How to Create a Slogan: 5 Steps, 6 Formulas, One Kill-List
The team gathers, coffee flows, forty phrases hit the whiteboard — and the winner is “Quality you can trust.” Congratulations: you’ve written the sentence every competitor already owns. ☕
How to create a slogan is not a brainstorming lottery; it’s compression craft: taking an existing positioning and squeezing it into a few unforgettable words. No positioning, nothing to compress — that’s why slogan work starts a level deeper than words.
This guide gives the 5-step method, six proven slogan formulas with SME examples, the kill-list of phrases to ban, and the field tests that pick the winner. Bring your strategy; leave with a line. ✂️
How to Create a Slogan: The 5-Step Method
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- Step 1: the source sentence
- Step 2: language mining
- Step 3: volume drafting
- Steps 4-5: filter + field
The method runs strategy → raw material → drafts → filters → field test. Skipping to step three is where the “quality you can trust” tragedies begin. 🪜
How to create a slogan, step by step: (1) fix the positioning sentence first, (2) mine customer language for raw material, (3) draft thirty lines using formulas, (4) filter with the kill-list and three tests, (5) field-test the final three. One afternoon per step; rushing merges steps and averages the output.
Step 1: the source sentence
The slogan compresses the positioning statement — write that first; the fill-in formula lives in brand positioning examples.
Step 2: language mining
Reviews, sales calls, thank-you emails: how do customers phrase the outcome? The best slogans are often found, not invented.
Step 3: volume drafting
Thirty lines minimum, formulas below, no judging while drafting. Judgment during generation kills the odd lines — and odd lines win.
Steps 4-5: filter + field
The kill-list and tests cut thirty to three; real-world exposure picks one. Committees pick safe; fields pick memorable. 🏟️
How to Create a Slogan: 6 Formulas That Work
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- Formula 1-2: outcome + enemy
- Formula 3-4: audience + method
- Formula 5-6: contrast + command
- Language note
Formulas aren’t cheating; they’re scaffolding. Six patterns cover most great lines ever written. 🧰
Each formula compresses a different strategic angle: outcome, enemy, audience, method, contrast, or command. Match the formula to your positioning pattern — a specialist brand and an against-brand should not sound alike.
Formula 1-2: outcome + enemy
Outcome: name the after-state (“Books closed in three days”). Enemy: puncture the category pain (“Consulting without the deck theater”). Both are instantly testable claims.
Formula 3-4: audience + method
Audience: call your people by name (“Built for freelancers”). Method: brandish the named process (“The 5-Step Standard”). Recognition does the marketing.
Formula 5-6: contrast + command
Contrast: two poles in tension (“Small agency. Big receipts.”). Command: an imperative with attitude (“Ship the brand.”). Rhythm and brevity carry these — seven words maximum, fewer preferred.
Language note
Write in the language your customers buy in; test bilingual pairs if you sell across borders. A clever pun that doesn’t translate is a local joke, not a slogan. 🌍
The Slogan Kill-List and Three Filters
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- Filter 1: the swap test
- Filter 2: the playback test
- Filter 3: the cringe horizon
- Legal minute
Thirty drafts on the wall; time to be ruthless. The kill-list removes the walking dead; three filters rank the living. 🗡️
The kill-list bans phrases any competitor could hang up: “quality you can trust,” “your partner in success,” “excellence delivered,” “solutions for your needs,” and every synonym cocktail of quality-trust-excellence. If it fits their wall, it leaves yours.
Filter 1: the swap test
Put a rival’s name in front of the line. Still works? Kill it. A slogan must be deniable — claimable only by you.
Filter 2: the playback test
Say it once to five people; ask them to repeat it tomorrow. Memory is the medium — unforgettable beats impressive.
Filter 3: the cringe horizon
Will you say it proudly in year three? Trend-slang lines expire like yogurt. Slogans are multi-year signage, not captions.
Legal minute
Screen finalists against registered marks in your class before falling in love; trademark databases via WIPO are the starting point. Heartbreak is cheaper before the signage order. ⚖️
Field-Testing and Living With Your Slogan
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- The rotation test
- The echo metric
- Placement map
- Retirement policy
Three finalists survive. The field — not the founder’s spouse — picks the winner. 🏆
Field tests are cheap and short: rotate the three lines in real placements for two weeks each, watch behavior, then commit for years. The slogan then takes its permanent posts across the identity system.
The rotation test
Email signature, proposal cover, one ad variant per line. Behavior metrics — replies, clicks, quoted-back phrases — outvote opinions.
The echo metric
Count how often customers repeat the line back unprompted. Echo is the slogan doing its only job: living rent-free in memory.
Placement map
Winner goes to: logo lockup rules, homepage, proposals, packaging, signatures — placements defined inside brand identity elements.
Retirement policy
Slogans change only when strategy changes — the governance logic in what is brand strategy. Boredom is not a strategy change. 🧱
Field Notes 📝
In every slogan workshop, the room’s favorite line and the field’s favorite line disagree. The room loves clever; the field remembers concrete. The two-week rotation test has overruled the committee in most projects we’ve run — and the field has never apologized.
Quick Glossary 📖
Compression: squeezing positioning into few words. Swap test: checking if a rival could claim the line. Echo metric: unprompted customer repetition. Lockup: the fixed logo-slogan arrangement.
Quick Summary ⚡
- How to create a slogan: five steps — positioning first, customer-language mining, thirty formula drafts, ruthless filters, field test.
- Six formulas: outcome, enemy, audience, method, contrast, command — matched to your positioning pattern.
- Kill-list bans universal phrases; swap, playback, and cringe-horizon filters rank survivors; screen trademarks early.
- The field picks the winner via two-week rotations; retire slogans only on strategy change, never boredom.
Next Step 🎯
Send your positioning sentence — we’ll return ten formula-built slogan drafts with the swap test pre-applied. Visit our brand consulting page or get in touch.
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Five steps: fix the positioning sentence, mine customer language, draft thirty lines with the six formulas (outcome, enemy, audience, method, contrast, command), filter with the kill-list and three tests, then field-test the final three in real placements.
Deniability (only you can claim it — passes the swap test), memorability (survives the playback test), longevity (passes the cringe horizon), and brevity — seven words maximum, concrete beats clever.
For years: slogans compound through repetition and change only when the underlying strategy changes. Team boredom arrives long before audience fatigue and is not a valid retirement reason.