In one of the previous posts I have talked about missions statements. We have defined a mission statement as a brief but at the same time broad declaration describing the overall purpose of the organization. I have also reviewed missions statements of some of the well known companies. As it was noted, missions statements can be several paragraphs long.

It is not always practical to advertise a mission statement. That's why, companies have slogans and mottos - a short distinctive phrase used to identify a company or organization or its goals. In effect, a slogan can be viewed as a short version of a mission statement.

It is very interesting to know that the word slogan comes from Gaelic sluagh-ghairm (pronounced slua-gherum), which means war cry. A good slogan is as important in business as it used to be in the past in warfare. Usually slogans are brief and rhetoric, sometimes even vulgar.

It must also be noted that while companies have one mission statement, they can have more than one slogan. Also, slogans are subject to more frequent change than mission statements.

Well, after this brief theoretic excursion, let's get down to reviewing slogans of some of well known companies. Mostly, these are Fortune 500 companies.

Exxon Mobil

"Taking on the world's toughest energy challenges"
"We're drivers too"
"Understanding Energy"

Chevron - "Human Energy"

Gillette

"The best a man can get."

"Look Sharp! Feel Sharp! Be Sharp! How are ya fixed for blades?" - this is a slogan from forties of the past century. Good slogans live long. Don't you agree?

General Electric

GE's slogan is "Progress is our most important product." The well known "We bring good things to life!" was abandoned in 2002. That slogan was introduced in 1979.

General Motors - "Fuel efficiency with a choice."

American Airlines - "Something special in the air."

AVIS Rental Cars - "We're Number Two, We Try harder"

This slogan was invented in 1962 and in my opinion is very interesting. Why? Because it is not only a catchy phrase, but also entails a company strategy as well. You see, sometimes being the second (i.e. not a market leader, but a follower) is a good strategy and AVIS clearly underlines that. It is interesting that the company's current website displays only the second part of the slogan, i.e. - "We Try harder".

BMW - "Sheer Driving Pleasure"

This is my favorite car maker and I'm a proud owner of their car. It is interesting that the company has another slogan "The ultimate driving machine", which was invented back in 1975. Personally, I like the "The ultimate driving machine" more.

Canon - "Image is everything."

In this slogan we have a pretty nice play of words. Yes, image is everything.

Carlsberg Beer - "Probably the best beer in the world"

Citibank - "The Citi never sleeps"

Again, in this slogan you can see the play of words. This is a really cool slogan coined in seventies of the past century.

IBM has a cool single-word slogan - "Think". However, that slogan has had a serious impact on the company and the whole computing industry as well. That slogan deserves a separate, dedicated post and I will be writing about it in the upcoming post.

Sometimes, companies devise slogan for each individual product or product line. For example, we can recall a well known slogan of Hershey's Kit Kat - "Have a break. Have a Kit-Kat". Probably, that slogan was coined far before many of our readers were born. More precisely, that was in 1957.

L'Oréal - "Because I'm worth it"

This is a very nice slogan coined by McCann-Erickson in late sixties of the past century. The slogan implies that the price of the product may not be the cheapest but she is worth it. Not a surprise this slogan has been working so well for decades.

McDonald's belongs to those few companies that frequently change slogans.

The current slogan "I'm lovin' it", which was adopted in 2003, had been preceded by such slogans as "We Love to See You Smile" (from 2000), "Did Somebody Say McDonald's" (from 1997), "Have You Had your Break Today?" (from 1995), "What You Want is What You Get" (from 1992) and many others.

Also, McDonald's has some localized slogans. For example, "There's a little McDonald's in Everyone is for the Canadian market and "Things that make you go 'mmm'" has been used in Australia and Great Britain.

Coca-Cola

However, a recordsman in changing slogans is Coca-Cola. I have counted over hundred slogans since 1886 till 2007. Well, the latest slogan is "Give a Little Love and it All Comes Back to You".

This is all for now. More slogans will come in the upcoming posts. I will also bring slogans of some less known companies. Belive me, sometimes even tiny companies and one-man companies have cooler slogans.