Study uncovers optimal words for effective brand slogans

A recent study conducted by Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), the University of Missouri, and the University of Arizona has revealed the key properties that make slogans successful. The researchers discovered that attributes that enhance a slogan’s ease of processing can make it more likable but less memorable, and vice versa.

The findings have been published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Previous research has traditionally recommended that slogans should be creative and embody the essence of the brand. However, this new study indicates that people tend to prefer shorter slogans that exclude the brand name and utilize linguistically frequent and abstract words. On the other hand, slogans that are longer, include the brand name, and incorporate unusual and concrete words are less liked but better remembered.

The research, co-authored by Professor Zachary Estes of Bayes Business School, sheds light on the trade-offs brands face when creating a new slogan. It also provides marketers with practical guidance on word selection in order to create slogans that are either likable or memorable, depending on their strategic goals.

The Power of Words

In order to understand the relationship between slogan length, composition, likability, and memorability, the researchers conducted a comprehensive study involving 820 brand slogans and a range of experiments. They asked approximately 1,000 students and online workers to rate their likes and dislikes of a subset of real brand slogans. These participants were later given a surprise recognition test to determine which slogans they remembered.

Based on the results of this experiment, the researchers identified five linguistic properties that had contrasting effects on likability and memorability: length, brand name inclusion, word frequency, perceptual distinctiveness, and abstractness.

Slogans that were longer and included the brand name (e.g., “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” vs. “Like a neighbor”) were more frequently remembered but less liked. Conversely, slogans that incorporated frequently used words (e.g., “bad breath” vs. “halitosis”) and abstract words (e.g., “disease” vs. “halitosis”) were better liked but less well remembered.

This is because consumers tend to fixate less on frequently used and abstract words in a slogan. Consequently, when presented with fluent slogans, consumers are more likely to like and engage with the advertisements, but their accuracy in remembering them decreases.

Enhancing the Sensation

Building upon these findings, the researchers then attempted to improve existing brand slogans by increasing their fluency for disliked slogans and decreasing fluency for forgettable ones. In one experiment involving 243 students, the researchers found that slogans made more fluent (e.g., changing Listerine’s slogan from “Stops halitosis” to “Kills bad breath”) became more liked but less remembered. Conversely, slogans made less fluent (e.g., altering Toyota’s slogan from “Get the feeling” to “Snag the sensation”) became better remembered but less liked.

Another experiment utilizing eye-tracking technology revealed that these changes occurred because participants fixated longer and more frequently on disfluent words (e.g., “sensation”) compared to fluent words (e.g., “feeling”). Additionally, when the researchers improved the fluency of a slogan, they observed a 28% increase in the click-through rate on a Facebook ad, reducing the cost-per-click from 1.3% to 1.7%.

Therefore, the authors suggest that brands aiming to establish recognition may benefit from using words that are difficult to process, such as rare and concrete words. Established brands, on the other hand, may prefer to use words that are easy to process, namely common and abstract words.

Selecting the Right Words

Professor Zachary Estes, Professor of Marketing at Bayes Business School, stated, “Brands invest significant time and resources into creating and communicating slogans that consumers will like and remember. Our research identifies specific word properties that can make a slogan more likable or more memorable, but it is important to note that the properties that enhance likability also reduce memorability and vice versa.

“To create memorable slogans, brands should aim for relatively longer slogans that include the brand name and utilize rare and concrete words. For example, BMW could enhance memorability by changing their slogan from ‘The ultimate driving machine’ to ‘BMW is the peak driving machine,’ but this might also make it less likable. Essentially, our research can be seen as the ultimate slogan machine, and we hope it assists marketers in selecting the most suitable words for their brand.”

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