Movie taglines – how to tell a story in just one short sweet line

Want to write a great brand tagline? Then watch more movies. Or at the very least just look at the posters.

Everything I know about advertising I learnt from the movies #10

“In space no one can hear you scream.”

Know the movie?

If not, then there’s a good chance its tagline makes you want to. It’s for Alien, and is widely considered one of the best movie taglines ever.

Just like a movie, every brand should tell a story, in which everything it does follows the same narrative. And it’s tagline should distill that story into one short, sweet line.

So, when trying to write brand tagline, rather than look what other brands do, look at what some of the world’s greatest storytellers do: the ones who make some of the greatest movies.

Movie taglines tease a story, they make a promise of something you are going to get when you watch it. They intrigue, entice, titilate and amuse – or maybe even scare the shit out of you. And the best (or at least most popular and successful) movies – like the most successful brands – are the ones that deliver on their promise.

One of my favourites is for Dumb and Dumber.

If you haven’t seen it either, it’s about two incredibly stupid guys who, just when you think they can't do anything more stupid, do. It’s one of those movies, which when I watch again, my bladder starts to loosen already at some of the funniest scenes, before the funny stuff even happens, because I know what’s coming. The tagline: “For Harry and Lloyd every day is a no brainer.” The story does exactly what it says on the tin.

Of course, its not what you say, it’s how you say it, often giving the words not just a different meaning, but a double one, like the tagline for The 40 Year-old Virgin: “The longer you wait, the harder it gets.” You just know it’s (sadly) true, and it makes you laugh. Guys at least. And if the tagline makes you laugh, that’s a pretty good sign the movie will too. Or at least make you want to find out.

Taglines often don’t work quite as well in translation though. I recently saw the Dutch version for The 40 Year-old Virgin, which was literally translated as: “The longer you wait, the more difficult it gets.” Doesn’t have quite the same punch. But that’s another story.

Another great tagline, that has recently taken on a whole new prescience, was for The Social Network: “You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” You can already feel the tension and drama in that.

And, “In space no one can hear you scream,” coldly conveys the lonely terror of being hunted by something unimaginably hideous, when you’re 39 light years from home. It still sends a chill up my spine – almost like an alien baby bursting out of my chest.

Great movie taglines capture a truth, something recognisably human that make you want to watch the film. A great brand tagline should do the same, in a way that makes you want to experience the brand – and feel part of the story when you do.

But do you even need an tagline? And do they work anymore in the fragmented digital and social mediascape?

One of the problems with brand taglines is that they’re often called “endlines,” because (traditionally) they would be the last message you see or hear on the ad.

They can and do still work, even on TikTok, but not if you call them endlines. As they are also a beginning.

A movie tagline is not called an endline, because it is an introduction, an invitation to participate in the story, not just a smart line that summarises it at the end. This is the way we should think of brand taglines/endlines/claims – whatever you want to call them. They are your “Once upon a time…” as well as your “happily ever after. 

Written well, taglines express beautifully what brands stand for, their reason to exist, and your reason to believe. They encapsulate every story ever told about a brand and all the one’s that will be told about it in the future.

But, a great tagline won’t make a great movie, or a great brand. Great movies deliver on their promise in every scene. Great brands need to do so in every step. Which is another reason to have them, to always remind the guardians of the brand – the marketeers and advertisers – of its mission and purpose. A North Star. Of course it could be just internal, never leaving the pages of the brand guidelines, but if this North Star is also out there for everybody to see, you know consumers are going to hold you to its promise.

In Dumb and Dumber every day really is a no brainer. In the 40 year old version it really does get harder. And Mark Zuckerberg really did upset a few folks. If they ever make The Social Network 2, I already have the tagline: “You can’t get to 500 million enemies without making a few friends.” And we know who the friends are.

But, there’s one fundamental difference between movie taglines and brand taglines. Brand taglines are written before the story, and dictate where it’s going. Movie taglines are written afterwards. So, before you write your tagline, make sure you know what the story is, and then make sure every beat of it delivers against the line. Always.

In my spare time I also write screenplays, and I’ve just had an idea for a new one. It’s about America’s stupidest ever president, who loses the election after his first term, but four years later somehow manages to win a second term, and then gets even stupider: Trump and Trumper. You already know the story. The tagline too. But it’s not funny, just scary.