Have you seen signs/logos/headlines that make you stop, and not because you are intrigued, but rather because you are confused? If you have, you know what I mean.

I just say a delivery truck with the following sign:

Sanford Foods

Poultry Distributor

Pork Beef Supplies

The “Poultry Distributor” part was highlighted. So I thought to myself, what is it?  Poultry or pork? Yes, I know they distribute all of it, but why highlight poultry? My point is that there is too much contradictory information in a few words. It is not clear. They could have said: Sanford Foods: Distributors of Fine Poultry and Meats. And that would have been fine.

My advice is to have one overarching message in your logo or slogan. Too much is confusing.

Thoughts? Or better yet, examples?

We know of course that a good slogan or tagline is key in helping to make a business stand out. Slogans should be short and sweet and descriptive.  Many slogans lack this last one: descriptive. They may be short and sweet, and maybe even clever, but they don’t say anything.

I came across this wonderful blog entry in Budget Travel’s blog about travel slogans. The post talks about some memorable slogans such as “Virginia is For Lovers” and other not so memorable ones.  The author talks about many of the Central American tourism slogans that just don’t seem to translate. El Salvador uses “Impressive!” and Guatemala uses “The Soul of the Earth.”

In any case, let this be an example about why you should choose your slogan carefully. Although brevity is good, description is better. What do you do? What makes you special? (The answer to this is never that you are unique…as I have said before few things are unique).

Do you have examples of slogans that you just love? Or that you just hate? Please share!