Last week, I was experimenting with the creative capabilities of the artificial intelligence tool OpenAI and seeing how well it could create poetry. I found that while some of it was pretty terrible, I had to admire the creativity in other parts, and that there was one part in particular that really made me laugh in the same way a good comic poet might.
Perhaps of more use to businesses though is a tagline. If you’ve ever sat there straining as you try to come up with a catchy slogan to go on the home page of your website, or under your company name on your promotional materials, it might have crossed your mind that it would be great if some sort of machine could do it for you.
If you go into the Playground section of OpenAI (you’ll first need to set up an account), you’ll notice that the default prompt is “Write a tagline for an ice cream shop”, so let’s start by seeing how it gets on with that. It came up with:
“Cool off with our creamy treats!”
Hmmm, I’m not sure! It seems to understand what ice cream is, at least, but we all know that ice cream is cool and creamy so it’s not really a tagline that puts an idea in our heads that isn’t already there when we think of ice cream. And something about “creamy treats” just doesn’t sound right to me!
Let’s try something different, like a company that sells socks online. OpenAI gave me:
“Step into Comfort with Our Socks!”
Cleverly, it’s grasped a double meaning with the word “step”, which can be both literal and metaphorical in the sense of comfortable socks, but adding “with Our Socks” just kills the creativity, and I’m not sure why it used title casing this time and not the time before. Simply “Step into Comfort” would’ve been better. I also thought it might make something of the online aspect, but it’s ignored that and produced something that would apply to either an online or physical store.
Finally, how about something more practical, like a carpet cleaning company? I got:
“We Clean Carpets, So You Don’t Have To!”
It won’t win any awards for originality, but it’s pragmatic and acknowledges that carpet cleaning is a chore must people could do without. I’d say that’s a passable effort and better than the last two.
However, all of these are a little dry and awkward, and lack the humour and punchiness you’d expect from a human copywriter. At Engage Web, we can help you come up with the language and tone you’re looking for on your website. Speak to us today, whether you’re just getting started on the web or need new content to bring more business to your existing site.
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