From sports gear to makeup, branding emerged in the early 21st century as a way for companies to distinguish themselves from the competition. As the industrial revolution burgeoned, so did audiences and customers.
Branding makes a company recognizable to customers, sticking in their mind like peanut butter when the time to make a purchase arrives. The advertising explosion in the last 100 years has drawn in brilliant minds and the creative class. Here are the top eight marketing slogans that have been developed in the 21st century.
Just Do It Famous basketball player Michael Jordan helped popularize this slogan for Nike in the '90s. First introduced in 1988, "Just Do It" helped the company to reverse their decline from the top-grossing shoe brand in the US. The company was careful to make the slogan broad enough to appeal to many audiences. Along with Jordan, Nike ran other ads with Charles Barkley, who claimed that he shouldn't be a role model just because he played basketball. This gave the campaign the ring of authenticity.
Save Money. Live Better. This Walmart campaign sums up what the store offers: the American dream, at a discount. As both a promise and instructions, the slogan sticks in the customer's mind.
The Happiest Place on Earth You instantly know what this place is -- Disneyland. From the original Disneyland California to the new Shanghai location, this ad campaign works across cultures and values by appealing to one common human desire: happiness.
Open Happiness Another slogan with a strong emotional appeal is Cocoa Cola's promise that you will "open happiness" by picking up a coke. The slogan changed in 2009 from "The Coke Side of Life" in order to translate better into foreign languages, as the company sought to expand sales overseas. In an interview with The New Yorker, senior vice-president Wendy Clark said that since happiness is a universal concept, it makes sense to people from all backgrounds.
Plop plop fizz fizz oh what a relief it is! Let's be real -- you probably just sang that line in your head, or hummed it out loud. Alka Seltzer's catchy song has worked for decades as a brilliant slogan that immediately comes to mind when you have a cold.
Think Different This iconic slogan from the nineties summed up everything the Apple brand embodied. By comparing themselves to the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Gandi, Amelia Earhart and Muhammed Ali in a commercial, the slogan both inspired the audience and placed Apple as the next heir in the line of great, rebellious thinkers throughout history.
Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline. By adding a touch of subtlety and mystery, this slogan appeals to woman's desire for natural beauty.
Great slogans stick in the consumer's head for days, months and years, acting in a way as marketing's secret weapon.
