If you were out and about in this London week, you might have spotted some of your favourite slogans, but not as you know them. Plastered across billboards all over the capital, brands like Nike, KFC, and Maybelline saw their lines ‘Just Do It.’, ‘It’s finger lickin’ good’, and ‘Maybe she’s born with it’, rendered as ‘Simply enact it’, ‘It’s finger tonguin’ tasty’, and ‘Maybe it’s congenital’.
It’s all part of our just-launched guerilla campaign proving what we as a creative translation agency know all too well: that great brand lines are hard to make, and easy to break. We wanted to bring that truth to life for everyone. And what better way than with some of the best slogans ever written?
Although ‘They’re pl-l-leasant!’, and ‘Discontinue work. Consume a KitKat’ might not exactly roll off the tongue, we deliberately designed the broken brand lines to stick to the original meaning. Because it’s something we see all the time in our work: lines that say what you meant, but not the way you meant to say it. The tricky thing is, if you don’t speak the new line’s language, it’s hard to get a window into why it’s not quite right. You just know something’s off. Because that’s how great slogans work – they use sounds and associations to hit you in the heart before the head.
To shine an even brighter light on the issue, we’ve created an online experience that reveals the untold stories behind the original lines.
The best slogans are built to feel natural, to feel right. Which can mask the creativity and craft that goes into them. We’re lifting the lid on the histories and the strategies behind the world’s most famous brand lines. But even we weren’t prepared for just how weird and wild some of the back-stories would be.
This campaign isn’t designed to trash great slogans – it’s a love letter to them. We want everyone to understand how powerful – and how delicate – a truly brilliant bit of brand writing can be.
More info: greatbrandlines.co
SIMPLY ENACT IT at NikeTown, London
THEY’RE PL-L-LEASANT! on Regent Street
It’s finger tonguin’ tasty at Piccadilly Circus
MAYBE IT’S CONGENITAL in Shoreditch
You should be able to do it if you B&Q it at Westminster
Discontinue work. Consume a KitKat at Piccadilly Circus
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