Joho the Blog
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February 16, 2006
A little bit late, I've run across a post from Johnnie Moore that makes the most excellent point that organizations think the path to success is to emulate thewildly successful "branding campaigns" of other organizations. So, they think about the tagline, jingle or cutesy character that has worked beyond anyone's dreams, and then they try to come up with their own. But, as Johnnie says, why think you're going to be the one in ten thousand who comes up with something as zippy and memorable? This strategy leads to 9,999 failures for every success. Johnnie cites the highly successful tagline for Las Vegas — "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" — and the highly forgettable attempts by cities to come up with their own. "God forbid that we let the people who live here, and those who visit, tell the story in a million more modest, less consistent but much more credible ways?" BTW, here's my suggestion for a tagline for Boston: "And what did you get on your SAT's?" [Tags: johnnie_moore marketing branding boston] Posted
by D. Weinberger at February 16, 2006 09:19 AM
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Comments
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"
Maybe once it did ... not anymore!
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_111105_law.html
Posted by: Noel Guinane | February 16, 2006 09:56 AM
The band The Weakerthans was sufficiently dismayed by the motto of their native Winnipeg - "One Great City!" - that they wrote a song with the motto as a title and the chorus "I hate Winnipeg". Perhaps they would have escaped this indignity if they used a more believable motto: "Winnipeg: Cold, grey and so very lonely..."
Posted by: EthanZ | February 16, 2006 03:56 PM
This is another great example in the catalog of Me-Tooism that includes movie ideas ("it's Willy Wonka meets Platoon"), web apps ("it's Myspace for recovering junkies!"), and American Idol wannabes ("I'm this year's Clay Aiken!").
One of the reasons these attempts always fail is because the also rans never understand why the successful version worked in the first place. They take us by surprise, and in the process inoculate us against copycat surprise.
Posted by: Thor Muller | February 17, 2006 06:42 PM
What, "Boston: Hub of the Universe" isn't good enough for you? :-).
Posted by: adamg | February 18, 2006 08:24 AM
I always go for things like: Boston. Because it's bos, and it's ton.
Posted by: Branko Collin | February 20, 2006 05:46 PM
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"
This guy actually believed it:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7242_1535320,00180008.htm
Posted by: Johan | February 20, 2006 08:45 PM