And the "Most Mundane Tagline" award goes to...

Several years ago I wrote a blog about a tagline that I considered one of the least inspirational I'd ever come across. It was for Delta Airlines, and the line was: "We get you there."

Why did I think it was bad? Because it conveyed the minimum possible value to the customer. True, "getting there" is the point of a plane flight, and it's far better than not getting there. But couldn't the airline have suggested some added value? For instance, you could get there in comfort. Or you could get there on time. Or you could get there with all your bags. But no, with Delta, you could get there. Period.

I assumed we'd never see such a mundane tagline again, but I was wrong. A similar line has recently surfaced underpinning Toyota's shiny new ad campaign. The slogan is (drumroll, please) "Let's go places."

Like the airline tag of years before, Toyota's line expresses the basic point of getting in a car. Namely, to go places. But also like the airline tag, the line conveys the least possible value. You won't go places in comfort, or style, or with a high degree of reliability, or anything else worth wanting. You'll just go places. Apparently, the journey will be "aspirational" and will involve "enriching lives." How is that better than a horse? You can go places on horses too. For that matter, you can go places by hitchhiking, riding with a friend, calling a cab, getting on a train, riding a bicycle, or just walking.

More to the point, you can go places in a Chevy or Ford or Honda or any other make of car, and that's the real problem with the tagline. All it really says is, "We let you do what every other car brand lets you do."

And that's not saying very much.


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