Slogans of FMCG brands: simplicity and repetitiveness
FMCG and luxury: why one set of rules does not apply to the other
In the premium segment, the buyer is already engaged — he reads a magazine, sits on the brand's website, watches advertisements in a calm environment. He has time to decipher the metaphor, evaluate the intonation, feel the status. In FMCG, none of this is the case: a person walks down a supermarket aisle with a shopping list in mind (though, as practice shows, most decisions are made in the store, not according to that list), and the shelf requires an instant answer to the question 'why do I need this?'
| Parameter | FMCG | Premium / luxury |
|---|---|---|
| Contact time | 3-6 seconds at the shelf | minutes, repeated touches |
| Slogan length | 3-5 words | can be expanded, metaphorical |
| Slogan purpose | instant reading + trigger to act | forming status and emotional aura |
| Frequency of change | minimal, decades | may be updated with the restyling of the line |
| Role of visual | the slogan works only in combination with the packaging | the slogan is self-sufficient and lives in separate advertising |
Hence the main conclusion: in luxury, the slogan sells a dream, in FMCG — it sells a moment of decision. These are fundamentally different tasks, and an attempt to transfer the techniques of one segment to another almost always fails.
Playing on the subconscious: what happens in the first 2 seconds at the shelf
Most of the materials about slogans explain how a slogan works at the emotional and imagery level — that is, after the buyer has consciously read the text. But in FMCG the battle happens earlier: Most advertising messages lose the audience's attention within the first 2 seconds. That means the slogan is not 'read' — it is perceived by peripheral vision simultaneously with the color of the packaging, the logo, and the shape of the pack.
Here, it is not the text itself that works, but the synergy of three layers:
- Contrast of the slogan with the packaging background — if the text blends into the color, it won't be seen even within 6 seconds;
- Hierarchy — the slogan should be visually secondary to the brand name, otherwise the gaze 'stumbles' and loses seconds on prioritization;
- Meaningful trigger — a word addressed to the buyer's state ("hungry", "tired", "hot"), not to the product's features.
Studies show that branding within the first 3 seconds of a video clip helps with message recall — the same logic applies on the shelf: if the eye has not simultaneously fixed the brand and the promise, it doesn't matter how extensively you describe the benefits further, the effect will be zero. That is why in FMCG a slogan of 3-5 words with an explicit CTA ("take it", "try it", "take it with you") is more effective than a long and beautiful text — short formulations ensure higher spontaneous recall, spontaneous mention without cues.
Changing the slogan or keeping it for decades
There is a widespread misconception: when a brand updates its design, the slogan should be updated too. Practice shows the opposite. McDonald's has been using I'm Lovin' It for more than 20 years, and it is the longest-running slogan in the company's history — it even overshadowed the cult slogan of its time, 'You deserve a break today.' Snickers went through dozens of formulations about hunger ('Don't let hunger happen to you,' 'Hungry? Grab a Snickers'), but only one version with an emotional core stuck — 'You're not you when you're hungry,' from 2010 year.
The mechanism is simple: slogans that have been used for a long time usually show higher spontaneous recall than new formulations of the same brand. The brain remembers through repetition, not through novelty. Each slogan change is a reset of the memory counter to zero. Coca-Cola decided in 1997 year to use the slogan 'The holiday comes to us' to solve a much more complex task than memorability — it broke the seasonality of consumption, tying the drink not to thirst but to the emotion of the holiday, and this worked precisely because the phrase did not change over the years, but took root.
The conclusion for business: changing a slogan should only be done when changing the category positioning, not when restyling packaging or changing agencies.
How to test a slogan before launch
There is no single correct method — different tools solve different tasks, and it's better to combine them sequentially.
| Method | What it shows | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Focus groups | conscious reaction, associations, rejection of formulations | at an early stage, to filter out obviously failing options |
| Split tests (A/B) | real behavior — clicks, conversion, choice of packaging | at the digital launch stage, retail media, landing pages |
| Neurotests / eye-tracking | first fractions of a second of attention, the point of gaze fixation on the shelf | before finalizing the design of packaging with the slogan |
A focus group will tell you whether people like the phrase — but it won't tell you whether they will see it at all among twenty other packs. For that, you need eye-tracking: it records whether the slogan hits the first point of gaze together with the logo, or the gaze sweeps past it. Split-testing closes the third question — whether the catchy slogan translates into action: a click, adding to the cart, choosing on the retail shelf. The correct sequence is: first, a focus group for screening, then a neurotest on the packaging, and then a split-test in the real sales environment.
What ultimately works on the shelf
Characters and mascots enhance the slogan's impact — studies show that characters and mascots significantly improve brand memorability, and in FMCG, a slogan is often anchored precisely through an archetype or hero, like the cat Matroskin at 'Prostokvashino,' who evokes nostalgia and association with milk without a single unnecessary word. A working slogan for FMCG is not a literary discovery but an engineering solution composed of three components: a short phrase of 3-5 words, appeal to the consumer's state, and visual contrast with competitors' packaging. Everything else — the beauty of the formulation, the originality of the metaphor — is secondary and often hinders reading speed.
FMCG and luxury: why one set of rules does not apply to the other
In the premium segment, the buyer is already engaged — he reads a magazine, sits on the brand's website, watches advertisements in a calm environment. He has time to decipher the metaphor, evaluate the intonation, feel the status. In FMCG, none of this is the case: a person walks down a supermarket aisle with a shopping list in mind (though, as practice shows, most decisions are made in the store, not according to that list), and the shelf requires an instant answer to the question 'why do I need this?'
| Parameter | FMCG | Premium / luxury |
|---|---|---|
| Contact time | 3-6 seconds at the shelf | minutes, repeated touches |
| Slogan length | 3-5 words | can be expanded, metaphorical |
| Slogan purpose | instant reading + trigger to act | forming status and emotional aura |
| Frequency of change | minimal, decades | may be updated with the restyling of the line |
| Role of visual | the slogan works only in combination with the packaging | the slogan is self-sufficient and lives in separate advertising |
Hence the main conclusion: in luxury, the slogan sells a dream, in FMCG — it sells a moment of decision. These are fundamentally different tasks, and an attempt to transfer the techniques of one segment to another almost always fails.
Playing on the subconscious: what happens in the first 2 seconds at the shelf
Most of the materials about slogans explain how a slogan works at the emotional and imagery level — that is, after the buyer has consciously read the text. But in FMCG the battle happens earlier: Most advertising messages lose the audience's attention within the first 2 seconds. That means the slogan is not 'read' — it is perceived by peripheral vision simultaneously with the color of the packaging, the logo, and the shape of the pack.
Here, it is not the text itself that works, but the synergy of three layers:
- Contrast of the slogan with the packaging background — if the text blends into the color, it won't be seen even within 6 seconds;
- Hierarchy — the slogan should be visually secondary to the brand name, otherwise the gaze 'stumbles' and loses seconds on prioritization;
- Meaningful trigger — a word addressed to the buyer's state ("hungry", "tired", "hot"), not to the product's features.
Studies show that branding within the first 3 seconds of a video clip helps with message recall — the same logic applies on the shelf: if the eye has not simultaneously fixed the brand and the promise, it doesn't matter how extensively you describe the benefits further, the effect will be zero. That is why in FMCG a slogan of 3-5 words with an explicit CTA ("take it", "try it", "take it with you") is more effective than a long and beautiful text — short formulations ensure higher spontaneous recall, spontaneous mention without cues.
Changing the slogan or keeping it for decades
There is a widespread misconception: when a brand updates its design, the slogan should be updated too. Practice shows the opposite. McDonald's has been using I'm Lovin' It for more than 20 years, and it is the longest-running slogan in the company's history — it even overshadowed the cult slogan of its time, 'You deserve a break today.' Snickers went through dozens of formulations about hunger ('Don't let hunger happen to you,' 'Hungry? Grab a Snickers'), but only one version with an emotional core stuck — 'You're not you when you're hungry,' from 2010 year.
The mechanism is simple: slogans that have been used for a long time usually show higher spontaneous recall than new formulations of the same brand. The brain remembers through repetition, not through novelty. Each slogan change is a reset of the memory counter to zero. Coca-Cola decided in 1997 year to use the slogan 'The holiday comes to us' to solve a much more complex task than memorability — it broke the seasonality of consumption, tying the drink not to thirst but to the emotion of the holiday, and this worked precisely because the phrase did not change over the years, but took root.
The conclusion for business: changing a slogan should only be done when changing the category positioning, not when restyling packaging or changing agencies.
How to test a slogan before launch
There is no single correct method — different tools solve different tasks, and it's better to combine them sequentially.
| Method | What it shows | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Focus groups | conscious reaction, associations, rejection of formulations | at an early stage, to filter out obviously failing options |
| Split tests (A/B) | real behavior — clicks, conversion, choice of packaging | at the digital launch stage, retail media, landing pages |
| Neurotests / eye-tracking | first fractions of a second of attention, the point of gaze fixation on the shelf | before finalizing the design of packaging with the slogan |
A focus group will tell you whether people like the phrase — but it won't tell you whether they will see it at all among twenty other packs. For that, you need eye-tracking: it records whether the slogan hits the first point of gaze together with the logo, or the gaze sweeps past it. Split-testing closes the third question — whether the catchy slogan translates into action: a click, adding to the cart, choosing on the retail shelf. The correct sequence is: first, a focus group for screening, then a neurotest on the packaging, and then a split-test in the real sales environment.
What ultimately works on the shelf
Characters and mascots enhance the slogan's impact — studies show that characters and mascots significantly improve brand memorability, and in FMCG, a slogan is often anchored precisely through an archetype or hero, like the cat Matroskin at 'Prostokvashino,' who evokes nostalgia and association with milk without a single unnecessary word. A working slogan for FMCG is not a literary discovery but an engineering solution composed of three components: a short phrase of 3-5 words, appeal to the consumer's state, and visual contrast with competitors' packaging. Everything else — the beauty of the formulation, the originality of the metaphor — is secondary and often hinders reading speed.
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