Lionel Salem

This book is great for general interest. I also do a little module as an English teacher on slogans and brand names so I know I’ve now got a readymade reference resource for using at work.

The book is split into three parts. Part One has over 2,500 slogans in it sorted into categories such as construction, financial services, food and drink, sport and so on. Under the category heading the companies listed are in alphabetical order and then the slogans they’ve used detailed next to it. This part of the book is incredibly easy to follow and if you’re unsure of which category the company could be in, then the index in the back is helpful in this respect.

Part Two looks at 61 of the best known slogans and gives you an overview of the story behind the slogans. Some are more detailed than others but they detail the dates behind their slogans and any changes the company made and why. Within this section, the slogans are in bold so you can track the history of the company quite easily.

The final part is the indexes. The first one is the company name and brand index and helps you navigate your way around the book if you’re unsure which category to look into in Part One. The second index is a thematic index and under the alphabetical themes there company is listed. So for example under the theme of clever/smart slogans you’ll find Heinz listed, it tells you which page to find information about the company and in some cases if a company has had more than one slogan then it has a number in bracket to tell you which of the companies slogans would be classed as being a clever/smart slogan.

Furthermore, the author has given a small section at the front of the book called two-star slogans and then one-star slogans. The two-star ones are the author’s top 1% of the feature slogans and the one-star ones are the next 6% of the featured slogans.

A great “dip in and out off” read rather than devouring from cover to cover. There are quite a lot of companies I haven’t heard off but that doesn’t mean someone else will feel that and I’m not able to drop a star rating just because of that. Overall, a great book that gives an insight into how slogans are developed and how powerful/effective they can be when the company gets it right.… (mere)