Basic Tiebreaker tips

One of the main ‘Rules’ of comping is... The harder a competition is to enter, the easier it is to win!

Put another way, there's a very good reason why winning a slogan competition can actually be easier compared to most other types of competition... it takes more effort to enter! And it’s this simple fact that means most people don't bother entering, or never quite get around to it. So your chances of a win will ALWAYS be better when a tiebreaker sentence is needed.

BUT, as tends to be the case with comping generally, when we say “effort” then this can often mean just a few minutes – or even seconds – work. And how does 5 or 10 minutes work to win a car, cash or a holiday sound? Once you have the ‘knack’ of constructing a winning slogan, there’s no telling what you could win.

Tiebreakers

There are a number of different types of skill-based / tiebreaker competitions. These include order-of-merit (arrangement of a number of supplied characteristics in the order chosen by the judge(s) as most appropriate), and estimates (how many chocolate bars will fit in a car, etc.). However, the most frequent skill task is to ask competition entrants to complete a sentence in a prescribed number of words or less. These are then judged, and the best entries are chosen as the winners. Such competitions are also referred to as 'Slogan Competitions', and are generally the favourite of the dedicated comper.

Writing Slogans

The best way of learning what is required is to look at past winning entries. You'll find some examples on this site, and a MUCH bigger selection (tens of thousands of slogans, spanning decades of prizes) can be accessed in our unique interactive WINDEX. Although, in the interests of aptness, originality and fairness we do not recommend or condone wholesale copying of past winners, they are a tremendous source of inspiration and example. By studying these you will soon learn what the judges are looking for and hopefully play them at their own game. Generally a good slogan has RHYME, RHYTHM and a PUN, so get out those old school English books. You must also ANSWER the opening line and FLATTER the promoter/product. In a nutshell..."Rhyming pays, but don't forget to praise!"