brand straplines
Grabbing the headlines
Grabbing the headlines
Whatever we think of the reporting standards in our national newspapers, they have given us some great headlines over the years.
One of my personal favourites is The Sun’s “Super Cally go ballasitc, Celtic are atrocious” following Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s 3-1 win over Celtic in the Scottish Cup in 2000.
I spotted one of a slightly more sophisticated nature on the front page of The Guardian in April and have been meaning to write a post based on it ever since. It accompanied a front-page story by the paper’s Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis. She was writing about the alleged outrage of notorious French riot police – the Compagnie Repulicaines de Securite (CRS) on hearing they would no longer be allowed to drink alcohol with their lunch.
Apparently, up until now, even packed lunches provided to the CRS out of riot vans while they were patrolling demos, came with a can of beer or glass of wine. And the headline?
“Riot squad sees rouge as police vin gets bottled.”
It’s tempting to think that good headlines are the result of a flash of inspiration (an old stalwart, by the way, when I was Head of Press and PR for Nikon UK and writing about the company’s flashlights – yes I know, I know). But the majority of strong, memorable, and more importantly, effective headlines take time and a great deal of hard work.
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What’s the point of political slogans?
Hot on the heels of my post about straplines, here’s a BBC News online article speculating on the sound-bite Cameron will use to close the Tory conference.
As with straplines, a lot of thought and care has to go into political party soundbites. Yeah, I know. Hard to believe when you hear some of them. Some sound as though they’ve been scribbled on an expenses chit in the back of a limo, on the way back to that second home. Others reek of a slick advertising agency.
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A few little words – why straplines matter
I spotted one of the most ill-considered company straplines I think I’ve ever seen the other day. I was on my way into Kingston when I noticed the logo on the van in front of me.‘National Clamps’, the jolly, bright yellow logo proclaimed.
But it was the line that cut through the logo that made me snort with derision. Written in a soft script typeface, to give it that human touch, was the phrase ‘We Care’. ‘National Clamps – We Care’? Do me a favour.
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