A consumer survey not long ago found that taglines like Blockbuster Video’s “Go Home Happy,” the promise by American Express to “Do More” and United Airlines’ emphasis on “Rising” are failing to impress consumers. In fact, most people simply don’t recognize most taglines. Even if they recognize the phrases, they can’t connect it to the advertisers.

New York-based ad agency Partners & Shevack/Wolf said that only half of the people surveyed recognized most taglines, and that “a remarkably high number of consumers were unable to correctly identify which brand or product these taglines were touting.”

Here are some examples from the survey: Nine out of 10 people recognized the line “Like a Rock” from General Motors’ Chevrolet Trucks ads. But fewer than four in 10 could correctly say the line belonged to Chevy. Nissan had a bumpier ride, with only eight per cent recognizing it as the owner of the “Enjoy The Ride” slogan. I wouldn’t have known that one myself.

Even BMW’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine” (which has been in use for decades) was off the road for most people. Although 60 per cent of the respondents were familiar with the slogan, only 11 per cent could connect it with BMW. “I was shocked by BMW’s result, given that within the industry [it] is one of the most well-known theme lines,” said Brett Shevack, chief executive of the agency, which is a unit of Toronto-based Wolf Group. “We are forced to recognize that consumers do not work at agencies and are not as advertising-involved as we’d like them to be.”

There are two basic problems with taglines.

They’re predictable

The first problem is one common to all modern marketing messages. People are busy and inundated with commercial messages. They shut out most messages they see or hear, because you simply can’t function if you tried to retain everything. Only the most relevant stuff gets stored mentally in a place where it can be recalled. Everything else is just thrown away.

Too many taglines have nothing distinctive or valuable to say. Generic lines that are nothing more than vacant things anyone can say just don’t cut it. United Airlines used to have a great tagline, “Fly the friendly skies.” Yes, it required that their service live up to that promise, and that takes work. But it was specific and meaningful to travelers. That gave the brand power and relevance. The current one, “Rising” is just stupid. What airline isn’t “rising” every time an airplane rotates off the runway, even if they extorted their passengers with service fees that exceeded ticket prices?

To be effective, a tagline needs to be specific and unique to the brand. It also needs to relate to something that matters to the customer. Lines like “We bring good things to life” (GE) are too much about you and can’t resonate with customers. The same goes for taglines like “Going Places.” Who cares where you’re going? I’ve seen a number of variations on “Quality is Job one.” Yawn. Don’t talk about quality. Anyone can say that, so it’s useless. Prove it by making good products. Visa’s tagline, “It’s everywhere you want it to be” was identified with Visa by only 15% of survey respondents. I’m not surprised that it scored so low. It’s generic and meaningless to anyone but Visa’s marketing department.

Influence takes time

The second problem is that getting your tagline recognized doesn’t happen overnight. The longer a tagline stays in use, the more chance it has to be remembered. Coke has been “The Real Thing” since the 1930’s. As was mentioned earlier, even BMW has trouble with recognition, and they’ve been using their “Ultimate Driving Machine” tagline since the mid-70’s. Yet too many companies change their taglines every time a new marketing director or CEO gets hired. How can you expect a new tagline to be of any value to people, especially if it isn’t any better than the old one?

How do you create a good tagline?

There is still a place for taglines, because they can keep the marketing message focused and will provide a consistent bridge between all your messaging. But you need to put in some effort to create a good one.

First, make sure your tagline doesn’t break the rules described above. Ask yourself if the proposed tagline is likely to matter to prospective customers. Ask yourself if it will be relevant 10 years from now. If it doesn’t meet those tests, then chances are you shouldn’t be going down that road. The tagline should support your primary marketing messages and brand position.

See if you can modify your existing tagline to make it more meaningful, rather than just throwing out everything and starting over. Shevack said that when his agency pitched for the Dutch Boy Paints account a few years ago, the company’s ads were using “The Look That Lasts” tagline. “It was really nailing down the two most important things in the paint category, durability and beauty,” he said. “We found in research that those were the two benefits consumers were looking for. But they weren’t explicitly linked to the brand, so we suggested changing the line to ‘The Lasting Look Of Dutch Boy’ instead.”

Allstate Insurance’s tagline, “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate,” also includes the brand name as part of the tagline and registered a 97 per cent recognition rate in the survey. So there’s certainly something to be said for including the company name if it makes sense. But don’t put that so high on the priority list that you destroy something great just to force the company name in there. It’s about balance!

FourSquare uses a concept of having people check into places they visit, and the one who visits most often is declared the “Mayor” of that facility. The Cactus Club clearly understands the power of talking directly with the people who use that social media environment, sending me the message simply because I was within walking distance of a Cactus Club location. Perfect! I had long been advocating that restaurants use the power of Mayorship for marketing, so I was thrilled to see that the Cactus Club was doing something with this.

The most common argument I hear about using social media is that the audience is relatively small, compared to such things as flyer drops into the community or running an ad. Yes, it’s true that there’s only one Mayor per establishment, and there may only be a few thousand FourSquare members in your city, with only a few hundred potentially in your community. So what? These are highly targeted people. They fight over becoming Mayor! When you lose a Mayorship because someone else passes you in visits, it’s a big deal for FourSquare users. Any business can gain repeat visits, and by definition, additional sales, by using this strategy. I believe that because of the nature of foodservice, restaurants can gain more than most other retail services.

The Cactus Club was offering a free gift card for whoever was mayor on a particular day, at a particular time. That’s extremely powerful, and a brilliant example of using social media marketing. I hope this is only the start of better use of social media.

Other restaurants are also starting to “get it” when it comes to the power of social media.

Morton’s gets it, too

Roger Drake, senior VP of the Morton’s steakhouse chain, explained that they make significant use of social media. One strategy they’ve applied with great success is bringing in celebrity servers for fund raising, then using Twitter to tweet their appearance. Followers on Twitter receive “inside” information that an NBA star or other celebrity will be at Morton’s, creating a buzz about the event.

Morton’s also offers Twitter followers bar bites in the bar. They encourage people to tweet from the event, to create powerful word of mouth awareness. They hold special events called “Burgers for Bloggers” where they serve mini Prime Cheeseburgers. This is great stuff!

They also use Facebook effectively. For Valentine’s Day, they asked guests on Facebook to send photos of their Valentine’s Day experience at Morton’s. “We got more than 50 photos,” said Roger. One couple got engaged in the restaurant, and this was mentioned on their Facebook page, providing powerful emotional appeal and creating a strong connection with fans. For Mother’s Day, they will have people go to the Morton’s Facebook page to post their favorite Mother’s Day Morton’s dinner photos.

It’s about relationships

When using social media, please don’t spam people. Don’t think of it as a way to stream out one-way promotional messages. Use it to create relationships. Seek out the people who post frequently on your Facebook page, and offer them special incentives. You can even make them administrators of your page, an unpaid task that can have huge rewards because these are among your most faithful guests and their voice can serve more effectively than anything you say. With Twitter you can announce special spur-of-the-moment offers, perhaps a discounted appetizer or beverage special. Have your guests mention a phrase you use in a Tweet to get special treatment, and they’ll love you for it, because you’ll be making them feel special and creating that dynamic two-way relationship.

Starbucks applied a FourSquare strategy in which they offered the mayor of any location $1 off any of their new anyway-you-like-it Frappuccino. It was a reasonable strategy in some ways, but the $1 wasn’t a big enough draw, in my view, to be significant. There’s only one mayor of any location at any given time, so it’s not like you’re giving away the keys to the store by making the offer more meaningful. A screen shot of the coupon is shown at right.

Yes, Facebook and Twitter require an ongoing, consistent effort to be successful. That’s another thing often mentioned as a negative. Why would that be that any different from any other daily task, assigned just as you assign a day chef to start your food preparation? Approached with the mindset that this is a long-term process, a consistent effort to connect with people around you, social media will have a strong impact on your sales.

Some people might think of it as a book for advertising professionals, because John comes from an agency background. But it’s really just a book for anyone who ever makes any kind of presentation — business or otherwise. This common-sense view of the art of presentations focuses on how every presentation is essentially a conversation. It doesn’t matter whether your audience consists of one person or a thousand. Whether you’re presenting an idea, proposal, or your potential as a great employee, you’ll benefit from this viewpoint.

John gives the example of a meeting with Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, contrasting a briefing by Steve with an earlier one by two senior Apple marketing executives. The account is humorous and insightful. After the two executives attempted to bore the agency team to death with a bad, rambling Powerpoint presentation, Steve used a marker pen on a whiteboard to give an unforgettable, highly focused presentation that cut to the heart of the problem. He was transparent, clear and passionate. This is the essence of a great presentation!

Think of every ad, every brochure, and every website you create as a presentation. Then take it further and think of them as part of a conversation you’re creating with potential customers. What are the questions they’re asking when they begin to engage with the content? What do they need to know? What are their dreams? What’s their vision? What does a successful outcome look like?

Imagine yourself face to face with each one of them. How would the conversation flow? How would you make the same pitch if sitting across from them in your local coffee shop?

I’ve enjoyed a pretty good track record in new business presentations, with more than 80% of all my presentations leading to a business relationship. This success rate has been the result of having great mentors when I was first getting started, people who were honest and firm in forcing me to evaluate what I was doing from the customer’s perspective. It has also been the result, in many cases, of having a great team around me who did the rest of the work, from researching information I needed to building relationships with the prospective client. But I’ve noticed that one element has been consistently important: caring about the other party. You have to listen, really listen, to what the other person is saying. If you don’t, then nothing you say will be relevant.

I recall one presentation made after I started my young ad agency when I was just 24 years of age. The prospective client had already been pitched by four large agencies who wanted the account. Here I was, young and inexperienced, though passionate about what I could do with my small but talented team. I asked the company’s marketing team what they wanted to achieve, what their goals were and how they saw their business five years down the road. I mostly just listened, yet it was a conversation. A few minutes into the pitch, the company president stopped me and said something I’ll never forget. He explained that every other agency had come in and shown a bunch of work and talked and talked endlessly about what they could do. They were pitching without understanding. I was the first person who had even asked any of these questions. He awarded me the account on the spot.

Perfect Pitch is an excellent book and a worthwhile read for anyone, especially people who have to pitch new business. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. The heart of the message is to think of your presentation as a conversation.

I love how cleverly the Facebook information was used. You see images from the profile dimmed behind the water, and even the use of the person’s name in an obituary. At the end is a posting showing that the position they held at work is now vacant, with the company seeking to have it filled. Really brilliant stuff. Not overplayed or heavy-handed, but just right.

You can see what the experience looked like for one user, Nick O’Neill, right here.

This promotion was dreamed up by Campfire, with the actual code and strategy developed by Your Majesty and The Advanced Guard. Kudos to everyone involved.

Another attempt to use this approach was the promotion by 20th Century Fox on the rollout of the 10th anniversary edition of the cult classic film “Fight Club.” In this case, Facebook profile information was accessed to produce a trailer. It was ridiculously slow and not nearly as well made.

This brings me to the point of the article. Along with the power of social media to create amazingly effective stuff come several big challenges. These aren’t new, but in the frenzied excitement of trying to push the bleeding edge (sorry) of marketing, many people are forgetting to address these basic foundational issues.

Getting in the front door

Every savvy Internet user is well aware of privacy and guards it well. For any social media tool to play down these concerns would be suicide (and usually illegal), so Facebook asks for permission before an application like these can access your profile.

Obviously, only those who are totally blown away by your creative will be interested in granting such access. But how will they know that it will be good? Most people won’t have a clue what your Facebook Connect app is going to do. As a result, they aren’t going to grant access. Nobody wants to have an application post something stupid or annoying on their public profile!

This creates a whole new element of complexity for those who produce the campaign. It’s no longer enough to simply express excitement and hope people will come along with you. It’s absolutely critical to tell them what they’ll experience ahead of time. You have to show what a typical Facebook wall posting looks like, tell them why your application is worth loading, and find ways to add extra value to the equation.

I think the Discovery Channel promo was quite sensitive. The Facebook postings were smart enough that they wouldn’t serve as an embarrassment to anyone.

Adding value

People will add your app if there is sufficient value for them. If you’re a major coffee company and want people to post their favorite drink to their profile, fine. But what’s the point, really? What’s in it for them? Why not raise the bar by giving them a free beverage each time they do so? Now you’ve got a true partnership and that’s what social media marketing is all about.

I have two iPhone apps which represent opposite sides of this reality. One lets me track my running or cycling workouts using the built-in GPS, and posts the results to my FB profile and wall. It’s very cool because the social media posts it creates are subtle, not too promotional or “pushy” in style. When people click the link in the post they can see the details of my workout, including an actual GPS track and stats. This is useful! My friends can compare their results against mine. These guys get what social media is all about, letting me become a “trust agent” as Chris Brogan calls those who influence through their posts. The other app is nicely designed and lets me design and track my gym workouts. But these guys don’t get social media. The postings the app creates are purely promotional. The links in the posts are only designed to sell the product itself to others, with no “added value” for my friends. They can’t see any further info about my workouts. So what’s the point? I’m embarrassed about what it posts to Facebook and am feeling great pressure to turn that posting feature off. (Update: I did give in to embarrassment and turned off that feature. My desire when I let apps post info is to add value through those posts, not to boast about my workouts)

No matter how creative your promotion, if it’s self-serving and offers no real value to those you’re trying to reach, they won’t bother with it and all your effort will be wasted. So spend time figuring out what will make it useful for those who see the postings.

In the case of Discovery’s Frenzied Waters campaign, the value was inherent in the video production itself.

Load time

Another factor with apps like these is load time. Some, like the Fight Club promo, simply take too long to load. People are busier than ever, trying to fit more stuff into the same 24 hour days we’ve had since the first loin cloth was sewn from fig leaves. If your app doesn’t load in 8 seconds, you’re toast. Women are even more impatient than men when it comes to online activities. Their timeout ratio is 3:1 compared to men, so you better plan on a load time of 3 seconds if you don’t want to lose huge percentages of the female demographic.

The Discovery campaign loaded very quickly, just 3 seconds, while the Fight Club promo took over a minute, rendering it essentially useless.

Regardless of how effectively your creative applies the powerful tools available through social media, you better make sure it meets the real-world people tests or it will fall flat on its Facebook.

Rip. Giggle. More ripping. Squeals of delight. Perhaps our society’s fondness for consumer goods has its roots in the opening of gifts and packages, an activity we’ve all enjoyed since childhood. An aspect of marketing too often ignored, product packaging is about to see revolutionary change.

Packaging has become smarter, slicker, more colorful. It is more responsible, with less wasted paper. Smart marketers have recognized its contribution to the total brand personality. Yet one component of the box has not progressed for a hundred years.

I’m referring to the user manual.

A couple of years ago I bought a new camcorder. The box was gorgeous, transmitting the experience it stood for. Parts were individually wrapped in protective plastic bags. Cords were neatly folded and tied. Inside, the lens even came in its own glossy full color box as elegant as the main package. The entire experience was delightful, a fitting resolution to the angst involved in the decision to buy this particular make and model. Then I saw the user manual. It was nice enough as manuals go. But it just felt wrong. Low tech. Bulky. Wasted paper. For all the sophistication we’ve reached in packaging, today’s user manuals are fundamentally the same as those that shipped three decades ago.

A new technology is emerging which, I believe, will convert the lowly user manual into the pinnacle of the product packaging experience. It’s called DVD. Ultimately it will find a meaningful place in the presale brand identity mix, but the adaptation of DVD as a marketing tool will very likely begin with packaging. Picture your next camcorder box. Unlike previous purchases, this contains something extra — a shiny silver disc. You anticipate something special, and the disc delivers. Not only are there video segments on how to use your camera, but video articles helping you make better movies. A CBC Newsworld camera operator hosts a session on how to shoot great documentaries. Steve Martin hosts a funny piece on how to create a wedding video. And the product manager looks you in the eye and tells you that she really does care about your satisfaction and if you have any feedback, here is her direct e-mail address. Played on a computer, you could even click the link and send an immediate e-mail message.

The scenario works for most consumer goods. A new espresso machine can have videos on making the perfect latte. A watch can include a limited-edition, for-owners-only documentary on how this brand has been featured in action movies and traveled to the top of Mt. Everest. Such new product DVDs can include web links to discussion forums and membership areas limited exclusively to owners of the product. It works for travel, too. Imagine getting a detailed video preparing you for that cruise you just booked. Even B2B can benefit, where the DVD manual is used to orient and train people in safe equipment usage and techniques. Brands become more meaningful through digital user manuals.

A number of consumer realities point to a rosy future for DVD in marketing. There’s the simple fact that it is a standard. There are no concerns about whether or not you’ve got the right system to run it, as there were with CD-ROMs. Players are now priced below $100, making them affordable enough for any home or office. Its acceptance has grown exponentially — DVD households have doubled each year since 1998 and should reach more than 70 million worldwide by next year. The format has enough tenure in the entertainment industry to build consumer confidence. People are comfortable watching DVD videos both individually at their computers and in social settings.

Significantly, the format fits with a new consumer emphasis on being real. According to Yankelovich Research, the tragic events of September 11 accelerated an attitude that consumers have already felt for some time, but that marketers have been slow to understand. People want to stop being “sold” things and want to connect. With family. With friends. And with brands. They want marketers to be honest, to get real. Is it any wonder that reality television shows and “live camera” visual styling have been all the rage? Video makes sense in this marketing environment.

Some companies, like Britannica and Apple, are leading the way with DVD. What about you? Is your company ready for a revolution? Maybe it’s time to rethink how your packaging might contribute to your overall brand identity.

We try too hard. Far too often, marketing professionals use brute strength in an attempt to force ideas and products onto consumers instead of relating to the core needs and attitudes of their target audience. The greatest marketing successes tapped into emotional realities that already existed: Volkswagen. Apple. Nike. Molson. They saw what people were already thinking and touched it. Cultural sensitivity has never been more important for marketing than it is today when we’re at the leading edge of a whole new era of change.

One of the best ways to understand tomorrow’s consumer is to study today’s teenager. Fortunately, I have three teens at home to observe and talk with daily. Each one has been using computers since the age of two. They’re comfortable with technology. All three are building Web sites and one manages a busy online forum. I view them as a focus group for culture. It’s been enlightening and a bit scary. They’ve taught me that marketing isn’t really more difficult than before, just more intimate. Let me share some observations.

Watch a teen use communication tools and you begin to grasp one obvious reality — tools are not converging. Observing teens has convinced me that convergence isn’t a driving passion in their lives. They use the telephone when it makes sense to use the phone, they use e-mail for specific kinds of messages, and they use the Web to get facts and to place orders. All three tools are used to interact with brands, but each one has a unique role to play and teens instinctively know what that role is.

Teens recognize the telephone as a medium ideal for communicating emotion. Where previous generations used it as their primary messaging tool, tomorrow’s consumers use it for emotional impact. They laugh on the phone. They use it to communicate feelings in ways no other technology can match. Smart marketers can tap into this reality with “conference call” focus groups or live announcements where participants can express themselves freely.

While older generations are still trying to figure out how e-mail works, young adults know exactly when and why to use it. Forget about unsolicited sales messages. This is an unwelcome intrusion into their personal space, and they hate it. They crave e-mail, but only when it comes from sources they agreed to, from brands they have already granted permission to build a relationship. E-mail is used most often to communicate information-rich messages.

A cool new URL to look at gets sent to a whole group of friends in a second. News about a team, band or favourite brand is hot, and gets passed along quickly. Once they’ve “opted in” to receive mail from your brand, they welcome your messages as long as they aren’t self-serving. Marketers who involve their subscribers as a genuine community and recognize the value of these brand loyalists will win big, while those afraid of tapping into this dialogue process will lose ground. Yes, it’s scary to allow open public discussion of your brand. What teens seem to understand better than most executives is that this dialogue is already taking place anyway.

The Web is used for brand information. Smart marketers will respond to the way tomorrow’s consumers use the Web today. Offer up relevant content on every page. Make it fast and meaningful, or they change brand loyalty. Make it easy. Promotions that combine digital media with analog communications are also effective.

Best of all, there are whole worlds of culturally relevant marketing opportunities we haven’t even thought of yet.

One of my daughters is seriously into a CD-ROM game called The Sims. After setting parameters for computer-generated individuals, you can watch your simulated people interact with each other, get jobs and find romance. Not long ago, she breathlessly announced that one of her Sim women had proposed to a man, he accepted, and they got married.

“Did the ring have an Ekati (Canadian) diamond?” I asked.

“There are no brands in The Sims, Daddy,” she replied.

Interesting. “Would you like to have brand choices?” I probed. She needed no time to think about it. “Of course,” was all she said.

The opportunities are right in front of us all the time, in the midst of today’s teen culture. We merely have to see them. Just like always.