Now, we’re talkin’! Great job using the WOTC to get things freshened up, and I wish you the best with future biz!

Ya left of the sharecropper bit in the About, tho…

-DaveA

1. Both tag lines are simple — and they should be. William Arruda (the guru of personal branding) says that great personal (and product) brands are about ONE thing, not many things. Sifting through so much to funnel down to the best core concept is tough, but needed.

2. Simplicity based on clarity and value has power and resonates with your target audience.

3. There was a discussion a while back about whether the JJ brand should reflect you or JJ or both.

I think that the brand tag lines that won do both. Kirsten’s “Career Management 2.0″ is very Jason — early adopter, innovative, social, techie, connected etc. It will appeal to a certain psychographic of client who is drawn to that suite of attributes.

Steve’s–Managing the Information to Manage your Career– is a winner as well, because its power lies in the clarity of what JJ does — and it meets a need, head on. The unspoken subtext is that managing all this info is a pain, doesn’t get done, and careers suffer for it. JJ makes that go away and helps build success. That’s a nice hook and it is the truth.

4.I think the combination of both of the tag lines could be really cool. Something like “Career Management 2.0: Managing the information to manage your career.” (It’s even a play on words of a sort as the subtext has manage in it 2x and reflects the 2.0 concept).

5. One of the things that made this contest work (and that might not work in other situations if this were used by other people) is that you have been so transparent and connected over the past year that your readers KNOW you. Typically branding takes a ton of digging and outside-in-feedback to get to a core message that resonates with clarity, value, and power. The fact that this was done through a “committee” of sorts, and then ended in a strong consensus, is very cool. And a testament to you and the loyalty and passion of JibberJobber aficionados

6. Lastly, what I love about the brand contest is a dual focus a) the education component — the transparency allowed everyone to see the thinking and strategy that goes into something as critical as branding, and b) the sense of shared purpose and community that evolved throughout the endeavor.

It was an honor being a sponsor, Jason!

Deb

I still stand by my assertion that the simplicity and power of Steve’s submission will resonate with most job seekers. Yet, here’s an irony, in light of my comment on the Web 2.0 tagline (a comment that you quoted in your post above)–Kirsten Dixson is a dear friend, designer of my new blogsite (www.executivepowerbrand.com — check out her work!), and one of the most cutting edge/brilliant people I know. So hearing that she was the author of the Web 2.0 JJ tagline (the one I said people wouldn’t understand), made me wonder if I’d not thought enough about it. And after reading your thoughts and Kirsten’s comment above, I get it.

Jason, I think your idea of using both taglines in some way is great — because JJ is very cool and should appeal to Web 2.0-types as well as the less “tech-savvy” folks out there. Kirsten’s explanation in her comment is right on target.(BTW, her Goldfish “story” is a great read and a true lesson in branding).

You have the best of both world’s here. And your voters saw that…how cool is it that a tie affirmed that wisdom. Love it. Congratulations to both winners!

Deb Dib

On the two(!) winners, I think you need to consider who you are directing your services to — the audience. If it is people outside of the technology industry, “Managing the information to manage your career” is a great one. While you may think it simple, or not snazzy, the reality is that it will make people who believe career management is getting the next job think about what else is needed and JJ is it. For those people, “Career Management 2.0″ is like “whatever.”

If you are more oriented to the technology side, 2.0 makes more sense. (I’m there, but I’m not sure it’s your core audience).

Consider you’re getting 10 seconds to have someone stop and consider the service. Laying out the tag line to get the most bang for the Euro (hey, it’s worth a lot more than a dollar these days) is the consideration — not if it is simply cool!