Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your questions! Here are the answers, but please let me know if you need more clarification.

- What's the thinking behind your business name? The business name came about because 1- Our truck has a 6 foot tall smoker in the back and most of the food will be smoked; 2- My husband and son both love monkeys so it was a given that we would include Monkey in the name!

- What does "island inspired food" mean? When we (and hopefully many others!) think of island or tropical food we think of flavors that are fresh and clean, prepared by using smoke and/or an open flame, and containing tropical flavors- mango, papaya, pineapple, coconut, coconut milk, etc.

-Which island(s)? Not one in particular, though we will be serving rice & peas which is a traditional Jamaican dish.

- Why would people in St. Louis care? Because it is delicious and different that what any other food truck in the area is offering.

Thanks again, and I look forward to your ideas!

Kimberly

Hi Copywriter! Thanks so much for taking time to help us out! Hopefully I can answer your questions well enough for you to be able to give us some great ideas.

"I agree with Jay." Please see above for my responses to Jay's questions.

"Also, what is unique about your business that none of your competitors can claim?" I think I answered this in my reply to Jay, but I would like to add that in addition to there not being any other trucks is the area that offer food with a tropical feel, there aren't any trucks in St. Louis offering barbecue! I'm sure you'll find this hard to believe; I know we did when we started our research!

"There's no sense in having a meaningless tagline. Create a well thought-out Unique Selling Proposition that answers the question 'Why should I... your prospect... do business with you over every any other other option available to me... including doing nothing?' " I completely agree with you, which is why I am here! I've seen many trucks, as well as other businesses, with taglines that basically say nothing; I would rather skip it completely than do that. I feel that we really need a tagline to let people know what we're offering (other than amazing barbecue). I want something that is clear, catchy and enticing. We've been unable to come up with one one our own, which is why I brought it here!

Thanks so much, and I can't wait to see what you come up with for our truck!
Kimberly

Hi Moriarty,

We actually thought about this, but decided that for now a wrap is the way to go. I like your thinking, though!

Kimberly

Here's some feedback ..

1) Why should your target customers care that you love monkeys? Why would they care about anything you love unless they would receive a benefit, a food related benefit? You are wasting the power of a relevant business name and making it problematically for creating a supporting relevant tagline.

2) Island and tropical "inspired" food can taste great. But so can Indian food, Vietnamese food and dozens of other world culture foods. There probably aren't any trucks featuring these many food options either. It's not necessarily a reason to start a business based on them.

3) You need more fully developed written planning. To support (by research) there is a demand/need for your food category. To support (by research) the name and tagline for your start up. You should have a positioning statement and a creative brief as a road map for yourselves and all your business partners, including creative professionals hired for branding strategy and execution.

Hope this helps.

Hi Steve,

I appreciate that you took time to reply, however I am not seeking business advice. I posted a request for tagline suggestions and if you feel that the name of our truck is too confining for you to be of any assistance then I respectfully request that you refrain from commenting.

We Do It Island Style
Get Your Fill Of The Islands
BBQ - And So Much More!

Hi Kimberly,

I stand by the advice I have provided. It's essentially the same advice/process I have posted for hundreds of questions of a similar nature to yours over the past 10 years. And I am aware that many people visit these open forum questions and they may also glean helpful insights from thoughtful reply posts.

Best wishes in your business ventures.

Hi Jay,

We're still waiting to hit on just the right one that elaborates and/or clarifies the type of food we're offering, but we do love We Do It Island Style! It's not exactly what we need for the tagline, but it might be fun to use it as an additional slogan on shirts, on the website, etc. I'll be sure to mark your submission if we figure out a way to use it. Thanks so much!!!

How about

Caribbean Taste, Caribbean Fruit
Deliciously different Caribbean flavors
A Caribbean bbq is deliciously different

Are these along any lines you were thinking of?

Hi Moriarty!

Thanks for giving us more ideas! Here are the taglines that best fit with our concept:

Fresh island fare
A tiki smokehouse on wheels
A tropical smokehouse
Swing by for a taste of the islands
Tropical cuisine and barbecue

We aren't 100% sold on any of these just yet, but I thought it might be helpful for you (and everyone else) to see what has caught our interest so far.

Thank you so much for all of your help!

I would love to know if anyone else has any suggestions for our tagline since we need to give this to the graphic designer by this Tuesday! I've heard from others that had gotten stuck that this the perfect site to come to for help. Does anyone have any new ideas?

Thanks so much!!
Kimberly

Apols, I missed your answer. There are times that an answer comes up whilst it's night on this side of the planet - and by the time I'm awake, it's disappeared off the board. Being me, I have now realized this is happening and (rather too late for some) come up with a strategy by way of a solution.

In other words, I'm not perfect ...

Firstly a few comments - is 'tiki' a well enough known term for the public (or would they simply recognize the word from the tempting smells emanating??) might 'smokehouse' be misinterpreted as something like a sauna?? Just me thinking out loud, okay?

Refreshing my mind with a look at your site - the best one to me is "Swing by for a taste of the islands" it ties in nicely with your monkey logo.

You could extend this to

"Swing by for a taste of the jungle"
"Swing by for a taste of the Caribbean"
"Swing by for a smoke" [I don't know how this looks to you ... it's dodgy, but the best taglines always are]

and a rework of an earlier one

"Swinging flavors from under a tropical sun "

Do these get you any further?

having spent half of the weekend behind a steam locomotive, it reminds me how powerful scent is. The tang of coal smoke drifting in the windows added something quite different to an otherwise ordinary journey.

"swinging scent of a jungle smokehouse"[ a bit long, but it's a start and I'm tired]
"swing by for a sniff of the jungle"
"Swing by and sniff the smoke"

How could you have taste and scent together? Aroma?

The aroma will have you swinging by

Sorry, too tired! Hope this helps.

Thanks so much, Moriarty! Some excellent points to take into consideration!

Sorry there was nothing definitive.

How are you getting on with the taglines?

Thanks for the suggestions. A couple of you have given us a few things to think about.

Kimberly