“Advertising is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”~ Bill Cosby

Does advertising work? What about tag lines, slogans, jingles, and catch phrases?

Sometimes they seem so cheesy. Sometimes, as a writer, it seems almost cheap to try and come up with one. It works, though. How do I know? Studies, yes. Research, of course. And my own personal experience.

We ran out of bar soap at my house. When we were ready to make a store run I went to tell my husband to put soap on the list. I ran through the options as I walked through the house trying to decide which brand to buy. My thought process went something like this:

Is your clean as real as Ivory?

Need soap. Can’t smell too strong. Aren’t you glad you used dial? No, strong smell. What about drying out my skin? Dove, moisture in a bar, right? But then the guys will smell like girls. My mom uses Dove, I like it. No Dove, even though I want the moisture. Ivory. I want a clean as real as ivory. 99.44% clean. Ivory. That’s what we need. Ivory.

Not all of my thoughts were advertising slogans however, as in the case of the Dove, I could see their commercial running through my mind as I weighed my options. I saw a drop of moisture fall into the Dove bar. The montage in my mind zoomed past body washes (too irritating) and ‘men’s soaps’ (too manly) and Generic soaps (who knows what you are getting?). Forget consumer reports, this assessment goes on in my head in about 3 seconds.

And now there is a four pack of Ivory soap sitting on the counter.

Do tag lines, slogans, jingles, and catch phrases work?

As a business owner, if you invest in a talented writer to produce a concept for you, is it worth it?

I want my clean as real as Ivory.