I’m not categorically opposed to tag lines. I would never say that under no circumstances should you ever use a tag line. I’d be tempted. But if I said that I’d be more than a little hypocritical since I’ve employed tag lines in several projects, like here, and here.

I am puzzled by the significance that some institutions place on tag lines. Many institutions seem to believe that a tag line is a major strategic component and an organizing principle for a brand platform. This, to be blunt, is a mistake. And it is a mistake that ensnares institutions in processes that are costly and time consuming without leading to significant marketing gains.

A tag line is not a brand strategy and it is certainly not a mission statement. A tag line is an element of creative execution; similar to a photograph or an illustration or to the style you use to write your copy. It is produced at the creative implementation phase when you come to execute your strategy. For example, let’s suppose that you have developed a brand strategy that says you should emphasize an urban, hip style. In that case, you would choose a photographic style that advanced this brand image, for example, you might employ a style of digital photography that looked like it was captured on an iPhone. And you would write a tag line that used vocabulary and cadence to capture an urban, hip sensibility. As with the photograph, the style of the tag line would be as important as its substance. And you would certainly not place too great weight on the tag line. It would be one element among many – your colors, fonts, photos, writing style, interactive programming, design – for conveying your image and advancing your brand.

A brand strategy is distinct from the elements of creative execution. It is not colors, fonts, photos, writing style, interactive programming, design or the tag line. It is the conceptual engine that undergirds and drives all of these. The brand strategy, along with the competitive research you have conducted, will tell you whether you should employ a tag line in your particular competitive situation. But you actually write the tag line as part of creative execution.

Processes where committees of high-level administrators sit around weighing the strengths and weaknesses of alternate tag lines are misguided. And institutions that invest major resources testing tag lines as if their fortunes in the marketplace depended upon them are wasting time and resources. Ultimately, these are ways for communications firms to make money and for administrators to feel they are being productive, but they are not conducive to genuinely effective marketing.

It is vital that institutions be clear on what’s important to a brand strategy. A brand strategy is conceptual. It is an idea, or small set of ideas, that drives marketing execution across all platforms. It needs to be distinctive and connect with audience desires. It is not a tag line. A tag line is a potential outgrowth of a marketing process but does not play a role in the strategic phase itself. Moving discussion of the tag line back into the brand strategy development phase, and placing more weight on it than it deserves, will distract you from the real work at hand. If you’re involved in a branding process and are spending time discussing a tag line, your process has been derailed. Go back and start over. Forget about the tag line until after you’ve got your strategy. And maybe forever. There are plenty of great brands with no tag line at all.