous pressure and anxiety in terms of revenue and growth.

Today, as we enter a decentralized and diversified media era, the guiding value of advertising slogans is even more important. Although companies now disseminate more content and information, most of the content is fragmented and one-off, and it is impossible to establish a solid and sustainable connection with consumers. Consumers only have short-term memories of brands, not long-term memories; they only have short-term impressions, not long-term impressions.

To solve this problem, enterprises need to have a clearer brand slogan or brand core value to play a role, form a core brand label, and all content will revolve around these labels. The key to content marketing is that it needs centralized composition and decentralized distribution.

In terms of form and carrier, enterprises also need to create IP to replace the role played by slogans in the past. IP has temporal continuity, which can attract traffic and fans; it also has spatial extensibility, which can carry brand recognition and brand assets.

Of course, we will discuss this topic in another article. Here we will first talk about the slogan.

This type of copywriting is actually what I call " top-level copywriting ". They define the brand strategy, sort out the brand's core value and communication direction, and are part of the brand's top-level design.

For example, in 2023, Qun Yushan proposed the "lightweight outdoor" concept to Jiaoxia, which promoted Jiaoxia's transformation from a sunscreen brand to an outdoor brand. This is such copywriting.

Friends who have done brand consulting will know that when we design a brand strategy for a company, the first step is to see who the core group of the brand is, where the market segments and growth opportunities are, and then plan the underlying brand structure, or the top-level design, based on this.

In the brand house, the brand mission, vision and values ​​must be designed first, followed by brand concept, brand core value and brand positioning, and then the brand proposition, image and personality (personality), style, etc., and finally the brand story, brand IP, brand declaration and other creative parts. Sometimes, this brand house will also include product-level support points and product portfolio strategies.

All the items in the brand house, including brand name, core value, proposition, positioning, power claim, etc., actually need to be expressed through copywriting and need to be created. These text creations are very standard top-level copywriting.

The word "copywriting" is actually very broad and its meaning is not clear. When we talk about copywriting, sometimes we refer to copywriting works, such as slogans, headlines, taglines, power claims, campaign themes, manifestos and other specific text creations; sometimes we refer to copywriters, which is a position in advertising companies and corporate marketing departments - copywriters.

When we say "top copywriters", we are actually referring to those copywriting works that reflect market strategies, embody brand strategies, define brand values, and guide the direction of brand communication within the company. This does not mean that copywriters are the core, middle and senior management of the company.

In fact, most of the time, top-level copywriting is not just done by copywriters. Those who work in this industry know that copywriters are a grassroots position in the industry. They may have first-class creativity, but their grasp of the company's market and business is generally insufficient, and of course they have no say in determining the strategic direction.

In fact, many consulting companies, whether they are brand consulting, market consulting, or strategic consulting, will also create positioning slogans and advertising slogans when doing consulting projects for enterprises. Because no matter how the strategy is formulated, you will eventually need to express it clearly in one or two sentences, and based on this sentence, convey the new brand idea to employees, consumers, the media, and the public.

Moreover, I have seen many business owners who like to write their own slogans. For them, this sentence plays a strategic role, so they must do it themselves.

As a copywriter, you cannot just be satisfied with writing some basic, low-tech soft articles and product promotions. You must research and learn those top-level copywritings and understand the strategic thinking and business intentions behind these brands. Only in this way can you continuously improve your professional ability and way of thinking, which will be of great benefit even if you do not engage in copywriting work in the future.

Some people consider themselves bricklayers and others architects, even though they are both laying bricks and building houses. Different career perspectives determine the upper limit and ceiling of people's development. When you can view and create copywriting from the perspective of top-level brand design, you are not just a small copywriter, but a brand commander.

References

[1][2] Miao Zhengqing, “Liu Qiangdong: Never Left”, from the official account: Huxiu APP, 2022-12-26;

[3] Zhao Lei, “From ‘More, Fast, Good and Cheaper’ to ‘Only for Quality Life’, JD.com’s Logic of Qualitative Change”, from WeChat Official Account: Potential Value, 2016-02-02.

Author: Empty-handed

Source: WeChat public account: "Empty Hands (ID: firesteal13)"