"The name brand slogan clearly says what it's all about"

Those with a small budget are often faced with the challenge of making their own brand known. This is where the idea behind "brand slogans" comes in. As the name suggests, the service offers tailor-made slogans for start-ups and small businesses with limited financial resources. The service focuses on timeless, memorable copywriting concepts that can be used across various channels.

The independent offering has a own website with all the trimmings - an eye-catching blue, red and white design and a playful logo with lions and bears. The offer is clear, the pricing transparent: a standard package is available for CHF 4900, the premium version costs CHF 7900. Both packages include an "international full buy-out".

What motivates an agency that is known for its provocative communication and advertises with the words "We're probably not the right agency for you" to launch such an additional offer?

m&k: What was the idea behind "brand slogan"?

Parvez Sheik Fareed: We mainly receive inquiries from companies that describe our out-of-home campaigns and publicity stunts as either "humorous advertising" or "good advertising slogans". For many start-ups and small companies, however, such campaigns cannot be realized with the available budgets. We noticed that many start-ups either have no slogan or only a trivial slogan that is neither catchy nor to the point.

That's how you came up with "brand slogan". But why an independent offer?

Miro Pfister: We wanted to create an offering that focused solely on slogans. If we were to offer this via Pam Advertising, there would be a risk of dilution and it would be lost in the agency's overall scope of services. In contrast to traditional agency services in the branding sector, we focus exclusively on slogans. As far as we know, no such service exists in Switzerland.

As far as we know, no such slogan service exists in Switzerland.

You make it clear on your website that the offer is only for start-ups and small businesses. Why this target group restriction?

PSF: We offer this service at Pam's usual quality level only to those who have limited financial resources and want to make a sales-boosting investment in their brand.

How do you reach this target group?

MP: We place ads on social media and on selected online portals whose target groups are start-ups and small businesses. We are also currently in talks with start-up incubators for strategic partnerships.

The special branding of "Markenslogan" stands out on the website. How did the look with bears and lions come about?

The name brand slogan says it all. The name says it all. The bear and the lion are suitable as accessible and recognizable visual elements. I'm from Bern, Parvez is from Zurich - so we chose these animals because they appear in the city coats of arms of Bern and Zurich. The same with the colors red and blue.

The name 'brand slogan' says it all.

What is the difference between slogans and claims? And how important is a slogan compared to other branding elements?

PSF: The distinction between slogans and claims is very theoretical and has little meaning in practice. We have deliberately used the term slogan because it is more commonly used outside the marketing industry than claim. In addition to the logo, a slogan is an important branding element that contributes to brand growth in order to keep the brand in mind in purchasing situations.

For you, a good brand slogan should be memorable, unmistakable, catchy and not a tongue twister. Are there any other criteria for success or current developments and trends that need to be taken into account?

Another success criterion is rather the opposite of this, namely none to follow developments or trends. One of the things that makes a slogan effective is that it is timeless and can be used again and again. It would be wrong to focus on current events. Good slogans are like music hits that you can listen to again and again, no matter what era they come from.

The slogans you create come with a full buy-out - in other words, the right to use the finally selected slogan remains with the customer afterwards. How can you ensure that slogans remain relevant in the long term?

MP: In addition to the aspect of timelessness, we make sure that the slogans have a certain linguistic virtuosity. In other words, saying something in such a way that it sticks and doesn't sound trivial or hackneyed.

How can we imagine your service and the associated creative process?

We have developed our own briefing form. This ensures that we understand the product or service of the company in question and hit the right tone for the slogan. Then it's time to get down to business: sit down, think, write. The process is the same as for any creative job.

Which of your slogans are you particularly proud of?

PSF: "Boring, but good" for the BDP was a solid hit that caught the eye of the media and got people talking. For the Too Good To Go campaign, we created the headline "The world's leftover app", among others. This would also have been suitable as a future slogan for TGTG. Potential slogans often lie dormant in good headline campaigns. Brands that don't yet have a slogan but have good headline campaigns should therefore look through their old campaigns.

Are you planning to develop your slogan service further?

MP: For the moment, we will leave it at that. Should it become apparent over time that an expansion would be sensible, we would examine this.

Parvez Sheik Fareed (left) and Miro Pfister are co-founders and owners of the Zurich agency Pam Advertising.