Could UPS Have the Worst Tagline Ever?
Funny, I thought the United Parcel Service delivered parcels.
- Vague: Sounds like it was written by a marketing committee.
- Self centered: No suggestion of a benefit to their clients.
- Immodest: “we are the sun in the solar system of commerce”
- Hard to read: Long words + moving vehicle = missed opportunity.
Al Ries said good branding requires two elements: a visual hammer and a verbal nail. The brain stores ideas as words, so brands need to be distilled to their essence, a verbal nail. I’d suggest the entire brand experience, not just the visual branding, should drive this message home.
10 Responses to "Could UPS Have the Worst Tagline Ever?"
July 7, 2009
UPS does a lot more than deliver parcels. You would be surprised.
July 7, 2009
Sounds like a good title to me…it’s showing that they are prepared to help businesses move forward in this negative economy.
July 11, 2009
>>it’s showing that they are prepared to help businesses move forward in this negative economy.
Then I’d suggest using the word “VALUE”….or “working harder or you”. “Synchronizing commerce” is a long way from helping business advance.
>>UPS does a lot more than deliver parcels.
I wish their tagline could explain this in tangible language.
The Fed, FTC, or electronic funds transfers might “synchronize commerce” — UPS still seems to deliver goods efficiently.
July 16, 2009
This sounds more like a mission statement than a good tagline. There’s a difference between being accurate/descriptive and being inspiring/motivational. The tagline is meant to capture the essence of the brand. So I would agree that this doesn’t posses the “wow” factor like Nike’s “Just Do It” or the old “Coke Adds Life.”
March 6, 2010
I guess “we synch world commerce” wouldn’t make it, especially on UPS ships.
July 4, 2010
they do lots of different things, they are great
June 1, 2011
I just had to comment that I really laughed aloud at Anonymous March 6, 2010’s comment.
December 1, 2011
[…] 2011June 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011 We always knew UPS had the worst tagline.“Synchronizing the world of Commerce”Al Ries said it was…Vague Sounds like it was […]
January 13, 2016
I totally disagree; it’s a great tagline / slogan.
The name of the company, a TLA (which is *the* most wellknown TLA, and so forth…) of course, is not escpecially well chosen, though, but that’s too late to change, I believe.
In Danish (and I guess, a lot of other languages), “ups” is the same onomatopoeia as “ooops”! Yeah… ooops – from the start – UPS!
August 1, 2017
[…] We always knew UPS probably had the worst tag line. […]