The Diminishing Return On Taglines

After more than two weeks of 'Zero TV'(just a few DVDs), switched on the tube. With little Neo around, watched Tom & Jerry, Mr. Bean and Ben10(hope I remember the name right!!).

Then switched between the half a dozen(lesser) barely sane News Channels and loads of ads...Some ad tagline triggered this train of thot...

1. The one-word-creative-brief and the creative leap has resulted in a whole factory of brand taglines of the 'xyz de' format...

Hilaa de, Pilaa de, Ghumaa de, Jalaa de, Dhikhaa de, Bataa de, Jeeta de

2. At first these 'xyz de' ads were genuinely funny, then there were occasional bright sparks, then they became a Big Bazaar commodity product and now they are mostly pakao spam ads on TV. At least they appear to me:-) Disagreements invited.

3. The thing about these 'xyz de' taglines is that one mostly attributes the tagline to the wrong brand, or even the wrong category and mostly never remembers the message(if there is one)...

4. Fleeting thot - This 'xyz de' tagline hype is in such sharp contrast to the general conversational tone of the web, blogs and the tweets...

5. I feel the 'xyz ads' have mostly diminishing returns today. With the odd exception of say a Mentos where 'Aam Zindagi vs Mentos Zindagi' is a clearly differentiated brand turf, the rest are largely creative indulgences at the expense of the client's money!!

6. So what's the solution? I think it's time we looked at ads sans taglines. There are simply too many of them. We don't need them. Because I suspect people don't register and definitely can't keep track of them anyways. Tagline Overload - especially if you are the 25th candy brand in a cluttered market.

7. So what's the solution? Focus on creating enduring/ endearing symbols/ icons(Mc Donalds), memetic concepts(Wah Sunil Babu, Badhia Hai variety), sticky concepts that can be built into a brand world-view(yes even for a candy brand), a micro-site to engage, develop the thot. Maybe a combo solution. But definitely not a 'xyz de' tagline...

8. There ain't no easy solution. Especially with a generation of creatives in India raised on the belief that 1-word briefs and 3 word taglines will Sab problem solve kara de!!:-)

There is no "Chutki Mein Suljha de" solution here...LOL