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Nationwide’s Enduring Slogan Still Distinguishes the Brand
By ZACH SCHONBRUN / MAY 29, 2016 / New York Times Page B3
JOEL Raphaelson’s most famous contribution to pop culture was hardly his favorite piece of copywriting.
“A little too clunky,” he said. “The truth is I wasn’t especially proud of it.”
He is proud now, though, at age 87. And after a career in advertising that spanned more than 40 years, that the pithy phrase he suggested in a May 1964 memo — “Nationwide is on your side” — still stands out in an increasingly fragmented and chaotic marketing landscape.
Today, few companies can boast that they have remained loyal to their messaging from a campaign born in the 1960s. But the words became so emblematic of Nationwide’s ethos that Mr. Raphaelson’s typewritten memo once hung in the lobby of its headquarters. The words themselves are hardly even necessary anymore; Peyton Manning needs only to hum Nationwide’s infectious jingle for commercial viewers to recognize it.
Nationwide brought things back full circle last month, when it named Mr. Raphaelson’s former employer, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, its lead creative agency, replacing McKinney after seven years. Ogilvy, part of WPP, lost the account in 1993, and then in 2013 was added to a roster of agencies involved in the account. Now, it will again handle Nationwide’s account on its own.
This presents Adam Tucker, president of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising New York, with a relatively unique challenge: Can a brand’s messaging stay relevant even when it is tied directly to a tag line that is older than many of its customers?
In truth, Mr. Tucker said in an interview from his office on Manhattan’s West Side, the success of Nationwide’s more recent campaigns, in particular those with Mr. Manning, has helped the 52-year-old “on your side” message reach newer audiences.
“In the case of Nationwide, I think it’s been a competitive business advantage to stay true to the line,” Mr. Tucker said. He compared it with another of Ogilvy’s clients, IBM, which has had to change its tag line several times to keep up with trends in the technology space.
“We went from e-business to Smarter Planet to Outthink, the new line today,” Mr. Tucker said of IBM. “It depends a lot on the category and the business and what makes sense for the brand.”
Terrance Williams, Nationwide’s chief marketing officer, says the company annually assesses the influence of the motto but feels it still connects with customers.
“We try to ensure that we’re resonating, creating content that’s relevant, that cuts through, but maintains the truism of who we are as an organization,” Mr. Williams said. “‘On your side,’ in our view, is really the best way we can convey why we are unique.”
It is not always a given that a longstanding slogan should be grandfathered into every new campaign. In 2012, the car rental company Avis dumped its famous tag line, “We try harder,” after 50 years for a new direction: focusing on corporate, rather than leisure, clients.
Striking that balance between loyalty to tradition and the desire for something new is not always easy.
Wheaties, for instance, has been known as the “breakfast of champions” since 1933, and as such, it has featured star athletes including Lou Gehrig and Michael Jordan on the front of its cereal boxes. But today, part of the slogan’s success, according to Dave Oehler, marketing manager for Wheaties, derives from its versatility — allowing Wheaties to appeal to a range of fans, even those who follow mixed martial arts or motocross.
“This idea of celebrating champions but being able to redefine how we think about champions is what’s great about it,” Mr. Oehler said. “It still has the flexibility to allow us to evolve.”
Maxwell House has used the slogan “Good to the last drop” in all of its messaging since 1917, when the phrase was supposedly uttered by Theodore Roosevelt after a cup of the coffee.
“It’s a huge part of the brand’s DNA,” Matt Plumb, director of marketing for Maxwell House, said of the slogan. “But we still need to make sure it communicates our brand’s point of view, our benefits — and that those continue to resonate with consumers.”
Most brands today are much quicker to give up on a slogan if it does not gain immediate traction. Dave Taylor, president of Taylor Brand Group, a consulting firm, said the segmentation of the media marketplace has forced some companies to create splintered messages rather than unifying behind a single slogan. Social media has also made marketing managers more sensitive to criticism than in the past.
“It can take a lot of courage, I think, for a brand to say, ‘Hey, I think this is a good slogan, and we’re going to help people understand what we mean by it,’” Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor also notes that it might not be a coincidence that another long-lasting active slogan belongs to Allstate, Nationwide’s competitor, which has used the phrase “You’re in good hands” since 1950.
“The insurance business itself doesn’t change a lot,” Mr. Taylor said. “The concept of the product isn’t new — it’s about security, feeling comfortable with what you got.”
Mr. Raphaelson typically refuses to accept much praise for “Nationwide is on your side,” which he said he discovered while flipping through old insurance records from a competitor, State Farm. He could not say for sure why the phrase has resonated, but he thinks that it has had a big effect on Nationwide.
“They internalized it as a kind of stance for the attitude that they wanted their agents to take,” Mr. Raphaelson said. “That it should govern their relations with their customers.”
Mr. Tucker said the endurance of “on your side” should also be partly attributed to the jingle, which has become catchy enough that the agency could replace the words with silly phrases like “chicken parm, you taste so good,” such as in Mr. Manning’s recent ads.
Mr. Raphaelson admitted that he initially disagreed with the idea of attaching a tune to the phrase early in the campaign.
“I thought that it was a bad idea,” Mr. Raphaelson said. “Insurance is a serious business.”
By ZACH SCHONBRUN / MAY 29, 2016 / New York Times Page B3
JOEL Raphaelson’s most famous contribution to pop culture was hardly his favorite piece of copywriting.
“A little too clunky,” he said. “The truth is I wasn’t especially proud of it.”
He is proud now, though, at age 87. And after a career in advertising that spanned more than 40 years, that the pithy phrase he suggested in a May 1964 memo — “Nationwide is on your side” — still stands out in an increasingly fragmented and chaotic marketing landscape.
Today, few companies can boast that they have remained loyal to their messaging from a campaign born in the 1960s. But the words became so emblematic of Nationwide’s ethos that Mr. Raphaelson’s typewritten memo once hung in the lobby of its headquarters. The words themselves are hardly even necessary anymore; Peyton Manning needs only to hum Nationwide’s infectious jingle for commercial viewers to recognize it.
Nationwide brought things back full circle last month, when it named Mr. Raphaelson’s former employer, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, its lead creative agency, replacing McKinney after seven years. Ogilvy, part of WPP, lost the account in 1993, and then in 2013 was added to a roster of agencies involved in the account. Now, it will again handle Nationwide’s account on its own.
This presents Adam Tucker, president of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising New York, with a relatively unique challenge: Can a brand’s messaging stay relevant even when it is tied directly to a tag line that is older than many of its customers?
In truth, Mr. Tucker said in an interview from his office on Manhattan’s West Side, the success of Nationwide’s more recent campaigns, in particular those with Mr. Manning, has helped the 52-year-old “on your side” message reach newer audiences.
“In the case of Nationwide, I think it’s been a competitive business advantage to stay true to the line,” Mr. Tucker said. He compared it with another of Ogilvy’s clients, IBM, which has had to change its tag line several times to keep up with trends in the technology space.
“We went from e-business to Smarter Planet to Outthink, the new line today,” Mr. Tucker said of IBM. “It depends a lot on the category and the business and what makes sense for the brand.”
Terrance Williams, Nationwide’s chief marketing officer, says the company annually assesses the influence of the motto but feels it still connects with customers.
“We try to ensure that we’re resonating, creating content that’s relevant, that cuts through, but maintains the truism of who we are as an organization,” Mr. Williams said. “‘On your side,’ in our view, is really the best way we can convey why we are unique.”
It is not always a given that a longstanding slogan should be grandfathered into every new campaign. In 2012, the car rental company Avis dumped its famous tag line, “We try harder,” after 50 years for a new direction: focusing on corporate, rather than leisure, clients.
Striking that balance between loyalty to tradition and the desire for something new is not always easy.
Wheaties, for instance, has been known as the “breakfast of champions” since 1933, and as such, it has featured star athletes including Lou Gehrig and Michael Jordan on the front of its cereal boxes. But today, part of the slogan’s success, according to Dave Oehler, marketing manager for Wheaties, derives from its versatility — allowing Wheaties to appeal to a range of fans, even those who follow mixed martial arts or motocross.
“This idea of celebrating champions but being able to redefine how we think about champions is what’s great about it,” Mr. Oehler said. “It still has the flexibility to allow us to evolve.”
Maxwell House has used the slogan “Good to the last drop” in all of its messaging since 1917, when the phrase was supposedly uttered by Theodore Roosevelt after a cup of the coffee.
“It’s a huge part of the brand’s DNA,” Matt Plumb, director of marketing for Maxwell House, said of the slogan. “But we still need to make sure it communicates our brand’s point of view, our benefits — and that those continue to resonate with consumers.”
Most brands today are much quicker to give up on a slogan if it does not gain immediate traction. Dave Taylor, president of Taylor Brand Group, a consulting firm, said the segmentation of the media marketplace has forced some companies to create splintered messages rather than unifying behind a single slogan. Social media has also made marketing managers more sensitive to criticism than in the past.
“It can take a lot of courage, I think, for a brand to say, ‘Hey, I think this is a good slogan, and we’re going to help people understand what we mean by it,’” Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Taylor also notes that it might not be a coincidence that another long-lasting active slogan belongs to Allstate, Nationwide’s competitor, which has used the phrase “You’re in good hands” since 1950.
“The insurance business itself doesn’t change a lot,” Mr. Taylor said. “The concept of the product isn’t new — it’s about security, feeling comfortable with what you got.”
Mr. Raphaelson typically refuses to accept much praise for “Nationwide is on your side,” which he said he discovered while flipping through old insurance records from a competitor, State Farm. He could not say for sure why the phrase has resonated, but he thinks that it has had a big effect on Nationwide.
“They internalized it as a kind of stance for the attitude that they wanted their agents to take,” Mr. Raphaelson said. “That it should govern their relations with their customers.”
Mr. Tucker said the endurance of “on your side” should also be partly attributed to the jingle, which has become catchy enough that the agency could replace the words with silly phrases like “chicken parm, you taste so good,” such as in Mr. Manning’s recent ads.
Mr. Raphaelson admitted that he initially disagreed with the idea of attaching a tune to the phrase early in the campaign.
“I thought that it was a bad idea,” Mr. Raphaelson said. “Insurance is a serious business.”