What’s your favorite slogo? Maybe I better start by asking if you know what a slogo is. It’s not a new app for your iPhone, at least not at the time that I���m writing this. It’s not a new dance, nor is it a new energy drink.

A slogo is the nickname the advertising experts use to describe a slogan that becomes part of a company’s logo. Successful slogans come to your mind as soon as you think of the company’s name or the name of a product.

But you know it isn’t easy to come up with a slogan that becomes a slogo. Even if you are lucky enough to come up with one, chances are it will not last very long. Suffice it to say slogo development is an art and science helped with a huge heap of luck. I know, we tried.

For our silver anniversary in 2009, Vic and I thought it would be a good idea if we came up with a slogan that could—hopefully—become our slogo. Shucks, if it’s good enough for Arby’s and Macy’s, why not Southwest Florida Yachts, our cruising school and our yacht sales enterprise. We’ll put it on ads and brochures, make it part of our social media outreach, add it to our letterhead, you know, the works.

With our new company slogan for our chartering, school and sales endeavor we’d be right up there with Rice Krispies’ “Snap, Crackle and Pop,“Nike’s “Just Do It” and others. But those slogans, especially the ones that become slogos, don’t come easy. First of all, we had to come up with a slogan that fit our three businesses and the sub-classes of each. We charter power cruisers and yachts, our school offers classes for both power and sail crew members and we help market and sell both cruisers and yachts. Bottom line is our slogan had to work for all.

We thought we were on to something that reflected our passion for this business, but “Don’t Sink Your Boating Dreams” didn’t fit even though it offered appeal to new boaters. The experts say a good slogan is like mental shorthand for what a company sells or what it does or what they want you to do or feel.

For over 30 years now, our company has helped folks learn to operate a yacht, charter a yacht, buy a yacht and sometimes put that yacht back into charter service to help offset the expense. And those yachts are both power and sail.

After much thought and deliberation over long lists well into the evening, we came up with our first company slogan – “Experience the Boating Life.”

It’s underscored with stylistic blue “waves” and is positioned just below the Southwest Florida Yachts logo. We like it just as much today as we did more than five years ago. It encourages individuals to investigate and to continue the boating way of life. After all, that is what we have been offering for more than three decades. It’s not a product or a service, it is indeed a lifestyle.

We continue to be thrilled helping people get into boating and seeing them adopt boating as a life-long adventure, with the proper skills and experience. It is especially rewarding to foster the boating way of life with generations of the same family.

In fact, we think it’s a slogo, thank you very much.

Barb Hansen manages Southwest Florida Yachts, yacht charters and Florida Sailing & Cruising School, 6095 Silver King Blvd., Cape Coral, FL 33914. Email i[email protected], phone: 800-262-7939 or visit: www.swfyachts.com or www.flsailingandcruiseschool.com.