A slogan, is above all a piece of communication. Like any other communication piece, it must therefore send a message. What ideas do you want to highlight with this slogan? Before you begin writing it, take the time to answer this question. You should also ask yourself what type of slogan you wish to create. Indeed, the way in which you send your message will change depending on your objective, on whether you want to play with sounds or emphasize your values, for example. The five main types of slogans are listed below. The same slogan can of course fit into several of these categories.

• Characterise the company

  The slogan highlights a distinctive feature of your company to emphasise what makes it different from others.

• Show benefits to the target audience

  The slogan focuses on what you can do for your audience and how you can meet their specific needs.

• Include a double meaning

  The slogan has several meanings or levels of interpretation, it will allow the audience to associate it with several ideas at the same time.

• Express an order

  The slogan’s objective is to get the audience to react by giving them a directive which will stick in their mind.

• Use the sounds of words

  The slogan will play with similar sounds and will have a nice ring to it, this will make it attractive and easy to remember.

A good slogan is simple

The key to making a slogan successful is to keep it simple. It must be understood at a glance. But be careful, a simple slogan does not mean a simplistic slogan, quite the contrary. It only means that is must be easy to pronounce, to memorise and to understand. Rid yourself of lengthy slogans with a vocabulary unsuitable for your target audience. Try to keep it short and sweet.

A good slogan sounds good

Sounds also play an important part in slogans. Indeed, these help to build a catchy slogan. When you write, think of rhythm, rhymes, assonance (repetition of vowel sounds) and alliterations (repetition of consonant sounds) to add style to your message. Some online tools can help you, such as rhyme dictionaries, thesauruses and lexical field dictionaries. Puns are also welcome. They add a touch of humour to your slogan. However, you should be careful not to make a joke that is out of sync with your target audience.

A good slogan is unique

Much like a good logo, a good slogan is unique. Your slogan must be unlike any other. It can be alike in structure, but each word must differ from the model. After all the time and effort put into creating your slogan, it would be a shame if it was confused with that of a competitor.

Bonus: a good slogan is given as an example

To illustrate our tips, here are two examples of slogans created by Agent Majeur. The first was created for Orphanet, a digital portal with open-access information on rare diseases. The second was designed for Liser, a research institute in social and economic sciences.

For Orphanet, the objective was to showcase their dissemination of knowledge on rare diseases. The slogan we created is: “Know the rare for better care”. It uses the sounds of words (the rhyme between “rare” and “care”), it characterizes the company (knowledge sharing) and shows its objective (to help people with rare diseases find better care).

For Liser, the objective was to emphasise how they contribute to advances in science, support public policies and provide information on society. The slogan we found is: “Science enlightening society”. It relies on the sounds of words (the alliteration between the “s” sounds), it highlights the benefits for the intended audience (emphasized by using a verb), and takes advantage of a double meaning (“enlightening” in this case stems both from the fact that they enlighten political decision-making thanks to scientific knowledge, and light up society by making it more equal).

It is not because it is short that a slogan is easy to write. On the contrary, a good slogan must say a lot of things in just a few words. It must send a message, be simple and pleasant to hear while remaining unique. Also keep in mind that each word matters and do not forget to think about polysemous words (terms with multiple meanings). In short, a successful slogan has a strong impact on your target audience and is instantly recognizable.

You now have all the different elements you need to create your ideal slogan. Beannachd leat! Yes, this is another sentence in Gaelic. But this time, it is to wish you the best of luck before you begin creating your battle cry!

Five questions. That is the starting point of your communication strategy. They are the 5W, the well-known pronouns used by journalists when they write an article: Why, Who, What, Where, When. By answering these questions, you will find the answers that you need to build your strategy.

1. Why

Why do you communicate? What is your aim? These fundamental questions are vital to build your strategy. Often, when you ask these questions to experts, the first answer that comes to their mind is “to inform”. Yet in fact, their objective is broader and more ambitious. Indeed, for scientists, science communication meets different objectives: increasing visibility, getting funding, developing partnerships, giving reassurance on an unknown or misunderstood technology, informing others on your skill sets, etc. To answer these objectives, you must inspire trust, create a connection with your audience, tell inspiring stories, convey emotion, etc. Or simply make yourself known from your target audience. In other words, you must become visible!

2. Who

Now that you have defined your objective, it is time to pay attention to your target audience. Will you communicate internally or externally? If your communication is for internal purposes, do you wish to impact managers, colleagues, both? On the contrary, if your intent is to communicate externally, are you targeting peers, journalists, funders, or the general public? This is a crucial step because the target audience will serve as a stepping stone to answer the next questions: What? Where? And When?

3. What

Communicating without sending a clear message, is a bit like rambling! That is why it is better to reflect on the message you wish to convey beforehand. To that end, rely on the target audience you defined previously. How much do they know about the topic you will communicate about? How do you want them to respond? Once you have established your expectations and that of your target audience, you can build your message. Try to sum up in a few lines the ideas you want to share.

The name of your project, of your product or your entity is a vital component of your image. When you are expecting a child, you do not pick the name randomly. It requires careful consideration, in addition to how you feel about it, many criteria are considered: its originality, how it sounds, its meaning, your family history, etc. It is the same for the name of your project. Take the time to think it through. Ideally, you should pick a name which has meaning, which refers to your project. Because it will contribute to its image. Therefore, avoid using an acronym. Much like other identity items (corporate identity and style guide, logo, slogan), the name of your project helps to convey your message. For example, if you want your innovation to be seen as reliable, innovating and sustainable, pick a name accordingly. In short, create a brand for your project!

4. Where

Which means should you use to communicate? This is the underlying question implied by “where”. Scientific events, brochures or media relations: there are multiple communication channels! Instead of trying to use all of them and wearing yourself down, you should focus on the ones which are adapted to your objective. A website if often indispensable, whatever the target audience. A scientific congress, however, is only intended for a targeted population, your peers. As for social media, pick those that your targets are likely to use. For example, TikTok is mainly intended for adolescents whereas LinkedIn is for professionals.

5. When

You have now determined your objectives, your target audience, your message and your communication mediums. You have almost reached your goal! Last but not least, there is a final step to consider: you need to define your communication frequency. For a research project, you must at the very least communicate during the important stages of development. Meaning when you have achieved significant results: a prototype, for example. In addition, our advice is to communicate on an ongoing basis. You can regularly publish on social media, send newsletters every month or write blog articles.

Nevertheless, things don’t always go as planned. External factors can interfere with your well-planned communication strategy. A crisis can compel you to communicate in unexpected ways: for example, important floods in Western Europe during summer, wildfires like those in Australia, or a global health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. In these times of crisis, you might be urged to communicate because you are directly impacted by the consequences, or because you are an expert on the topic related to this crisis. This communication is occasional, is limited in time, and is linked to a particular context. It should therefore be built differently from your usual communication strategy. Crisis communication is planned ahead, wherever possible, in order to respond in a timely manner and to avoid being caught off guard when the time comes.

Why? Who? What? Where? When? These are the five questions you need to keep in mind to analyse your environment and to make the right decisions for your communication strategy. These will allow you to define your needs, your target audience, your message, your communication channels and your communication frequency. In other words, to gather everything you need to build your communication strategy!

You would like to find out more about this subject? You can get all the advice of Alexia Youknovsky and James Bowers, the authors of SELL YOUR RESEARCH: Public Speaking for Scientists, by watching the 1-hour video of the Marie Curie Alumni Association webinar.

Developing a logo design for the first time or changing an existing one is never easy. You need to ask lots of questions about who you are, what your image is and the values you wish to show off. Step one for success is to be well supported.

1. Find a designer

The choice of graphic designer is an important one. Whilst each professional has their own style, they need to be able to adapt it to your requirements. We advise you to ask the agency working with you to show examples of previous work, so that you can verify they have a style suits you. Budget is also important because logos can be found at all different prices. Creating an attractive logo takes time and requires thought. Watch out for offers that are too cheap as they are often not very creative and tend to be impersonal.

2. Sign a contract

After clearly identifying your needs, you need to get going on the project. The contract and price need to be defined: how many propositions graphic designer will make, how many back-and-forths you can have with the client, the price if the agreed modifications are exceeded, and the file format for final delivery.
For this last point, you must imagine all the different materials and situations where you will need to use your logo:

• logo without or without slogan, in English (and/or other languages)
• in colour, black and white, on a transparent background
• commercial documents, PowerPoint, website.

3. Create a design specification

To allow the graphic designer to create a visual identity that suits you, you must indicate who you are and the image you want to project. With the help of a communication agency, you will come up with a design specification outlining your expectations as clearly as possible. What products or services do you propose? What makes you stand out? What are your tastes? The responses to these questions will help to steer the creative process so that you will receive propositions aligned with your company in a unique way.

4. Propose the first logo design ideas

The first attempts at a logo need to be sufficiently different so that you may attach yourselves to, at least, one of them. It is particularly interesting to see how ideas begin. The information that you provide about your wishes, expectations and values can serve as a starting point for the imagination of your graphic designer. Here, for example, are the first two ideas provided by our graphic designer for the Salome_Meca logo; a digital simulation software for mechanical engineers.

5. Manage the back-and-forths until the end

Most of the original propositions are not reworked. Of all the options, only one or two are developed, according to what was previously defined in your contract. In our case, the second proposition was chosen. Here are the follow-up propositions discussed with the client up until the final version was accepted.

6. Deliver the end product

Once you are satisfied with the result, the agency will deliver the files in the different pre-defined formats. And voilà! You can start using your new logo.

To find out more about Salome_Meca and the design specification associated with the logo, check out our article here.

It specifically illustrates the activity, products or services of your company and makes the connection with your consumers or clients. It reflects your identity, distinguishes itself from other company logos and, of course, it avoids confusion, particularly with the logos of competitors.

A good logo speaks on its own

Its significance is clear and jumps out at you. Your logo carries the message of your business. It embodies your values and immediately translates your world.

A good logo is simple

It is easy-to-read and approachable. It can be understood straight away, in the blink of an eye. It isn’t complex and does not aim to say everything about your company’s activity because, at the end of the day, it is only the first element of your visual identity.

A good logo is memorable

It is easy to remember, recognise and associate it with your company, even if there is no lettering associated with the logotype. Bear in mind however that, in humans, colour perception is immediate. It happens before shape recognition and reading of text.

A good logo is flexible

It is functional and can be used on your different communication materials: paperwork, website, accessories and signage. It is readable and understandable in all circumstances, even when it is displayed in a small format or in black and white.

A good logo is durable

It is timeless and resistant to changing eras. A good logo doesn’t follow a trend so doesn’t need to change every day. Whilst it is well thought out, it will only need revision, or refreshing, after a good few years of use.

Also, don’t forget…

… a good logo is attractive, inspired, stands out and makes an impact! It incites desire in your public, consumers, clients, funders or partners. And it is for this reason that you need to take care of it.

An example of a good logo

Amongst some of the most successful logos is that of EDF. Behind this logo, some people will see a mill, wind turbine, sun or flower, others may imagine a stick figure walking towards the right, towards the future. The shape fits that of a circle, symbolising evolution, movement and fullness. This logo expresses the activities, values and objectives of the company, such as developing eco-friendly energy.

Regarding the colours used, they are also meaningful. Orange evokes receptiveness, abundance, and blue represents tranquillity, satisfaction, freshness and big open spaces. By the way, have you noticed that only the first letter of EDF is written in lower case? It’s a reference to the electron, the basic building block of electricity.

Feeling a lack of inspiration? The graphic designers at Agent Majeur can provide you with some fresh eyes on your activity, help you to pull out the key ideas and transpose them into a logo with a creative flair… Contact us!