the MARTINI SHAKER

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Making People Smarter

I spoke to Merlin Mann on the phone the other day. We had a great conversation, and he ended it with an interesting question:

“How do we make people smarter?”

I have a couple of ideas….
(more…)

SXSW 2010: I’m done stewing. Here’s the poop.

My very first SXSW experience is now in the history books. I had an amazing time, but the sheer volume of experiences and information that was crammed into 5 days was a little overwhelming. I needed a little time to …
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TweetStar

One of the refreshingly inspiring panels that I attended at SXSWi this year was about people who engage in “Slow Twitter.” These people take their time to craft most of their tweets for maximum entertainment value. Most of the time, …
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Spring Break for nerds.

Tomorrow morning, I’m headed on a plane to beautiful Austin, TX for the South By Southwest Interactive Conference, also known to some as Spring Break for nerds.

This is my first trip to SXSWi, and I couldn’t be any more excited. …
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A conversation that made me cry.

Nathan wanted to go on a car ride with me last night. In addition to being in the “me too” phase, he’s started his “Why?” stage early, so of course he wanted to know why we were taking an …
(more…)

The world of the waning jingle?

Shaken for you: March 28, 2007

While sitting at the Hy-Vee salad bar last night listening to the in-store TV channel in the background, I heard their country-tinged jingle over and over it seemed and I was reminded by a comment that Robin made a couple of weeks ago while we were watching some TV. For better or worse, have you noticed that there are far fewer brands that use jingles? The trend of choosing licensed music has far overshadowed a well-crafted, catchy jingle.

I think that we were watching a Burger King spot when we realized this. Burger King used to have the great “Have It Your Way” jingle in the 70′s and 80′s, and even though the tag line is still used, the jingle has kind of faded away, even to the point that I couldn’t find a nice MP3 file to share with you. But, I’m sure you might remember it if you’re at least 26 or so:

“Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us; all we ask is that you let us serve it your way. Have it your way, have it your way. Burger King.”

While I’ll admit that most jingles are dripping with ham-fisted lyrics and amateur hour orchestration, there are still a few jingles that have the power to stand out, regardless of their production value. For instance, Kansas Citians everywhere know that spring is on its way when the sounds of the Grass Pad jingle waft through the living room:

Click to listen to the Grass Pad jingle.

And, for over half a century, it’s just not Christmas in Oklahoma without the B.C. Clark Anniversary Sale jingle:

Click to listen to the B.C. Clark Anniversary Sale jingle.

It occurs to me as I type this that it seems that the jingle has faded from national advertising, but is still strong in local or regional advertising. Who out there hasn’t heard this?

Click to listen to a very evil jingle.

So if these jingles are so mind-numbingly sticky, why aren’t they being used as much as they used to? I would find it hard to swallow if the answer is that marketers are trying to sophisticate their message slightly. Perhaps its more of the notion that jingles have an antiquated feel to them in general when placed up against today’s shorter audio logos that are easily recognizable in a fraction of the time. I’d be interested to know what you think, and I’d love to hear some great jingle examples that you might have. If I get enough contributions, maybe I’ll make an area on the site for an online jingle exhibit.

// UPDATE: Somewhere along the way I forgot that I penned and arranged this little ditty back in 2005. I really prefer the rougher GarageBand version that I made to sell the idea in. If I find it, I’ll post it.


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  • Good point, Jeremy.

    I would even venture to suggest Southwest Airlines' "DING ... You are now free to roam about the country." as a one-note jingle that is unmistakable to most of us now.

    Okay, that may be stretching it.

    I actually believe that someone will bring back the jingle in a BIG way very soon. The time seems right, maybe.

    CP+B, are you listening?
  • I think that's sort of the point I was trying to make before I got so caught up in the fun of finding audio examples for the post. :)

    Dirty Vegas is a great example of the modern "jingle". I also hear "Always Something There To Remind Me" by Naked Eyes and think of Burger King even though they used that licensed track almost a decade ago.

    Who out there doesn't recognize the audio logo for Intel?

    XM Satellite Radio also does a great job of branding across channels with genre-specific versions of a common audio logo.
  • I think it's telling if you listen to the three jingles that you've provided. They all sound like throw-backs to a bygone era. Jane mentions remembering one that was barbershop-tinged. Who listens to barbershop anymore? It's a caricature of a musical style that's long gone.

    I collect vintage bottle caps. Most of the caps, or "crowns" as they are commonly called, have quirky names and naive taglines or sales messages on them. This is because back then the bottles were loaded into vending machines sideways with the tops of the bottles facing forward. The only visible part to the buyer was the cap, so soda companies did their best to make them colorful, well designed and capable of selling the product on their own. That's why they look so compelling now, compared to modern bottle caps which for the most part are just plain plastic twist lids. I guess my point is that sales mechanisms change with the times based on what works with consumers.

    Jingles sound like what they are: shallow sales messages conjured up by advertisers. I love them just as much as you, but today's consumers just aren't into shallow sales messages.

    I would argue that the modern form of the jingle IS the licensed music track.

    Case in point: I can't listen to Dirty Vegas without thinking of Mitsubishi.
  • My mom was an advertising writer/producer and I can still remember the words to a barbershop-tinged jingle she wrote for Grandview Bank (which has long since gone out of business) when I was a kid:

    When you needed us, we were here
    Into our 71st great year
    Service...security, too
    Let the Grandview Bank take good care of you

    If I recall correctly, she'd originally written a variation of it for another client, then recycled the tune and general idea for Grandview Bank after the first client decided against it.

    My point? Well, I guess I don't have one, except that jingles are catchy and it's a shame to let them die out.
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