A great tagline is good, but not good enough
Stop the presses! JCPenney has a new tagline.
If you can stand the excitement, here it is:
The company's chief executive is quoted as saying, "We needed a rallying cry that would resonate with our customers." He also hopes the new slogan will be as powerful as Nike's "Just do it."
He really said that. Chances are, he even believes it to be true.
The Brains On Fire blog noted this in A new tagline? That'll change everything!
A rallying cry is great. But a remarkable experience is even better. It transcends tag lines and advertising. . . . Creating a new tagline won't change anything. Try starting with the culture. The experience. The people inside your company.
To be fair to Penney, they're rolling out a lot more than just a tagline. I'm sure they fully intend to make this work. But only their customers can make that happen, and to get that, Penney needs to be better in some way than any other retailer. The end product of all this excitement had better be something truly remarkable for the customers. And pardon me for being cynical but I'll eat my hat if they actually do what it takes to deliver that.
How many nonprofits think they can change everything by redesigning a logo, rewriting a tagline, or dreaming up a shiny new mission statement?
That's just not enough. When you paint your house, it looks good, but it's still the same house.
Marketing can do a lot for you. When done well, it can help you raise a lot more funds and get a lot more attention. But for real and meaningful change, you need to go beyond marketing to reality. Not what you look like or what you say, but who you are.
For a look at nonprofit taglines galore, see What your tagline should do for you.
Technorati Tags: fundraising, marketing revolution
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