A simple technique for writing punchy slogans
Yesterday, some friends circulated a new Hewlett-Packard ad.
With an amazing end line: ‘Accelerating next’.
I marvelled at this tightly written piece of communication.
I wondered if I could crack their secret and use it myself.
Now HP is a top company.
Really smart people who make great computers.
And then it struck me – one of their computers probably wrote this.
I wondered if I could get my hands on one of these wonderful ‘Accelerating next’ machines.
I started looking around.
Seems quite a few people have found the same computer already.
Hankook Tyres – who I’ve picked on before – ‘Driving Emotion’.
Or those wonderful, abstract Japanese T-shirts that have equally concise, witty creative collisions.
(I hadn’t realised HP was so big in Japan :)
You, too, can write material like this.
And you don’t need Copy School or even a computer.
Why not build your own slogan generator?:
1.Get a hat that’s deeper than it is wide (so you can’t peek inside). 2. Find pretentious words randomly in your dictionary. 3. Toss them in. Draw them out 2 at a time. 4. Hey Presto (no, that’s taken already) you’ll have instant punchy lines 5. Hold them up against the Japanese T-Shirts. If they pass the ‘sufficiently bizarre' test, you’re onto a winner. 6. Present it with conviction – Clive Pompous-arse style - and no one will argue lest it should appear they’re not as bright as you. Or…
You could find yourself a genuinely good writer. (They’re rare these days)
Someone who truly cares about communicating.
Someone like Paul or Sharon:
“Every generation should live better than the last” (Paul Fishlock for Westpac Bank)
“The simple things in life are often the best” (Sharon Howard for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes)
As much as Management-speak tries to infiltrate and mutilate our language, don’t let it invade your communication.
If in doubt, eavesdrop on normal people.
Listen to the way they speak.
I’m willing to bet – unless they’re poking fun at HP – you’re not going to hear anyone ‘Accelerating Next’ in my lifetime.















