Advertising Jingles in America Advertising & Sales Promotion January 2017

What is a Jingle? Part of the image of a brand Short clips of music A successful jingle promotes a positive image Written to be easy to remember – short, repetitive and designed to “pop into” one’s mind when considering products

Jingles & Consumerism In a world where children are constantly bombarded by messages about which sneakers will make them cool, the correct fast food to eat, and which soft drink is “in”, the jingle is often the most memorable part of the commercial. Without understanding why, children immediately know they want a Happy Meal

History of Radio Jingles The first “modern” jingle was played over the radio in December 1926 “Have You Tried Wheaties” https://youtu.be/GLy5tANvXhY Created to increase sagging sales In regions where the commercial aired, sales increased Before the jingle increased sales, General Mills had decided to discontinue the production of Wheaties

History, cont’d… During the 1930s and 40s radio was a prime source of family entertainment. The growth of networks allowed the entire country to share in the events, news, and entertainment of the day To make this profitable, commercial time was sold to advertisers and sponsors Soon, messages and songs about everything from cereals to soaps and soft drinks filled the airwaves

Advertising Music History… The first time a song was used for advertising was in the late 1920s by Oldsmobile. The song was “In My Merry Oldsmobile” – the song was written long before radio existed, but Oldsmobile decided to pick up the song for their advertising campaign. Jingles began selling varieties of products Singers and musicians who were already performing on radio, became jingle performers

One other bit of radio history… Radio call letters date back to the late 1800s To avoid confusion and also to identify each other, land and ship stations were assigned three letters, or call letters to identify the broadcast stations In 1923, radio stations east of the Mississippi River received letters beginning with “W” West of the Mississippi River, stations begin with a “K” Radio stations started using catchy jingles with their call letters in order for listeners to remember which stations they preferred. https://youtu.be/bqKBk-b_HzI

PAMS 1947 – a musician named Bill Meeks was working at radio station KLIF in Dallas He created commercials and jingles for the sponsors of the show People liked what they heard and what he did for their sales, so they wanted him to devote more time to their advertising campaigns In 1951 he formed Production Advertising Merchandising Services (PAMS)

The Television Jingle With the invention of television, live TV shows competed with live radio shows Consumers could now see what was being advertised At first, commercials were presented as part of the actual show Television hosts, as well as their guests, integrated product plugs into their performances. https://youtu.be/lwAgQjB1KS4

Early Television Jingles One of the first TV jingles to appear was in the 1950s for Winston cigarettes. “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” remained popular through the 1960s As advertising became more competitive and demanding, big-name talents formed their own production companies Jingle writers became more professional

Music Sells “Music gives a product emotional memorability. It also gives an image of a company.” ~Lawrence Samuels In 1971 when Coca Cola launched the “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” campaign, it was re-recorded, had more verses added, and became a hit on the pop charts. https://youtu.be/m2KECJv9XrQ

In 1985, Burger King used the original recording of Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love” in a commercial https://youtu.be/GgNg6dE_EpM Other companies that soon followed. Two of the more memorable were Nike (“Revolution” by the Beatles) and Chevrolet (“Like a Rock” – Bob Seger). https://youtu.be/IocCC1-jeTY

Jingles Today Advertisers today are moving away from the jingle and towards actual songs Music that is real makes ads more real Pop songs are able to entice the market of 16-34-year-olds as jingles can no longer do. National jingles are fading a bit, but jingles are still thriving in local and regional venues While everyone know about Pepsi or Burger King, the local pizza place needs to tell people where they are and a catchy jingle can effectively get the message across to customers.

List the first 5 jingles that pop into your head… What is the commercial about? Who is in it? Why do you like it? What appeals most to you? How does the jingle affect the tone of the commercial? (serious, funny, etc.) What makes the jingle so effective? (words, catchy tune, etc.) Did you try the product because you heard the jingle?