Power in the message

Advertising surrounds us. Is it hitting home with you? Find out by matching the slogan to its network vendor.

"Reach out and touch someone."

For most people, these five simple words are synonymous with AT&T. And they don't bring to mind an enormous, impersonal phone company. They inspire a positive image of AT&T helping people to share happy times and good fortune with each other at the touch of a button. "Reach out and touch someone" will go down in history as an example of the best in corporate branding.

So, too, will Microsoft's "Where do you want to go today?" This widely recognized ad slogan delivers a powerful message about the ease of computing and casts Microsoft in a positive light because of it.

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"Reach out and touch someone."

For most people, these five simple words are synonymous with AT&T. And they don't bring to mind an enormous, impersonal phone company. They inspire a positive image of AT&T helping people to share happy times and good fortune with each other at the touch of a button. "Reach out and touch someone" will go down in history as an example of the best in corporate branding.

So, too, will Microsoft's "Where do you want to go today?" This widely recognized ad slogan delivers a powerful message about the ease of computing and casts Microsoft in a positive light because of it.

In fact, these two technology taglines recently were inducted into the Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame for 2003, kept by AdSlogans.com, a global slogan database. They were the only two tech slogans among 29 to become 2003 Hall of Famers.

Will Sun's renowned "The network is the computer" slogan one day be recognized as one of the most powerful messages of its time, or maybe its current "We make the net work"? More importantly, are other tech taglines out there hitting home with you, their intended targets - even subliminally? Match up these 40 ad slogans to their vendors for a look at how powerful their messages might be.

Read more about lans & wans in Network World's LANs & WANs section.