by Peter Knight - Wednesday, 5th September 2007 -

Tesco’s continuous innovation is well documented, but perhaps its defining moment came in 1992 when they launched the “Every Little Helps” (ELH) campaign.

For me this is the best strap line of any business in the UK for several reasons:

Longevity
Many companies make the mistake of changing their strap line annually, or even more frequently, and yet the purpose of a strap line is to underpin all other communications.

Therefore, it should have the potential to run for the life of a business. Tesco has stuck with ELH for 14 years and it’s as fresh and compelling an idea today as it was initially.

Limitless
A great strap line works across all business activities including those not yet conceived.

This I know is very difficult.

“How on earth do we know it will work on business sectors we’ve yet to imagine?”

I can hear you ask. But with ELH, Tesco has managed to create something that is totally customer-centric, and perhaps this is the answer.

Rallying call
The best strap lines motivate internally as much, if not more, than motivating customers.

It is quite apparent that the culture of Tesco is based on ELH as it emphasises that everything the company does, from new products to customer service, can be improved and delivered more effectively.

This strap line requires everyone in the company to seek out new ways of delighting the customer – profitably.

Big and small
ELH applies equally to big initiatives such as the pioneering loyalty card and to little details such as opening extra checkout aisles in busy periods, or parent-and-child reserved parking.

This I particularly like, as Tesco uses ELH to describe its big ideas under a label of “little”.

That causes people to think, perhaps subconsciously, “Wow, and that’s a little idea. I wonder what the big ones must be?”

Neither modest nor boasting
For me, the worst strap lines are the self-proclaiming “we’re the best” kind, which just smack of arrogance.

Some might argue that Hertz have used “No.1” very successfully for many years. However, I much prefer Avis’s “We try harder” as, in my experience, they do!

Avis has a clear understanding of the need to involve both its customers and its own teams find new ways of “working harder”.

That’s demonstrated by its excellent Inspired campaign – visit www.avisinspired.com to see what I mean.

Criticism-free
A good test for a strap line is to imagine a disgruntled customer quoting it within their letter of complaint.

All too often companies leave themselves wide open by making totally unrealistic claims, particularly with their strap lines, which come back to haunt them when they fail to live up to their promises.

Both ELH and “We try harder” pass this test as they suggest a statement of intent rather than a claim of achievement.

Common language
You know your strap line is a good one when it gets used in different contexts: for example Nike’s “Just do it” is now a commonly used term throughout business, sport and life generally.

But when you think about it, “just do it” was a much-used phrase before

Nike adopted it and the same can also be said of “every little helps” and “we try harder”.

If I was helping a client to come up with an effective strap line I’d start by looking at everyday expressions and see if there’s one we could turn into their own.