In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, social group, or product. As a variant of a branding slogan, taglines can be used in marketing materials and advertising.
Contents
- Nomenclature
- Organizational usage
- Headlines versus taglines
- Functional taglines
- Film and television
- Video games
- Novels
- Etexts
- References
The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable dramatic phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of an audio/visual product, or to reinforce and strengthen the audience's memory of a literary product. Some taglines are successful enough to warrant inclusion in popular culture. Consulting companies which specialize in creating taglines may be hired to create a tagline for a brand or product.
Nomenclature
Tagline, tag line, and tag are American terms. In the U.K. they are called end lines, endlines, or straplines. In Belgium they are called baselines. In France they are signatures. In Germany they are claims. In the Netherlands and Italy, they are pay offs or pay-off.
Organizational usage
Referral networking organizations may encourage taglines to be used as the conclusion to an introduction by each attendee. The purpose would be to make the introduction and that speaker more memorable in the minds of the other attendees after the meeting is over. Other terms for taglines are "memory hooks" (used by BNI®) and "USP" or "Unique Selling Proposition" which is a more commonly known term.
Headlines versus taglines
The tagline is sometimes confused with a headline because information is only presented with the one or the other. Essentially the headline is linked to the information; Once the information changes, the headline is abandoned in favor of a new one. The tagline is related to the entertainment piece and can, therefore, appear on all the information of that product or manufacturer. It is linked to the piece and not to the concept of a specific event. If the sentence is presented next to a logo, as an integral part, it is likely to be a tagline.
Functional taglines
A tagline is sometimes used as a supplementary expression in promoting a motion picture or television program. It is an explanatory subtitle, in addition to the actual title, on posters or the CD/DVD packaging of videos and music. Taglines can have an enticing effect and are therefore an important aspect in the marketing of films and television programs. Increasingly also found in the advertising world, taglines are a form of advertising slogan. A tagline for the movie series Star Wars, for example:
Tagline: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." – Star Wars Effect: It was a long time ago in a far, far away galaxy ...Film and television
Video games
Novels
Etexts
Websites also often have taglines. The Usenet use taglines as short description of a newsgroup. The term is used in computing to represent aphorisms, maxims, graffiti or other slogans.
In electronic texts, a tag or tagline is short, concise sentences in a row that are used when sending e-mail instead of a electronic signature. The tagline is used in computing with the meaning of a "signature" to be affixed at the end of each message. In the late eighties and early nineties, when the amateur computer network FidoNet began to flourish, the messages that were exchanged between users often had a tag-line, which was no longer than 79 characters, containing a brief phrase (often witty or humorous).