The Crowdsourced Slogan
#23 The Crowdsourced Slogan
This series is about what I’m learning, observing and experiencing while building our startup Saent (pronounce “Saint”). The good, the bad and especially the ugly, each time in under 500 words.
Our “old” slogan, Be less distracted, on a Facebook cover image.
In our brief company history, we’ve had four semi-official taglines:
- Give your willpower a break.
- Do great work.
- Be less distracted.
- A Fitbit for work.
These reflect the evolution of our thinking in the positioning of our product. Originally we just envisioned a button and software application to block distractions (1).
As we worked on that idea, we realized there was a larger opportunity in the workplace around which we could build a company (2). However, we needed a more product-centered slogan to catch the essence of our first product for our crowdfunding campaign (3). Afterwards, for our investment pitch deck, it became necessary to capture the longer term potential in one sentence (4).
That’s where we are now.
Luckily our business cards don’t contain our tagline!
While “a Fitbit for work” might give investors an idea of what we’re trying to do, it’s not an appropriate tagline for our customers, not in the least place because it involves someone else’s trademark. The other slogans are also not bad, but they miss two elements:
- A connection to work-life balance.
- A dose of informality.
*Work-life balance* Along our journey this year, we realized Saent can play an important role in helping our users find work-life balance. Our product is not only about doing more, but can also challenge you to finish work on time, try a 24 hour Facebook detox or take sufficient breaks. None of that is reflected in the earlier slogans.
*Informality* Saent is a productivity rebel. We’re not another typical tool for the efficiency nerds, nor do we take ourselves too seriously all the time. We are a solution for professionals, but we also like to have some fun along the way.
With this in mind, we started our internal brainstorming on possible taglines. Some of my personal favorites:
- Work & life, balanced.
- Get a life.
- Have a great day.
- Saving unproductive souls since 2015.
- Productivity, reinvented.
- Productivity for procrastinators, social media junkies and other sinners.
This one seems to be going out with the a handwritten sinners variation.
But, we wondered, why should we keep this process to ourselves? In our latest Indiegogo update, Josh invited our 1,000 crowdfunding backers to share their feedback and ideas in this Google Doc.
Our original slogans (“Be less distracted” and “Do great work”) still got kudos from quite a few folks. Others came up with new ones such as The Busyness Buster, Be Focused. Achieve Everything., Enable Your Awesome and Hocus Focus. Many provided great adaptations to the ones we had come up with, such as Work.Life.Balanced. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, some of our edgier suggestions raised a few eyebrows (like Reinventing how shit gets done).
While this crowdsourcing approach doesn’t necessarily make our choice easier, it’s a thrill to see so many getting passionately involved with Saent. It also sits well with our journey towards becoming a Teal organization, But most importantly, it has inspired us to open up even more of our creative processes: software features, UI designs, partnerships and many other decisions involving Saent will be coming to a screen near you soon!
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