Tagline

The short line that travels with the name, distilling what it stands for. Earned over time, not written in a meeting.

A tagline is the name's shadow: it travels everywhere the name goes and says the one thing the name cannot say for itself. At its best it is a compressed position, not a mood. Years of use, not launch-day applause, decide whether it was true.

Writing one, distrust the line the room loves instantly; it usually flatters the company rather than orienting the customer. The keeper tends to look almost too plain in the meeting and then refuses to wear out. If the brand changed strategy tomorrow and the line still fit, it was decoration.