Word. Word. Word. (Yawn.)

Ever noticed how many companies use this format for their corporate tagline?

Verb. Verb. Verb.

Or maybe they're thinking way out of the box and they opt for:

Verb. Verb. Verb. Verb.

Yeah! Way to innovate!

Spike at the Brains on Fire blog compiled 29 of these interchangeable taglines. Here's a taste (I've added the links):

Connect. Share. Care. (UPHS)
Connect. Share. Grow. (Annese)
Share. Connect. Grow. (4marks)¹
Connect. Engage. Innovate. (I-Open)
Engage. Learn. Connect. (TeachTown)
Connect. Attract. Engage. (Xuropa)
Create. Share. Discover. Connect. (Fraxi)

Are we connected yet?

Spike sums up:

Here’s a great exercise: take your tagline and put your competitor’s identity mark (logo) above it. Does it fit? Does it work? Then you have a bad tagline.

Hat tip to Thingnamer's Tate Linden, who has more to say on the subject.

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¹ Notice the nuanced difference between this tagline and the one directly above it. I'll wait while you notice it. Have you noticed it yet? Take your time.

Comments

[Andrew Nahem]

This reminds me a bit — although it's not exactly the same thing — of this "ad generator" which is a mash-up of Flickr images and remixed corporate slogans:
http://www.cogandsprocket.com/adgen/

[Nancy Friedman]

Thanks, Andrew. I linked to that generator a few months ago: http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2008/02/february-linkfe.html

[Q. Pheevr]

The most distinctive "Verb. Verb. Verb" slogans I can call to mind are not from advertising:

Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyatta. ('Give. Sympathize. Control.')
--T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"

Trap. Dominate. Fuck.
--Nigel Short (quoted at http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1467458)

It would be interesting (alarming?) to find businesses for which these would be appropriate taglines.

[James Colgan]

A lot of people jumping on the bashing bandwagon, but perilously little content or constructive feedback from the branding experts...mostly cut and paste work from the original blog post.

How about using the point as a platform to discuss how it should be done? How about taking one of the companies and building it up as test case of how you would create the tag line. Show off your expertise in a positive light?

If you come up with a better tag line for Xuropa, I'll use it!