Probably the greatest slogans in the world...
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Your support makes all the difference.In 1967, according to the jingle, a million housewives picked up a can every day and said it. Now the phrase "Beanz Meanz Heinz" has been voted the most popular advertising slogan in history.
In a new Advertising Hall of Fame, unveiled this week, the slogan beat off competition from 84 competitors, including such favourites as Hamlet's "Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet", and Nike's "Just do it", to take the top 10 award.
It was voted in by a panel comprising some of the top names from organisations such as Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, J Walter Thompson and Ogilvy and Mather.
The slogan "Beanz Meanz Heinz" was created in a pub in the late Sixties by Mo Drake, then Young and Rubicam's deputy creative director. It was used by Heinz for some 30 years - a period unthinkable in today's rapidly changing advertising copylines. It was changed only when Heinz wanted to ensure its brand was synonymous with more than just baked beans.
Timothy RV Foster, creator of ADSlogans Unlimited, a "slogan database" used by advertising agencies to check on prior use of new slogan ideas, said that, despite a preponderance of advertising awards, recognition for slogans was long overdue.
"It's time the great advertising lines received the recognition they deserve," he said. "It's a long way from a winner such as 'the Appliance of Science' [Zanussi] to a corporate blandishment such as 'yesterday's answers, tomorrow'."
The database doesn't just note examples of advertising excellence. It also assesses the most overworked lines in advertising. These are "the natural choice" (applied by some 60 advertisers), "It's about time" (45 users) and "Simply the best" (30 users).
Many of the most successful slogans date back 20 years or more, and seem to have imprinted themselves on the public psyche. Other winning slogans included Avis car rentals' "We try harder", the Egg Marketing Board's 1957 slogan "Go to work on an egg" and Guinness's 1962 classic "Guinness is good for you."
Two of the most recent slogans to enter the top 10 were Nike's 1988 "Just do it," still in use, and The Independent's launch slogan "It is. Are You?"
Overall, 56 slogans have found their way into ADSlogan's Hall of Fame. The oldest are for Morton salt: "When it rains, it pours!" and Maxwell House: "Good to the last drop". They, and the Hat Council's 1930s slogan "If you want to get ahead, get a hat" are so old that their provenance cannot be ascertained.
The winners are listed at www.adslogans.co.uk
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