Vorsprung Durch Slogans

"Vorsprung durch Technik" was one of the great advertising slogans. John Hegarty, now Sir John, was the person who discovered the slogan. He didn't make it up, as it was one that Audi had used some years before for German advertising but had dropped. Hegarty's agency, BBH, pitched for Audi's new campaign (in the early 1980s) and the slogan, despite resistance, was central to its successful pitch and subsequently successful series of adverts. It was brilliant because it was unexpected and went against the norm by being in a foreign language.

Hegarty explains all this in a video and points out that the ads also benefited from Geoffrey Palmer's gently mocking delivery, the addition of "as they say in Germany" and from the humour. The best of the ads was the one with the Schmitz, the Reinhards and the Müllers, driving to Spain on holiday, and with the punchline moral of the story: "if you want to get on the beach before the Germans, you'd better buy an Audi 100".

Humour sells and the humour of the Audi ads and slogan was one of ribbing the very country where the cars were manufactured. "Vorsprung durch Technik" would have been less effective had it not been for Palmer's dismissive tone. The slogan became memorable, despite being unintelligible to much of its intended audience, because it sounded funny and was made to sound funny.

All sorts of other things sell as well. Emotion for one. I don't know if Thomson's "Time For A Holiday" ad has been nominated for the Travel Marketing Awards in March next year but it should be. It was one that had a number of sub-slogans, such as "the most precious time of all". These awards, organised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK, cover a range of media and marketing disciplines, and in 2011 there was a special award for travel brand of the decade. It was Virgin Atlantic, winner again of the travel brand of the year award in 2012, partly thanks to its slogan "your airline's either got it or it hasn't" and to another example of resorting to the use of foreign language - "je ne sais quoi, defined".

A slogan is only as good as the advert or the rest of the marketing campaign but it is like the comedian's catchphrase; the marketing element that is instantly recognisable and is instantly associated with the product. Which brings us to some examples in Spanish and Mallorcan tourism.

A hotel chain in Mallorca insists that "you've got to live it". Really? Live what exactly? I'm not sure that I much care for being told what I have got to live. But assuming that I have lived it, am I going to remember the slogan? I doubt it. There is nothing definable about the slogan and nothing to associate it with the hotel. A slogan really needs to convey an attribute and this doesn't. Going back to Audi, though the slogan was German, its core attribute was clear in terms of engineering quality which was primarily what Audi was selling.

Turespaña have for some time been telling everyone that they "need Spain". The "I Need Spain" slogan is snappy enough and it is clear enough as to what it is referring, but, and rather like "you've got to live it", it begs being parodied by having words added. I need Spain like I need (add as applicable). There is also a hint of desperation. It is need rather than want. "I Want Spain". Not sure, but it might have been better.

Desperation was implied by an old series of promotion for alternative tourist activities dreamt up by the former Balearics tourism agency, Ibatur. Golf, meetings, good food, these were all appended to the curious slogan "Much more than ...". Hence, for example, "much more than golf". It didn't really make sense as the intention was to promote golf but it sounded as though you were supposed to forget about the golf and indulge in much more. Of what, I'm not sure. Meetings perhaps. But the use of "much" was the hint of desperation. "Mucho más." To say that it wasn't a very good slogan would be generous.

And then we have the recent contributor to marketing excellence, Palma's "passion for ..." slogan. One that can also have various things added, the tangible, such as gastronomy, or the intangible, like enjoying. It also isn't much good. It's passé, unimaginative and says nothing about Palma as such.

With all this in mind, there is scope to create slogans that are good, are meaningful (or meaningfully enigmatic, like Audi's) and are memorable. So, this is your challenge. I feel sure there is creativity in abundance out there. Send me your slogan suggestions for promoting Mallorca.

* The John Hegarty video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/sep/18/vorsprung-durch-technik-video


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.