Poll on Tag Line

[SoCalCAPOfficer]

For some reason, I cannot get the New Poll button to show up on my computer.
Would someone  be kind enough to make the following poll for me.

Which Tag Line Do You Like Best For CAP

1.  More than Meets the Skies

2.  Performing Missions for America

3.  Citizens Accepting the Challenge to Safeguard America

4.  Eyes of the Homeland Skies

5.  Civil Air Patrol:  Americas Hometown Air Force

[MIKE]

Users who have 50+ posts have demonstrated, generally, that they know their way around the site quite well and have a good feel for the discussion community here. 
... 
If you happen to have less than 50 posts, but really really want to create a poll, message one of the administrators.   

I went ahead and added the poll.

[Major Carrales]

As has been said, maket research pointed out that more people do more than fly in CAP, that is what guides this tagline...thus, "more than meets the skies" shows we are a "flying" organization than does more.

My "gut driven" tagline would have been...

"Civil Air Patrol: Ever Vigliant Communities Serving America!"

or

"Civil Air Patrol: Serving America, on the Ground and in the Air!"

Why I would not vote or the others...

Performing Missions for America-  Too vague, lacks a focus.  Any organization can claim to do that.  

Citizens Accepting the Challenge to Safeguard America- Makes us sound like a Homeland Security department.  This one is too focused and some would even say, not I, that it feeds off of "fear."  

Eyes of the Homeland Skies Based on the unpopularity of "Operation Drop in" in the late 1990s, the idea of a "Orwellian" Civil Air Patrol that was"watching you" in a Big Brother format might send the wrong message.  True, I like it and it rings of "1940s civil defense," it would fall into the same sort of trap as the Patriot Act.

Civil Air Patrol:  Americas Hometown Air Force' Excellent, too bad someone else snagged it.

Remember, this is just a tagline.  The most effective actions will be the ones written by PAOs in thier communities.  All CAP is LOCAL!

[RiverAux]

The "citizens accepting..." tagline sounds like an English translation of a chineses motto

[ZigZag911]

Is "None of the Above" an option?

[JohnKachenmeister]

Civil Air Patrol:  Homeland Defense since 1941.

[LtCol White]

How about "Civil Air Patrol: America's Secret Air Force"

[RiverAux]

you know, after I voted for hometown air force it occurred to me that the AF might have a problem with CAP using that tagline since it does sort of blurr the CAP/USAF line a bit. 

[jb512]

Civil Air Patrol:  Homeland Defense since 1941.

I'd pick this one too...

[mikeylikey]

How about, Civil Air Patrol:  What is it again?
OR Civil Air Patrol:  They do what?
OR Civil Air Patrol:  Funded by Congress with my Tax dollars?
OR Civil Air Patrol:  Civil What?

[JohnKachenmeister]

Dang!

Some of you guys need some help getting over your inferiority complex!

[SoCalCAPOfficer]

Thanks for putting the poll in for me.   After reading these, I believe I like
Civil Air Patrol-Homeland Defense since 1941

[A.Member]

Not saying it's great but we could also just call ourselves what we are:

Civil Air Patrol:  America's Best Kept Secret

Kind of a teaser.  Get's people asking the question:  Secret?  Really?  What is the Civil Air Patrol?  Maybe prompts them to check into it further. 

[RiverAux]

But we don't want to be the best kept secret!  Our official goal is to have everybody know about us

[A.Member]

Well, when we reach that point we'll change the tagline again. 

[JohnKachenmeister]

Well, when we reach that point we'll change the tagline again. 

We'll change it to:

"OK, so you found us... now what?"

[LtCol White]

"Civil Air Patrol: We're looking for you!" or "Civil Air Patrol: We'll find you before they do"

[Skyray]

How about

Support Search and Rescue; Get Lost!

With apologies to the folks that build the L-Per.

[Ricochet13]

Civil Air Patrol:  America's Hometown Air Force identifies the organization and relates it the country.  The other slogan's don't quite seem to do that. On the other hand . . . .

Civil Air Patrol:  Homeland Defense Since 1941 also meets the same criteria, but perhaps too focused on a single, although important aspect, homeland security.

[Major Carrales]

Not saying it's great but we could also just call ourselves what we are:

Civil Air Patrol:  America's Best Kept Secret

Kind of a teaser.  Get's people asking the question:  Secret?  Really?  What is the Civil Air Patrol?  Maybe prompts them to check into it further. 

That is the worst...it is generally agreed that is BAD. 

[LtCol White]

How about "Civil Air Patrol....We're Watching You."

[Pylon]

All of the options except "America's Hometown Air Force" reflect emphasis on only one mission of our three. 

In reality, this is not something CAP should be coming up with in a meeting or a discussion topic.  It's something that needs serious development by professionals who do this type of ad work for national clients.

[alamrcn]

Anyone laughing at the "Gag" tagline suggestions? Me neither, because it's not really productive to the conversation here.

WHY IS THIS A BIG DEAL?  I mean really, who is going to notice it AT ALL besides us active members?  If any non-members out there even take notice of the words "Civil Air Patrol" much less tagline, we'd be lucky for that attention.

As long as we aren't slapping taglines on the side of our vans <again> and putting them on our uniforms... whatever we chose won't be a part of the American Lexicon no matter how highspeed, lowdrag a tag line is.

You'll always remember "Eyes of the Home Skies" tagline because of 1) the retro poster, and 2) because of 9/11 and Homeland Security.

You might remember "More Than Meets the Skies" about every 3rd time you fold down the DF'er antennas and make that "CHHH CHhh Chhh chhhh chooo" sound effect. At least for the next year or so.

THIS IS NOT A BIG DEAL, and we're talking all about it to make drama where there needs to be none... get over it, and ROLL ON!

-Ace

[RiverAux]

"professionals" convinced CAP it was worthwhile to spend 5 MILLION DOLLARS to advertise on a race car...I can do without them.

[SoCalCAPOfficer]

"professionals" convinced CAP it was worthwhile to spend 5 MILLION DOLLARS to advertise on a race car...I can do without them.

Amen Brother!!

[JohnKachenmeister]

Just after the turn of the century "Professionals" decided that placing a gun on an airplane was a stupid idea.

In the 1920's "Professionals" decided that rockets and missiles had no military potential, and stopped supporting Goddard's experiments.

Seriously, the slogan isn't that bad.  As I posted earlier, I'd give it a C+ or a B. 

But lets not trust those "Professionals" entirely.  Remember, it is "Professionals" who came up with the annoying "Head-on" commercials.

[mikeylikey]

"Apply directly to the forhead".  I wouldn't have a headache if I didn't have to listen to that commercial!

[A.Member]

That is the worst...it is generally agreed that is BAD. 

Only to be outdone by "More than meets the skies".  The thing is that mine was half in jest.  The other, unfortunately, is not.

[LtCol White]

They need to look at something that really has meaning to the dedication of the organization. Look at some of the armed forces marketing slogans:

The Few, The Proud, The Marines
Aim High
Cross Into the Blue
Be All You Can Be

These speak to the caliber of the individual rather than talking about any one particular mission of their service. None of these talk of levelling cities or winning bloody battles.

It needs to be professional and not sound campy or corny. Something that is as identifiable with CAP as the slogans above are to their respective services.

[RiverAux]

Very good point.

[SAR-EMT1]

As I said today in another thread;  why is it so important that we have a tag line?

I see zero value in one.

Why not use the title we have to full advantage:
Civil Air Patrol; United States Air Force Auxiliary

Maybe if we used it, folks wouldnt call us the Civilian Air Patrol
Or the Air Patrol Auxiliary or the myriad of other oddities created by the media -- No offense to those newscasters here.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Go ahead and offend them.  When I commanded a cadet squadron in Ohio, I had to cancel a meeting because of bad weather.  The radio announcer said:

"...And another weather-related cancellation, the 289th Unit of the Civil War Patrol will not meet today."

The next week, thanks to the internet, all of the cadets showed up having purchased "Civil War Playsets" and at the morning formation were wearing a mixture of blue and gray kepis and carrying plastic muskets.

I tried to act angry.  Didn't work.

[sandman]

They need to look at something that really has meaning to the dedication of the organization. Look at some of the armed forces marketing slogans:

The Few, The Proud, The Marines
Aim High
Cross Into the Blue
Be All You Can Be

These speak to the caliber of the individual rather than talking about any one particular mission of their service. None of these talk of levelling cities or winning bloody battles.

It needs to be professional and not sound campy or corny. Something that is as identifiable with CAP as the slogans above are to their respective services.

On the other side of the coin one needs to remember that these slogans were tied to a much larger and well budgeted campaign. Secondly, there already existed a tremendous corporate knowledge of the military service within the minds of the American people so all the tag line had to do was slightly "nudge" the individual mind into thinking, even if ever so briefly, about the service the slogan represented.

Where we come up short is that there is not a lot of corporate knowledge in the U.S. of the Civil Air Patrol in the average Americans mind....this would take a great deal of money to sponser commercials on the internet, television, radio and other media outlets that are available. I sure would like to have the 5 million that was wasted on sponsoring a race car to be some seed money for such an advertising campaign.

Do you remember "Think Mink"? It worked back in the day because Mink (fur) was the rage. What is the "rage" in this day and age...and what are the demographics of the target audience? What age group should be the primary "target"? Should it be young adults just starting on a career and family? What about middle aged folks who are secure in their career (or nearing a midlife crisis ) and have most of the kids out of the house in college and have a big mortgage, a few cars, credit debt (might be tight on budget)? Well, then there are the retirees right?

Which of these groups have the extra time and desire to volunteer? What is their sense of patriotism?

The race car idea, while ill fated in my opinion, did try to reach out to those who might have a greater sense of "patriotism" than many who might live in the city or upscale suburbs. However, in my opinion, we could have had better advertising by placing the ads on the soda cups (or whatever beverage) than a car driving fast enough around a track so as to not be able to see the logo very well (so what if they line up pre and/or post race), I feel those same patrons of the race were more interested in the car itself and the driver's stats and missed the ads.

"More Than Meets The Skies"....cheesey, but it's a start, and that cheeseyness tends to stick....sort of like eating Cheetos....turns your fingers orange and tends to stick to places you would rather have not turn orange

[mikeylikey]

^  So "think cheap cell phone".  Join CAP get a free phone and an awesome plan at the CAP cell phone store! 

[wingnut]

HOWs about "US AIR FORCE WANABEES

So lets just go back to the CIVIL AIR PATROL, United States Air force Auxiliary.

[Stonewall]

HOWs about "US AIR FORCE WANABEES

So lets just go back to the CIVIL AIR PATROL, United States Air force Auxiliary.

Don't know you, but I like you.

These back pain pills are making me crazy.  That's the second time I've said that tonight.

[docspur]

docspur sneaks in, catches up on all the rattle & hum, looks for the moderators and blurts out: New Slogan: "US Air Force & Civil Air Patrol - WONDER TWIN POWERS ACTIVATE!"
then dives for the door.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Then... The Raven-Haired beauty looks up into the steely eyes of her pilot-lover, and says...

"I like you, but some of your friends are strange.  Who was that guy that just came in, shouted something about twins, and ran out?"

[Al Sayre]

I've got one that I put on the "donations" cans at airshows...

"Who's out looking for you?"

[Jayson777]

Civil Air Patrol:  Homeland Defense since 1941.

I'd pick this one too...

Me too.

[Lancer]

I've been trying to think of something myself since this whole discussion started and can't think of anything crafty yet...

..except if we sold Ketchup... we could use "More Than Meets the Fries"

But that's just my hunger talking... 

[Psicorp]

^ Ha!

Sell it to McDonalds and put the money in your "Interim Change Letter Fund"   

[Pylon]

Sell it to McDonalds and put the money in your "Interim Change Letter Fund"   

That's a press that never stops turning.   

[JAFO78]

My favorite " Support CAP.....Get Lost"

[Stonewall]

Don't forget:  C.A.P. stands for Come And Pay...

[MIKE]

Cash And Plastic

[LtCol White]

Civil Air Patrol: The Spirit of America

[JohnKachenmeister]

"More than meets the skies?"

How about "More uniforms than guys?"

[Skyray]

Probably not Politically correct enough for a National Tag Line, but in line with what I have seen over the last twenty years; how about:

Getting the kids out of the ghetto and the ghetto out of the kids.

[LtCol White]

CAP: Calling All Pilots