PR move

FIFTEEN PRINCIPLES FOR CREATIVE SLOGANS

2010-12-06T15:10:00.004+02:00

In June I published a post about a dozen principles for creative slogans. Now, after further study, I wish to add some principles and increase their number to fifteen.

1. Alliteration:
“I’m fit not fat”.
This is a slogan many women need to remember.

2. Concord:
The Generic Pharmaceutical Association’s slogan is “Same Medicine, Same Results.”

3. Contraries:
George Eastman coined the slogan, "you press the button, we do the rest," when he introduced the Kodak camera in 1888 and within a year, it became a well-known phrase.

4. Direct command:
"Think Different" is an advertising slogan created for Apple Computer in 1997 by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA.

5. Rhyme:
"Better dead than Red" was an anti-Communist phrase, possibly first used during World War II (in German as "Lieber tot als rot") and later during the Cold War by the United States.

6. Pun:
“The Conservative party’s 1978 poster of a snaking line of people queuing for the unemployment office under the slogan ‘Labour isn’t working’ has been voted the poster advertisement of the century.
Do you see what is the pun here? The word 'Labour' has two meanings: (1) a party's name, (2) the very word 'labour' means 'work'.

7. Imitation, parody:
In one of its ads, Verizon mocks the iPhone's catchphrase, "there's an app for that." Verizon has tweaked it, and says instead, "there's a map for that."

8. Direct appeal to "You":
Yahoo has slogans: “The Internet is under new management: Yours” and “The Internet has a new personality: Yours.”

9. Famous Name:
There is a company claiming to forecast the future - The Channeled Readings. It announced a new company slogan . . . The Nostradamus of the NEWS!

10. Other dimension:
In this case a smell is used as a new dimension for a slogan:
In Summer 2009, after city workers, who went back to work after a strike that lasted 36 days, had cleaned up the mess on streets of Toronto, Tourism Toronto launched a newspaper campaign celebrating the end of the strike.
The headline was: "Toronto Never Smelled So Good." The ads were meant to remind Ontarians that Toronto is a great place to come during the summer - especially now that city workers had cleaned up the mess on streets and makeshift landfills.

11. Compliment to the customer:
The SYMS discount clothing chain has an unforgettable slogan: “An educated consumer is our best customer.”

12. Logical Statement:
Deng Xiaoping (in China) became famous for saying: “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches the mice” – a slogan he used to start capitalist-style economic reforms in a country that officially subscribed to communism.

13. Rhetorical question:
Bold for Breast Cancer is an event created in the summer of 2008 to help raise awareness of breast cancer in a less conventional way through the art of body painting. The slogan is, "breast cancer isn't shy, why should we be?"

14. Humor:
"It's the economy, stupid" was a phrase widely used during Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H.W. Bush. For a time, Bush was considered unbeatable because of foreign policy developments such as the end of the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War. The phrase refers to the notion that Clinton was a better choice because Bush had not adequately addressed the economy, which had recently undergone a recession.

15. Figure of speech:
There are various figures of speech. One of them is chiasmus. Like this: Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F. Kennedy

CASE STUDY: SLOGAN IDEA FOR A TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION PROGRAM

2010-09-12T21:37:00.004+02:00

Somebody asked a question: "Anybody have ideas? Looking for a slogan idea for a teen pregnancy prevention program!?"
Let us help her to find a slogan. I just take two of the principles:

First, Alliteration:
(For example: "Enjoy Star & Story" was a slogan of the competition at Seoul Int'l Drama Awards)
Now our case is about the word "safe". So let say it like:
SAFE IS SMART.

Then, Imitation, or parody:
In our case it could be like:
YES WE ARE SAFE.
Or simpler: YES WE SAFE.

CREATIVE SLOGAN BY CHIASMUS

2010-07-17T19:15:00.005+03:00

Jeff Larche in his comment to this blog points to chiasmus as a figure of speech.
Chiasmus (ki-az'-mus) is repetition of ideas in inverted order. Word order in one clause is inverted in the other (inverted parallelism).
Jeff brings this example: "Say No to No Say" was 1984 slogan of Greater London Council.

Here are more examples:
"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." John F. Kennedy
"America did not invent human rights... Human rights invented America." Jimmy Carter
"What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the size of the fight in the dog." Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Some people use change to promote their careers; other people use their careers to promote change." Sarah Palin
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." Benjamin Franklin

DOZEN PRINCIPLES FOR CREATIVE SLOGANS

2010-06-12T20:12:00.002+03:00

My recent analysis for creative & funny slogans shows a dozen (plus one) of main principles:

1. Alliteration:
"Rats Rock",
"Go Google"

2. Congruence:
"One City: One Goal",
“Real Health, Real People, Real Results”

3. Contraries:
"Make love not war"
“Getting a DUI is easy, calling your mom from jail is hard”

4. Direct command:
"Work smart", “Just Do It”, "Just say no"

5. Rhyme:
“Today was a good day”, "I Like Ike"

6. Pun:
"NOBAMA", "Westoxification"

7. Imitation, parody:
"Yes Pecan!", “yes we cannabis”

8. The use of the word "You":
“Broadcast Yourself”,
“Make Your Ideas Count”

9. The use of a Famous Name:
"A film with the passion of Tennessee Williams"

10. Compliment to the customer:
"A great nation deserves great art",

11. Logical Statement:
'Abortion is not Healthcare'

12. Rhetorical question:
"Where is our vote?"
"Breast cancer isn't shy, why should we be?"

13. Humor:
"It's the economy, stupid"

PERSONAL NAME FOR SLOGAN

2010-05-21T20:42:00.004+03:00

It is interesting how the personal name gets a role in slogan making.
For example:
"Give 'em Hell, Harry!" became a lifetime slogan for Truman supporters.
"I Like Ike" was Eisenhower's funny campaign slogan.

Issey Miyake's first fragrance was L'eau d'Issey for women. The name L'eau d'Issey (engl.: Issey's water) is a pun. In French, it sounds identical to "l'odyssée" (eng. odyssey).

Remember how 'Lolita' by Nabokov starts?
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
This famous excerpt shows us the importance of the NAME.

More examples for rhyme in funny slogans

2010-02-16T22:38:00.014+02:00

One more example for RHYME slogan. “If it bleeds, it leads.”
This slogan is about TV reporting. If the news has violence, crime, or injury, it guarantees top story status.
This slogan has been around for a long time. Now there is a new one: “If it moves, it grooves”. Anything out of the ordinary becomes stuff for a TV newscast.

More example. Farmers in Scotland and Canada tried to boost the sale of pork with a campaign slogan urging people to “put PORK on your FORK”.

I bring a video here about a song with a plenty of RHYME. This is a Michel Legrand's song THE WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND. There was a movie in the 1960s "Thomas Crown Affair". The movie was not so famous, but the music by Michel Legrand... May it supply an inspiration for you toward more rhymes in your funny campaign slogans.

RHYME FOR A FUNNY SLOGAN

2010-02-06T22:58:00.019+02:00

It's fun to see how they use RHYME to produce creative slogans.

For example, how the "I Like Ike" slogan was created?
If you don't remember who is 'Ike' - I am talking about Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower. He was the President of the United States from 1953 until 1961.

Imagine you are a campaign researcher for a president's campaign. You have two options:
A. You can ask people to describe their views on all the political issues.
B. You can just ask the people what they think / feel about your candidate.
So which option would you choose?

They did research for the campaign and found out more people wanted to talk about how they trusted and felt comfortable with Ike, but didn't like to describe their views on all the issues.

Eisenhower's campaign slogan in 1952, "I Like Ike", was simple but effective. Оne of the most popular in American history.

FUNNY SLOGANS: ATTRIBUTING YOUR PHRASE TO ANOTHER CHARACTER

2009-08-12T22:26:00.007+03:00

Reading Woody Allen's "The Insanity Defense", I think about using his principle while inventing funny campaign slogans.
This book consists of 46 short stories. Many of them have a main character, so that Woody Allen can attribute his own phrases, conceptions, ideas to that character.
You really never know whether this or that phrase is serious or not, whether Woody actually thinks so or not. It is the character who is speaking!
Thus one of his characters, Needleman ("Remembering Needleman"), is aware about absurdity of life: "God is silent, now if we can only get Man to shut up."
Or take this phrase ("Conversations with Helmholtz"): "I don't beleive in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear."
Inventing funny campaign slogans, you could use this Woodey Allen's principle.

creative writing ideas by nicole krauss: summary

2008-10-14T17:11:00.003+02:00

Let me summarize my last posts on creative writing ideas gained from 'The History of Love'.
1. no antagonist
No antagonist / evil character / bad guy.
2. unconventional start
The very first sentence on the very first page should be eccentric / unconventional / unusual / uncommon.
3. the death topic
The very first sentence of 'The History of Love' refers to death: "When they write my obituary".
4. syncopated rhythm
The rhythm of 'The History of Love' is unusual / irregular / syncopated.
5. identifying with a character
The reader should identify / associate / affiliate oneself closely with a person or group. 'The History of Love' has even three such characters.
6. great sayings
Her ability to produce great sayings / aphorisms / maxims.

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: great sayings

2008-10-05T23:03:00.011+02:00

My last post in this series on creative writing ideas from Nicole Krauss is about her ability to produce great sayings / aphorisms / maxims.

One day the main character, Leo Gursky, is looking out of the window. Just contemplating the sky. Then he thoughts on this situation about himself, with a good sense of humor: 'Put even a fool in front of the window and you'll get a Spinoza' (p. 6).
This scene reminds me of one episode ffom my own life. One night being a boy of about fifteen I didn't sleep at night. So I just got up and stood in front of the window thinking about something. Later, my father told me how he saw me standing in 'such a philosophical posture', as he put it.

One more saying, reminding me of my troubles with my son. 'Perhaps that is what it means to be a father - to teach you child to live without you. If so, no one was a greater father than I.' (p. 262)

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: identifying with a character

2008-10-01T23:51:00.019+03:00

One of the Kurt Vonnegut's basics for creative writing says: 'Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for'.
The reader should identify / associate / affiliate oneself closely with a person or group.
'The History of Love' has even three such characters.
First, Leo Gursky. A writer aged 80+.
Second, Alma Singer. A girl fourteen or fifteen years old.
Third, Bird (his name is Emanuel Chaim, but everyone calls him 'Bird'), Alma's brother about eight years old.
The formal method for making me identify myself with each of the characters is simple using the first person. But that's not all. The deeper point is that you find many thoughts/feelings of theirs appealing to your heart.

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: syncopated rhythm

2008-09-22T22:48:00.005+03:00

The rhythm of 'The History of Love' is unusual / irregular / syncopated.
Look at this: 'When they write my obituary. Tomorrow. Or the next day'.
Now and again we meet short sentences like: 'And yet'. Or: 'But'. Just one single word 'but'. What for? It helps to control the readers' rhythm.

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: the death topic

2008-09-17T23:28:00.011+03:00

A friend of mine, a great public speaker, told me once: "Each audience has its favorite topic. But there are three topics common to ALL the audiences. Those are: love, death and prestige."
The very first sentence of 'The History of Love' refers to death: "When they write my obituary".
And that's not all. What about the second paragraph? "I often wonder who will be the last person to see me alive".
And the third one: "I try to make a point of being seen... All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen".
Now see the final page: 'Leopold Gursky started dying on August 18, 1920. He died learning to walk. He died standing at the blackboard...'
No, you should not think now the novel is about death. Next time I will show more optimistic sides of it.

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: unconventional start

2008-09-15T22:04:00.007+03:00

The second point while reading "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss: the very first sentence on the very first page should be eccentric / unconventional / unusual / uncommon.
What is the first sentence? 'When they write my obituary.' Period.
How do you like such an opening?

creative writing idea by nicole krauss: no antagonist

2008-09-14T18:06:00.003+03:00

Reading "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss.
Though she does not formulate any explicit creative writing ideas, tips or prompts. That's me doing it after reading her novel.
First. No antagonist / evil character / bad guy.
You may disagree now: there is Rosa (Litvinoff's wife) performing some bad action (destroying the book). But you should agree: this is not the important point. This action is too side-issue.
However, this is similar to the real life. Can you tell me now that you are conducting any war against some kind of villains? I think, the answer is NO.
But does it mean there are no dramas in your life?
Because of the absence of bad guys, the main character's situation makes the reader feel involvement / empathy / rapport with the protagonist.

HOW TO INVENT A CATCHY SLOGAN? CREATIVE WRITING IDEA

2008-06-17T21:42:00.013+03:00

SITUATION

I saw a question about slogans. The reader was asking creative writing ideas for:
1. Creating awareness for road safety through wearing of helmets.
2. Conserving fuel energy
3. Preventing noise/air pollution.

Inventing slogans is a challenge, is it not? So we need some way to invent creative writing ideas for slogans.

DIRECTIONS & EXAMPLES

First, I started looking for good slogan examples. 'Nothing runs like a Deere' is a slogan of John Deere (a great tractor manufacturer). Deere – deer. It is a play of words, isn't it? A pun.

Second, it is short. Just four words.

Third, just for the sake of the wordplay: let us use alliteration. No, I don't say it is the only way to build a pun. There are several ways, as in the above example: Deere – deer. But I wish to use alliteration just for the sake of training.

Remember good examples for alliteration? 'Donald Duck', 'busy as a bee', 'good as gold'. And plenty of others.
One more example I found thanks to Seth Godin. "Wanna See my Socks?" - this is a slogan of 'Little Miss Matched', a sock company. Do you hear the alliteration?
By the way, do you see another wordplay here: 'Miss Matched'? And why is it 'mismatched'? Because their funky socks never match.

SOLUTION

OK, let us start with the first slogan. Helmet is in the center. Let us find words with 'h' and 'l'. A helmet is holding. What is a helmet holding? A head? 'A helmet is holding a head.' Maybe. There is another word: a hull. It is not a head exactly, but it sounds good.
'Helmet's holding your hull'

Now the second slogan. It is about energy. I've found three words alliterating with 'energy'. These are the words: enable / encourage / enhance.
I like it like this:
'Enhance Energy Economy'.

Finally, the third slogan: it is about pollution. Let's find the alliterating word to the word pollution. 'Pull', for example. Let's say it like this:
'Pull polluters down'

Those are creative writing ideas for our three slogans.

BLOG MAP, SELECTED

2008-06-09T14:22:00.006+03:00

SHOULD I CONFESS IN THE TITLE? CREATIVE WRITING IDEAS
As you know, today it is common to write various help-articles 'How-to'. There are 1,140,000,000 (yes, one billion) search results on Google about 'how to'.
I am thinking now how to title such an article 'How to?'? Because the standard title 'How to' is too common. Read more

TITLE ANTITHETICAL OR PLAIN? CREATIVE WRITING IDEA
Plain or fancy? Apparent or paradoxical? Straight or contradictory?
I am talking about creative writing ideas for titles / summaries. I have read a question at 'Yahoo answers'. The question is about a title. The girl is writing a story and asking for help about creative title.
Read more

MEN'S BODY IMAGE: HOW TO IMPROVE IT?
What do you think about your own body image? Are you satisfied with it?
There are plenty of men not satisfied with their body images because of various reasons. One because of obesity. Another because of hair on his body. Or because of sweat. Or because of smells. Or he might be bald. Or he might have too many skin blemishes.

HOW TO PROMOTE A BLOG: SOCIAL MEDIA VS SEARCH ENGINE

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR SITE ON YAHOO ANSWERS ?

HOW TO GET A FREE PROMOTION ON TWITTER?

SHOULD I CONFESS IN THE TITLE? CREATIVE WRITING IDEAS

2008-06-07T23:25:00.013+03:00

As you know, today it is common to write various help-articles 'How-to'. There are 1,140,000,000 (yes, one billion) search results on Google about 'how to'.
I am thinking now how to title such an article 'How to?'? Because the standard title 'How to' is too common.
And now I see the same question at 'Yahoo Answers': Jessica needs a creative title for her essay on 'how to put a baby to sleep?'.
See the problem? How to title the essay about 'how to'? We need some creative writing ideas.

Fortunately, we have a prompt: the author acknowledges / admits / confesses she/he has similar problems during her/his own life.
As this great example of the famous author and child pedagogue Janusz Korczak: "My greatest fault is that I am no longer a child".

Here you see Seth Godin is not ashamed to confess about his 'IDEAS THAT DIDN'T WORK':
That makes Seth a great blogger!

Now I remember how in a public admission in July 2007, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (= Lula) confessed that he fears for his life when flying under the current safety conditions at the Brazilian aviation.

Let us agree on a few points:
The title should contain a question.
The title not necessary needs to imply the word 'how'.
Let the title imply some confession of mine.

Beyond that I don't know exactly (yes, I confess to not knowing everything).
Have more good examples of great authors for creative writing ideas? Share them.

TITLE ANTITHETICAL OR PLAIN? CREATIVE WRITING IDEA

2008-06-01T21:31:00.014+03:00

Plain or fancy? Apparent or paradoxical? Straight or contradictory?
I am talking about creative writing ideas for titles / summaries. Today I have read a question at 'Yahoo answers'. The question is about a title. The girl is writing a story and asking for help about creative title.
I assume the author wishes to write it catchy, doesn't she? To grab the attention?

What are the known/possible solutions?

As you know, this problem may have several solutions. You may go straight to the point: the principal heroine has such a character (a bad/good temper, an eccentric/normal nature, etc).
Or you may use a rhetorical question: "How to…?" "What do you know about…?"
Or you may scare / shock your readers: "If you don't know this information, you may happen to lose…".

How to choose the suitable solution?

I need to mention: we have more information on the story's main character. Rylie (that's the heroine's name) 'begins her senior year in bitterness that leads to rebellion. Once a sweet, innocent teen now an angry, faithless girl etc.'
OK. So we see a kind of contradiction here. This leads us to using a rhetorical device named Antithesis.

What is Antithesis?

You remember good known examples of antithesis:
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." (Neil Armstrong)
"Man proposes - God disposes".
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." (Charles Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities").
Brutus: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." (Martin Luther King, Jr., speech at St. Louis, 1964)

How would I title / begin the story?

Maybe like this: "Is Rylie sweet or harsh, charming or nasty, attractive or unpleasant?"
Or: "How can a girl be innocent and impure, spiritual and worldly?"
Or: "Naive but experienced, open but angry, spiritual but faithless…".

Practice it, try other creative writing ideas (antithetical) and get new possible titles.
The above photo is from Flickr

MEN'S BODY IMAGE: HOW TO IMPROVE IT?

2008-05-10T23:28:00.006+03:00

What do you think about your own body image? Are you satisfied with it? I am not so much with mine. Because I am too slim, not muscular like Rambo. Additionally, my nose is big and hooked.
There are much more men not satisfied with their body images because of other reasons. One because of obesity (= increased body weight, fatness). Another because of hair on his body. Or because of sweat. Or because of smells. Or he might be bald. Or he might have too many skin blemishes.

What is the problem with a male body image?

The common bad problem is that a poor image of a male body does not begin and stop just in one's mind. Instead, a man not satisfied with his muscles tries to use anabolic steroids to improve his appearance. A guy with a long nose goes to plastic surgery. Are you sure it is always safe?

What is NOT a solution?

I am not talking about usual diet for fighting obesity. I am not talking about all the stuff on cosmetics you can find on the web without me. I am going to talk about much more important point. I am going to talk on what you transmit to others. What does your image convey to the public? What does it do to the people subconsciously?
My point is psychology / public relations.

What is a solution?

The solution to improve your image is between the body and psychology. It is about the influence your POSTURE makes to your mind / self esteem and then to your image in the public opinion.
For that purpose I put this video here. It is about your posture: shoulders, chin, muscles.

IMAGE TRAINING FOR MEN

2008-04-27T18:23:00.006+03:00

I am proud to announce an on-line training for men's image. The trainer is a woman, Julia Bakhtina, and she knows what she is talking about.
However, it will be in Russian, not in English.
Имидж-тренинг для мужчин. Подробности здесь http://training.myluximage.com/

HOW TO PROMOTE A BLOG: SOCIAL MEDIA VS SEARCH ENGINE

2008-04-19T21:39:00.005+03:00

In this video I am talking about promoting a blog/site.
The main point: I receive the traffic on my blog mostly by social media. 72% of visits to my blog come from Referring Sites, and only 18% come from search engines.
So, if you are not going on social media, you are not known. If you are not known, you are out.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR SITE ON YAHOO ANSWERS ?

2008-04-14T20:33:00.010+03:00

Today I am checking one more instrument for linkbaiting a blog on social media. It is Yahoo! Answers. Do you know how it works? People ask questions, and anybody may answer. Once upon a time there was a similar service at Google.
Now what exactly can you do with it? Two things:
1. You read the questions and see the themes being popular.
2. You can submit your answer on the selected theme. Make a link to your site/blog inside your answer. Sure, you don't spam. Instead, your answer should be substantial to the question.
This is an example how I do it. And this is one example more.

So, try this linkbaiting / social media marketing technique. If you have positive results, let me know and get a FREE bonus. You can post in the comments and/or privately to me (at the right side of the screen).

HOW TO GET A FREE PROMOTION ON TWITTER?

2008-04-12T18:24:00.014+03:00

I am pondering promoting my readers on Twitter. It is one of the new social networks. You may call it a viral / social media marketing tool.
Now I have read an article of Jennifer Laycock 'Five Reasons Twitter is an Essential Social Media Tool'. A few of her points I like especially:

Twitter is sort of like a giant dinner party. There are tons of conversations going on and you can easily join one, or you can start a new one. If you start a new one, others can easily join in. You can even carry on multiple conversations at once. It's total conversational freedom.

It's a no-brainer (= simple or easy to understand) that you can send out a tweet with a link to your latest blog post (= actually, Jennifer is talking about linkbaiting).

OK, I have joined Twitter just now. My Twitter name is jacobskir.
Now what do I wish to do?
I would like to make a one time free promotion action on Twitter. My readers can address me by one of the two ways:
1. There is a 'Your Feedback' form on this blog at the right side of the screen.
2. My name on Twitter is jacobskir.

I will see the site/blog suggested and promote it by building a link to it (if it is worth promoting at all).

HOW TO GET A GOOD/HIGH RANKING LINK?

2008-04-09T20:55:00.011+03:00

I have read a useful article of Dinesh B. It is about good link building. The main point: stop focusing on 'little weight' links. Instead, start focusing on links that matter a lot.
Which links do matter a lot? Links from an Authority Website. Especially from the same niche. Why the same niche is so good? Because it means the linking site has content that is relevant to your website.
Needless to say that the issue of good link building is relevant to the issue of social media marketing and/or viral marketing.
OK, now I wish to implement this in practice. The readers of my blog can get from me a one-time service: free linking from Authority Websites. I would take care of writing a post to an Authority Site. Inside my post I would bury a link/anchor to the readers site. Which one Authority Site do I mean? It depends on the Readers site and should be discussed specifically case by case.

Contact me on this issue. Do you see the 'Your Feedback' in the right side of the screen? Go there, click and send a mail to me.