• by October 12, 2000

Pork, toilet tissue and home insurance might not have the pizzaz of the Internet, but today's dot.com startups would be well-advised to pay attention to how those products have been marketed.

A recent study by Northwestern University's Medill Graduate Department of Integrated Marketing Communications found that the advertising taglines for Allstate Insurance Company, Charmin bathroom tissue, Rice Krispies, Wheaties and pork make up the top five most memorable taglines in contemporary advertising.

According to Clarke Caywood, Ph.D., NU department chairman, the research measured recognition of the most popular contemporary ad slogans among the U.S. population at large. The two-part study first identified and ranked the top 30 slogans and then measured what percentage of people correctly could identify the brand, product and company behind each slogan.

Allstate's "You're in Good Hands" ranked No. 1 (81.7%), "Please Don't Squeeze the Charmin" was No. 2 (80.4%), and close behind at No. 3 was Rice Krispies' "Snap, Crackle, Pop" (80.2%). Wheaties' "The Breakfast of Champions" was No. 4 (72.5%) and pork's "The Other White Meat" was No. 5 (69%). These slogans had the highest recognition rate among a sampling of 1,003 adults.

"What stands out for consumers is simplicity, creativity and longevity," said Caywood. "Whether it's 'The Other White Meat,' which changed the way Americans thought about pork 13 years ago, or Mr. Whipple, who first uttered Charmin's tagline more than 30 years ago, all have a combination of one or more of these important traits. The more targeted the words and message and the longer running the slogan, the higher it ranked."

Slogans were analyzed against recognition (have heard/seen it) and identification (linked correctly to brand/company/product). Not surprisingly, most top ranked brands/products had both high recognition and high identification.

"This is a consumer's crucial 'sweet spot' because respondents not only remember the slogans, but also match them correctly," Caywood said.

According to Caywood, an interesting finding was that some slogans scored very high on the question of whether the respondent had seen or heard them, while very few participants could actually match the name to the product.

"For example, more than 55% of respondents who answered that they recognized 'We Bring Good Things to Life' failed to identify that General Electric was the company associated with the slogan," he said.

"This is sometimes referred to as 'vampire' creativity and implies that you get a high information memorability that is only marginally related to the selling message. For the consumer and the corporation the advertising message is wasted," Caywood concluded.

Rounding out the top 10 were: No. 6, Johnson & Johnson's "No More Tears" (67.5%); No. 7, Doublemint's "Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun" (65.6%); No. 8, Budweiser's "The King of Beers" (62.8%); No. 9, 7-Up's "The Un-Cola" (59