Audit of the existing slogan: when it's time to change
How to start the audit: step-by-step checklist
Auditing a slogan is a separate procedure that does not require a full rebranding or focus groups with hundreds of people. It is sufficient to sequentially go through six steps.
- Collect all points of use of the slogan for the past 2-3 years: website, advertising, packaging, presentations for investors, email signature.
- Check the formulation against the current strategy and positioning — it is often revealed that the business has long changed course, while the slogan remains from the previous version of the company.
- Gather the 'living' language of customers: reviews, comments in social networks, call support transcripts, formulations in industry reviews.
- Run the slogan through 7 evaluation criteria and assign scores (the methodology is below).
- Conduct a short focus group or survey with 15-30 people from the target audience.
- Make one of three decisions: fully change the slogan, re-emphasize the meaning without replacing the text, or leave it as is and strengthen communication.
7 evaluation criteria: we count scores, not argue by eye
Subjective disputes within the team ("I like it" / "it sounds boring") don't resolve anything. The working tool is a rating based on seven parameters, where each expert or respondent assigns from 0 to 5 points.
| Criterion | What We Test |
|---|---|
| Alignment with the business sector | Is it clear from the slogan what the company does, without additional context |
| Memorability | Does the slogan reproduce the person through 10-15 minutes after first presentation |
| Reflection of brand uniqueness | Is there something in the text that literally doesn't fit the competitor as is |
| Clarity | Is the meaning perceived without explanations and a second reading |
| Originality | Doesn't a similar formulation appear among other players in the category |
| Attractiveness | Does the text evoke interest or sympathy, rather than a neutral reaction |
| Expressiveness | Is there rhythm, sound, image — or is it a dry fact statement |
The final score across all respondents or experts is interpreted as follows: 0-15 points — low level, the slogan almost certainly needs to be replaced; 16-21 — average, it is worth paying attention to weak criteria; 22-25 — good result; 26-35 — high, changing such a slogan is risky and often meaningless.
Real signals that the slogan has stopped working
Decline in sales — too crude an indicator to blame the slogan specifically. There are more precise markers that point specifically to the problem in this brand element.
- The slogan does not appear in customer reviews, reports and mentions — people describe the company in their own words, ignoring the official formulation.
- The language of the slogan and the language in which people talk about you in reviews differ: customers praise one thing, while the slogan promises another.
- The company's strategy has changed, but the text remains the same. This was the case with the Moldovan bank maib: internal audit revealed a gap between the slogan 'next level' and the actual results achieved, after which it was replaced with 'You drive. maib'.
- The slogan 'could belong to anyone in the industry' is a red flag for lack of uniqueness, not a minor flaw.
- The creative team does not use the slogan as a basis for new campaigns, and ignores it during briefings.
- Inside the company, the slogan is pronounced with irony or sarcasm — this is a psychological marker of obsolescence, which usually appears before the decline in performance indicators.
How to conduct a focus group to test the slogan
A full-scale study is not required — a structured survey of 15-30 representatives of the target audience, divided into several blocks of questions, is sufficient.
- Unprompted recognition: 'Which slogan is associated with company X?' — tests spontaneous recall.
- Attribution: we show the slogan without the brand name and ask which company or category it belongs to.
- Delayed reproduction: 7-10 days after showing it, we ask to repeat the slogan — this checks real, not momentary, memory.
- Comparison with competitors: we give three to four slogans from the category and ask to match them with brands.
- Emotional reaction: please describe in one word your impression of the slogan — boring, trust, ambition, irritation.
An important detail rarely mentioned: slogans are better remembered if presented as a musical beat — a jingle. If you plan to test in audio or video format, it's worth checking both versions: the text version and the voiced version with melodic delivery.
Slogan shelf life: why even successful ones are changed
There is no universal lifespan for a slogan, but there is a pattern: about 70% of companies changed their slogans during the process of adapting to the market, and Pepsi updated its slogan more than 15 times throughout the history of the brand. It's not that the old formulations were bad — the market, audience, and company ambitions changed.
There is also a more concerning fact about overall memorability: according to a study by Millward Brown, only 11% of respondents in the USA could correctly reproduce a slogan from an ad they had seen, and in Russia this figure is even lower — 4%. This means that low slogan recognition is not an exception, but the norm of the market, and by itself it is not always a reason for panic. A worrying signal is not a low memorization rate, but the complete lack of connection between the slogan and the company's strategy and product.
To change, re-emphasize, or just speak louder
The main mistake during an audit is to immediately move on to rewriting the text. Often the problem is not with the slogan itself, but with the fact that it is rarely shown to the audience or shown without context. Three situations look different.
| Situation | What to do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The slogan is outdated in content and conflicts with the strategy | Change completely | maib: «next level» → «You drive. maib» |
| The meaning is correct, but the emphasis has shifted to fit the new strategy | Develop the formulation without changing the essence | BMSU-4: "We are responsible for the result!" → "System of precise result" when transitioning from growth to systemacity |
| The slogan is good, but clients simply don't see it | Increase frequency and touchpoints without touching the text | The slogan rarely appears in advertising, is missing in the signature and on the packaging |
A simple test for differentiation: take formulations from real customer reviews and compare them with the slogan's language. If there are no matches at all — the problem is in the content, and a replacement is needed here. If there is a match, but the slogan simply does not appear in the touchpoints — the problem is in the message distribution, not in the text. And the final check for the team: if the slogan does not inspire copywriters and designers to come up with new ideas for campaigns, and is perceived as a formality for signing — this is also a reason for an audit, even if the scores based on seven criteria are formally normal.
How to start the audit: step-by-step checklist
Auditing a slogan is a separate procedure that does not require a full rebranding or focus groups with hundreds of people. It is sufficient to sequentially go through six steps.
- Collect all points of use of the slogan for the past 2-3 years: website, advertising, packaging, presentations for investors, email signature.
- Check the formulation against the current strategy and positioning — it is often revealed that the business has long changed course, while the slogan remains from the previous version of the company.
- Gather the 'living' language of customers: reviews, comments in social networks, call support transcripts, formulations in industry reviews.
- Run the slogan through 7 evaluation criteria and assign scores (the methodology is below).
- Conduct a short focus group or survey with 15-30 people from the target audience.
- Make one of three decisions: fully change the slogan, re-emphasize the meaning without replacing the text, or leave it as is and strengthen communication.
7 evaluation criteria: we count scores, not argue by eye
Subjective disputes within the team ("I like it" / "it sounds boring") don't resolve anything. The working tool is a rating based on seven parameters, where each expert or respondent assigns from 0 to 5 points.
| Criterion | What We Test |
|---|---|
| Alignment with the business sector | Is it clear from the slogan what the company does, without additional context |
| Memorability | Does the slogan reproduce the person through 10-15 minutes after first presentation |
| Reflection of brand uniqueness | Is there something in the text that literally doesn't fit the competitor as is |
| Clarity | Is the meaning perceived without explanations and a second reading |
| Originality | Doesn't a similar formulation appear among other players in the category |
| Attractiveness | Does the text evoke interest or sympathy, rather than a neutral reaction |
| Expressiveness | Is there rhythm, sound, image — or is it a dry fact statement |
The final score across all respondents or experts is interpreted as follows: 0-15 points — low level, the slogan almost certainly needs to be replaced; 16-21 — average, it is worth paying attention to weak criteria; 22-25 — good result; 26-35 — high, changing such a slogan is risky and often meaningless.
Real signals that the slogan has stopped working
Decline in sales — too crude an indicator to blame the slogan specifically. There are more precise markers that point specifically to the problem in this brand element.
- The slogan does not appear in customer reviews, reports and mentions — people describe the company in their own words, ignoring the official formulation.
- The language of the slogan and the language in which people talk about you in reviews differ: customers praise one thing, while the slogan promises another.
- The company's strategy has changed, but the text remains the same. This was the case with the Moldovan bank maib: internal audit revealed a gap between the slogan 'next level' and the actual results achieved, after which it was replaced with 'You drive. maib'.
- The slogan 'could belong to anyone in the industry' is a red flag for lack of uniqueness, not a minor flaw.
- The creative team does not use the slogan as a basis for new campaigns, and ignores it during briefings.
- Inside the company, the slogan is pronounced with irony or sarcasm — this is a psychological marker of obsolescence, which usually appears before the decline in performance indicators.
How to conduct a focus group to test the slogan
A full-scale study is not required — a structured survey of 15-30 representatives of the target audience, divided into several blocks of questions, is sufficient.
- Unprompted recognition: 'Which slogan is associated with company X?' — tests spontaneous recall.
- Attribution: we show the slogan without the brand name and ask which company or category it belongs to.
- Delayed reproduction: 7-10 days after showing it, we ask to repeat the slogan — this checks real, not momentary, memory.
- Comparison with competitors: we give three to four slogans from the category and ask to match them with brands.
- Emotional reaction: please describe in one word your impression of the slogan — boring, trust, ambition, irritation.
An important detail rarely mentioned: slogans are better remembered if presented as a musical beat — a jingle. If you plan to test in audio or video format, it's worth checking both versions: the text version and the voiced version with melodic delivery.
Slogan shelf life: why even successful ones are changed
There is no universal lifespan for a slogan, but there is a pattern: about 70% of companies changed their slogans during the process of adapting to the market, and Pepsi updated its slogan more than 15 times throughout the history of the brand. It's not that the old formulations were bad — the market, audience, and company ambitions changed.
There is also a more concerning fact about overall memorability: according to a study by Millward Brown, only 11% of respondents in the USA could correctly reproduce a slogan from an ad they had seen, and in Russia this figure is even lower — 4%. This means that low slogan recognition is not an exception, but the norm of the market, and by itself it is not always a reason for panic. A worrying signal is not a low memorization rate, but the complete lack of connection between the slogan and the company's strategy and product.
To change, re-emphasize, or just speak louder
The main mistake during an audit is to immediately move on to rewriting the text. Often the problem is not with the slogan itself, but with the fact that it is rarely shown to the audience or shown without context. Three situations look different.
| Situation | What to do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The slogan is outdated in content and conflicts with the strategy | Change completely | maib: «next level» → «You drive. maib» |
| The meaning is correct, but the emphasis has shifted to fit the new strategy | Develop the formulation without changing the essence | BMSU-4: "We are responsible for the result!" → "System of precise result" when transitioning from growth to systemacity |
| The slogan is good, but clients simply don't see it | Increase frequency and touchpoints without touching the text | The slogan rarely appears in advertising, is missing in the signature and on the packaging |
A simple test for differentiation: take formulations from real customer reviews and compare them with the slogan's language. If there are no matches at all — the problem is in the content, and a replacement is needed here. If there is a match, but the slogan simply does not appear in the touchpoints — the problem is in the message distribution, not in the text. And the final check for the team: if the slogan does not inspire copywriters and designers to come up with new ideas for campaigns, and is perceived as a formality for signing — this is also a reason for an audit, even if the scores based on seven criteria are formally normal.
Recent articles
MegaFon, BMW, VTB and more 240+ companies. See how it looks in the showcase reel:
Our branding agency is approached to order:
Branding agency services
