Skip to main content
Creative Content

The stories behind iconic brand slogans

Growth Gurus Digital Marketing The Story Behind Iconic Brand Stories

We live in the wonderful world of advertising. Brands across the world, no matter how big or how small, are using slogans to stand out.

We are all familiar with well known slogans such as ‘’Im lovin it’’ and ‘’Think different’’, but do we actually know the stories behind them? We’ve put together the stories of 5 famous brands and the history behind their iconic slogans.  If you want to find out more about the importance of branding, check out our previous blog.

The Stories Behind Iconic Brand Slogans

We live in the wonderful world of advertising. Brands across the world, no matter how big or how small, are using slogans to stand out.

We are all familiar with well known slogans such as ‘’Im lovin it’’ and ‘’Think different’’, but do we actually know the stories behind them? We’ve put together the stories of 5 famous brands and the history behind their iconic slogans.  If you want to find out more about the importance of branding, check out our previous blog.

Apple “Think Different”

We start with the world’s most valuable brand, Apple Inc. The slogan ‘’Think Different’’ originated from their legendary and arguably greatest advert of all time, ‘’Here’s to the crazy ones’’.

Although Steve Jobs played an authoritative role in the campaign, the mastermind behind the slogan was actually Craig Tanimoto, Art Director at TBWA/Chiat/Day agency. At the time, Apple’s closest competitor, IBM, had an ongoing campaign with the slogan ‘’Think IBM’’. Craig Tanimoto felt that Apple was incredibly different from IBM, in that it doesn’t follow the rules, it doesn’t do like other companies, it thinks different. To further enforce their message, Craig and the rest of the team thought it would be truly captivating to attach the ‘’think different’’ words to noteworthy people, past and present, who have thought differently and pushed the human race forward.

Growth Gurus Apple Inc Think different slogan

Nike “Just Do It”

Nike’s ‘’Just do it’’ slogan has been at the heart of the major sportswear company since 1988. Dan Wieden, Advertising executive and founder of Weiden + Kennedy agency, was the brains behind the famous slogan with the inspiration coming from an extremely unusual source.

In 1976 Gary Gilmore was convicted of murdering two people in Utah and sentenced to death. When asked if he had any last words, Gilmore said ‘’let’s do it’’. Weiden watched Gilmores last words and was instantly taken back.

Growth Gurus Nike Just Do It Fuelband Advert

City of Las Vegas “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas”

Back in 1998, Mark E. Brown of R&R Partners, was made in charge of changing Las Vegas’s image from something other than gambling. R&R Partners immediately settled on the idea of freedom.

The freedom to be someone you couldn’t be at home and freedom to leave behind anything we wanted from our daily lives. Las Vegas’s now famous slogan has been used countless times, including that by the former first lady Laura Bush who quoted Las Vegas’s slogan on the Jay Leno show.

Growth Gurus Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas sign

De Beers “A Diamond Is Forever”

We have all heard this iconic phrase somewhere before, but not a lot of people know a lot about the slogans origins. The slogan was created by a young copywriter named Frances Gerety, who was only the second female copywriter at N.W. Ayer & Agency in 1943.

When Gerety first mentioned the slogan, her colleagues quickly argued about its insignificance. Gerety herself didn’t think the slogan was her best work. Well, let’s just say a great chunk of the marketing world disagreed. Advertising age branded ‘’A diamond is forever’’ as the best slogan in the 20th century.

More recently Kanye West featured the saying in his 2005 song ‘’Diamonds from Sierra Leone’’.

Growth Gurus De Beers A diamond is forever slogan

Avis “We Try Harder”

In 2012, Avis stopped their iconic ‘’We try harder’’ tagline after 50 years of success. In 1962, Avis where trailing behind the market leader Hertz and where in need of a new advertising campaign. When Bill Bernbach, cofounder of Doyle Dane Bernbach agency, asked the then president of Avis, Robert Townsend, why people should use his company, Townsend simply replied ‘’Well..we try harder’’. Just like that ( and with the aid of Doyle Dane Bernbach) their slogan was created.

Growth Gurus Avis We try harder slogan

Are there any other iconic slogans that you truly think we missed out on?

Branding is an integral part of a company’s marketing and operations. Whatever your current position is, we would love to help develop and execute your branding strategy that drives results and propels business growth.

Find out how we can help your brand to reach new heights! Get in touch