What the slogans of the 2022 Top 100 tell us about the market

Gettyimages.com/ Andriy Onufriyenko

Slogans are short and succinct but they communicate volumes about changes in the market and the companies serving it.

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

Over the centuries, this old adage has been attributed to numerous scholars, statesmen, philosophers, authors and community leaders. Who said it first doesn’t matter. But it does capture the challenge and beauty of succinct communications. For companies, the most succinct message is a slogan or tagline. And, just like writing a shorter letter, it takes time to get those few words just right.

For more than 15 years, Boscobel has tracked and analyzed the slogans and taglines of the Washington Technology Top 100 government contractors. To discover what’s working, we explore trends and changes in how the top-tier contractors are presenting themselves to the federal market.

Here are six slogan best practices we learned from the 2022 Top 100.

ONE: Use a slogan

Most Top 100 government contractors use a slogan or tagline. In fact, 90 of the Top 100 are using a slogan or tagline this year, up from only 81 in 2021. For the third year in a row, nine of the top 10 companies have one.

We compared the 85 companies returning to the Top 100 this year with the 15 new ones. Incumbents are more likely to have a slogan (92%) than those who are new to the list (80%).

TWO: Keep it short

Slogans and taglines aren’t meant to be descriptions. The best ones quickly create an impression about a company’s brand – who they are, what they do or what they stand for – in just a few words.

Though this year’s slogans range in length from two words to 12, the overwhelming majority (83%) are five words or shorter.

The most common slogan length is four words, followed closely by three, then five. Together, slogans that are three, four or five words long make up 66% of all slogans this year.

If you’re thinking that two words aren’t enough to inspire, here are a few examples of two-word slogans that do just that:

Defining Possible | Northrop Grumman

Accelerating Possible | Axient

Fast. Forward. | L3Harris Technologies

THREE: Make your point

It’s surprising to realize how much can be communicated by a company in one short word or phrase.

Optimism. Determination. Strength. These are just some of the inspirational sentiments expressed by the Top 100 GovCons in slogans:

Made for this moment | Raytheon Technologies

Do The Can't Be Done | Peraton

The Power of a Nation | Cherokee Nation Businesses

Other slogans explicitly reference the services a company offers:

5G Built Right | Verizon

Healthcare is too important to stay the same | Oracle Cerner

Connectivity Anywhere. That's the power of satellite. | Viasat

A few emphasize collaboration with clients:

Shared Vision. Outcome Assured. | SMX

One Measure of Success. Yours. | Credence Management Solutions

Your Mission is Ours. | Lockheed Martin

Still, others share a promise or expectation about outcomes:

Complexity Minimized. Performance Optimized. | Thundercat Technology

Delivering the promise of science for global good | RTI International

Insights you can act on | CGI

FOUR: Tell the world

Word choice is important when it comes to slogans. What three or four words are meaningful, impactful and easy to say? When we looked at all the words from all the Top 100 slogans, a few stood out for frequency of use:

World or global was used in 16 slogans.

Technology/technologies/IT was used in 13 slogans.

Deliver in eight slogans.

Better was used seven times in six slogans. (It was used twice in one.)

Innovate/innovative/innovator was used six times.

Solutions/solving also showed up in six slogans.

So, to summarize the message from this year’s Top 100, these government contractors “deliver innovative technology solutions that make the world better.”

FIVE: Stay the course

It takes time to come up with a slogan or tagline that fits. The good news is that a slogan is meant to last for years – until the company outgrows it.

Adhering to this best practice, most (78%) of the returning Top 100 companies with slogans have no change since last year. Only nine companies (12%) revised their slogan. Eight (10%) added a tagline or slogan since last year.

Of the 10 companies with no slogans, seven are returning to the Top 100 from last year. None of those returning companies had a slogan last year – so all have stayed their course for slogan usage.

SIX: Know when to change

Just as Nick Wakeman emphasized in his analysis of the Top 100, the successful companies are the ones who embrace change. A change in company strategy, executive leadership, mergers or acquisitions, and/or services pivots or expansions are all good reasons to change a slogan.

Both SMX (formerly, Smartronix) and Empower AI (formerly, NCI Inc.) made revisions as part of a larger company rebrand. SMX rebranded to better represent a broader services portfolio following multiple acquisitions. Empower AI’s rebrand reflected the successful adoption of an AI platform the company delivers to the federal market.

We don’t know what prompted the other revisions, but one change did catch our attention.

Back in 2020, we found six companies whose slogans had not changed in the previous five years. Last year, only three of those slogans with “staying power” remained. (Two were revised and the third company dropped out of the Top 100 in 2021).

Now, one of the remaining three has changed its slogan: Tetra Tech. Like SMX, the change may be prompted by a series of acquisitions that have pushed the company beyond its legacy slogan. If so, well done.

Still, we have to give a tip of the hat to the two slogans or taglines that are still standing the test of time:

  • Bold thinking to improve people’s lives |Abt Associates
  • Ever Vigilant | CACI International

Created in 2003, CACI’s “Ever Vigilant” tagline is a model for the industry. A succinct message that the company got right – 19 years ago!


For inspiration, education or simply to satisfy a sense of curiosity, you’re invited to download Boscobel’s 2022 Top 100 Government Contract Slogans.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.