Is it time to bring back the jingle?
In case any younger readers don’t know what a jingle is.
They’re those old ear-catching little songs and rhyming straplines that use to be an absolute mainstay of ads.
‘Just one Cornetto, give it to me. Delicious ice cream from Italy’.
‘I feel like Chicken Tonight, like Chicken Tonight’.
‘Birds Eye Potato Waffles they’re waffly versatile’.
‘Do the Shake n’ Vac, and put the freshness back’.
All absolute bangers. People can still remember those and more decades later.
The industry stopped using them because they became a bit uncool. Things come back around in fashion why not here too?
Advertising’s changed a lot and some of the new channels like TikTok feel tailor made for these short-form musical beats. Little 6’ or 10’ second repetitive stings breaking through in your feed.
It’s happening naturally. ‘Autoglass Repair, Autoglass Replace’ is one of the only modern jingles kicking about, and it regularly pops up as a bit of meme across socials. There was also the burst of popularity of ’Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday’, while not a true jingle, it shows how a more classic one could be grabbed hold of.
In 1993’s outstanding action film, Demolition Man, old advertising jingles have become the most popular form of music. It’s all a lot of radio stations play.
They thought the future was jingles. Maybe they were right.
Especially when science shows words set to a rhyme or music are more memorable.
And as a handy way to remember this post try singing this along to the tune of the Fairy Liquid jingle…
’For ads that will stand out in a busy, crowded world, try writing… a little jingle’.
