We issued a press release on April 10 2000 to announce the launch of The Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame. It got some interesting results...

'Beanz Meanz Heinz' is the most popular line in the new Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame, unveiled this week. It received a unanimous vote from the 12-man selection panel of advertising experts.

The panel, which includes top creatives David Abbott, Tony Brignull, Robert Campbell, Alfredo Marcantonio, Tom Rayfield, Dave Trott and John Webster, assessed an assembly of 84 slogans nominated by members of the advertising industry, of which 56 were selected for the Hall of Fame in this first round.

The winners, along with some of the original advertisements and a few fascinating anecdotes, may be viewed on the Web at <www.adslogans.com/hof/index.html>.

Designed to recognise excellence, best practice and creativity in advertising, The Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame is the brainchild of Timothy R V Foster, creator of AdSlogans.com, a unique slogan database used by advertising agencies to check on prior use of new endline (slogan) ideas.

The Heinz line was created in a pub in 1967 by Young & Rubicam's then deputy creative director, Mo Drake. The jingle went "A million housewives every day, pick up a can of beans and say, Beanz Meanz Heinz." The slogan was only dropped after thirty years when Heinz wanted to ensure its brand was synonymous with more than just baked beans.

The rest of the Top Ten winning slogans were:

Each brand voted into The Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame receives a certificate, as does the advertising agency involved, where possible.

Timothy R V Foster, who carries the title Chief SloganMaven, established the new recognition vehicle by following the advice in one of the 22 books he has written. In his '101 Ways to Get Great Publicity' (Kogan Page), Way 83 is 'Give an award'. Foster said: "It's time the great advertising lines received the recognition they deserve. It's a long way from a winner such as 'The appliance of science' (Zanussi) to the typical corporate blandishment such as 'Yesterday's answers... tomorrow,' a line just waiting to be snapped up by a discerning dotcom."

AdSlogans.com's search services are used by all the top ten advertising agencies in London, plus, thanks to the Internet, many more from as far afield as California, Canada, Korea and Germany. The three most overworked lines in the database are 'The natural choice' (apishly applied by 60 advertisers), 'It's about time', (45 users) and 'Simply the best', (30).

Notes to editors

The Advertising Hall of Fame selection panel comprises 12 experienced and respected advertising practitioners:

Press enquiries to: Timothy R. V. Foster

Tel: +44 (0)208 763 2225
Fax: +44 (0)208 763 2011
E-Mail:
Or visit www.adslogans.com for more information.

Press release issued by Judith Gillespie
Tel: +44 (0)1737 644903
E-Mail: judithg@cix.co.uk

SOME RESULTS

The Independent 13 April 2000 Page 5

The Sun 14 April 2000 Page 6

Pittsburgh Post Gazette 16 April 2000

Editorial: Asides BRITISH advertising executives have voted "Beanz Meanz Heinz" as the most successful sales slogan of all time. The Heinz Baked Beans slogan, devised in 1967 by the Young & Rubicam agency, was unanimously chosen from 84 nominations to head a new Advertising Hall of Fame, comprising 56 of the most memorable and popular slogans. Despite its success, the slogan was dropped after 30 years because H.J. Heinz Co. wanted its brand to be identified with more than beans. The slogan was followed in the top 10 by "We try harder" for Avis car rental. We regret that our personal favorite, "One of America's Great Newspapers," didn't make the cut.

beograd.com 20 April 2000

Rukovodioci britanskih firmi koje se bave reklamama izabrali su "Beanz Meanz Heinz" ("Pasulj znaci Heinz") za najuspesniju reklamu svih vremena. Reklama za konzerve pasulja firme Heinz, koju je 1967. godina napravila "Young&Rubicam agency" dobila je sve glasove zirija! Uprkos velikom uspehu, reklama je u stvarnom zivotu trajala samo tri godine a firma Heinz je od nje odustala jos pre 30 godina posto nije zelela da je ljudi povezuju samo sa pasuljem. Sve najuspesnije, ali i ostale reklame, mozete da vidite na adresi: http://www.adslogans.com.

Adland Rant Page

The Best Ad slogan of all time?? Saturday, April 15, 2000 'Beanz Meanz Heinz' You gotta be kidding! I always thought it was `` Heinz Meanz Beanz'' Actually, no I didn't. :) But who voted this? When was this competition? Best slogan of all times? And they are all British? (actually, that might be a good thing, so "plop plop fizz fizz" didn't win)!!!

Adland Rant Page

The Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame Tuesday, April 25, 2000 In a press release sent out from adslogans.com it said "...the most popular line in the new Advertising Slogan Hall of Fame,..." and the press managed to make this into: "...the most popular advertising slogan in history." Independent (13/4/00) "...the most popular advertising slogan ever." Sun (14/4/00) "...the most successful sales slogan of all time." Reuters (14/4/00) "...the most popular advertising slogan ever,..." Mail on Sunday The most popular slogan ever? How could that even possibly be achieved? The whole advertising world would have to vote, and on all the slogans ever written! Check Yahoo news for original article, which neatly avoids false reporting by putting a question mark behind the headline "The Best Ad Slogan of All Time?". Also you can search The Independent's database. I know, one must make the headlines interesting so that the punter reads it, but this is silly.....Especially the SUN's over-the-top headline. But what else could you expect from the Sun? It isn't "all the news fit to print".