Reformation’s no notes tagline

Sustainability copy is really hard to get right.

It's even harder to do without it getting a bit stale or preachy or duuuuull.

But you wouldn't know that by looking at Reformation's copy. It's so good.

I mean, first of all, this line is just so good. It's funny. It's cheeky. It's on-brand. It's confident and humble at the same time.

It's really good.

And there's a lot of clever stuff we could dig into.

For example, it riffs on the Pratfall Effect, where admitting imperfection makes you more likeable. Think Jennifer Lawrence falling up the stairs at the Oscars. Think KFC's FCK ad.

It's also a really clever positioning statement in an industry full of eco claims.

But the two things we love about it most are:

It's sticky as hell. Provocative language and imagery has always worked (alas) but this isn't "here's a sexy person selling you something." Instead, here it's doing some proper "we're the brand for you" signals. It's evoking somebody liberated, confident, unpretentious, comfortable in their own skin and saying "hey, you'll like our brand", all while borrowing that provocative language that our brains can't help but be drawn to. Smart.

It's a really subtle way of priming the customer to buy. Basically, Reformation are saying: "we know you know that buying less is the most sustainable option. We agree. But when you do need to buy something, we're the most sustainable way to buy."

We talk about this a lot in this swipe file, but Byron Sharp's research on mental availability is all about being the brand that comes to mind at the moment someone decides to buy.

And running awareness campaigns and OOH stuff and constant ads is one way to do that. But the other is to be the obvious, congruent choice that's mentally "tied" to the specific moment your customer is ready to buy.

So by saying "Don't buy, but when you do, we're the best choice", Reformation have planted a really clever seed in their customers' heads.

So ask yourself: what's the trigger or moment your customer decides to buy? How can you write copy ties your brand into that? How can you make sure when they think "I need coffee" or whatever, your brand comes to mind?

(And if you can do a twist on some provocative language to do that, even better.)