Help brand your American Legion

Help brand your American Legion

Part of every company’s identity is its tagline. What company do you think of when you read: "Semper Fidelis"; "Where’s The Beef?"; "Don’t Leave Home Without It"; "No One Does More For Veterans"; "We’ve Got Your Back"; or "The UnCola"? Click here to read the "100 Most Influential Taglines Since 1948."

During the next few years, and thereafter, as part of The American Legion’s strategy for continuous growth we will have to concentrate much more on marketing our name and what we do than we’ve ever had to in the past. Thousands of "veterans service organizations" have popped up all across the country. All are competing for the membership of veterans and the donations to help support their good works. Some do great things in a niche market. Some raise millions of dollars to support their programs. Some may actually do very little.

None do as much for active-duty military, veterans, military retirees and their families as does The American Legion. And, yet, we have no consistent tagline that readily tells people who we are, what we do or who we do it for. Each national commander has a slogan, and they are well-thought out and well-themed, but they don’t lend a permanent identity to the Legion.

Through the years we have had many slogans, including "Marching Together Again"; "Veterans Serving Veterans"; "Every Day is Veterans Day"; "Still Serving America"; and "For God and Country," which will never go away but doesn’t serve as an effective tagline.

The Membership and Post Activities Committee will meet in January to draft a strategic plan for growing membership year after year, and for inculcating into our corporate culture the idea that "growth is a prerequisite to everything we do."

Another of the committee’s tasks is to suggest a corporate tagline, which – upon NEC approval – will be used for the foreseeable future in all of our advertisements, letterheads, publications, press releases, and so forth as a description of who we are and what we do.

The goal is to adopt a tagline which is so significant that all of the public will recognize it, associate it with The American Legion, and know what is our "reason for being." Even though it must be short and pithy, it must be filled with content and phrased in a memorable and catchy way.

You can help us craft an American Legion tagline by submitting your ideas by email. Submissions may be submitted by individuals (membership is not required), posts, districts, counties or departments; there is no limit to the number that may submitted, but each submission must be contained in a single email. We encourage departments and posts to give this information the widest dissemination, as we will do in your national publications. All submissions must be received no later than April 19, 2013, in order to be considered.

The Internal Affairs Commission will be the final reviewer of submissions and will draft a resolution recommending a permanent tagline. The decision of the National Executive Committee is final.

If your tagline is the one recommended to the NEC, and adopted exactly as submitted, you will receive a $500 check, and a certificate of appreciation plaque signed by the national commander in recognition of your winning entry. The winning entry will be posted on the Legion website after the NEC meets in mid-May 2013. In the event of duplicate winning entries, the earliest received will be declared the winner.

Remember: April 19, 2013, is the deadline, and the email address is tagline@legion.org. Please include your name and phone number on each entry. Only one entry per email submission. All entries will be acknowledged by a return email. Save that return receipt as proof of your submission.