Voice computing – better known as voice search – has been on the rise for years. And while the marketing world is thinking more about how to create quality auditory experiences, it made me think of the jingles that were the soundtrack to my childhood. Even though I struggle to remember my grandma’s birthday and will forget someone’s name 0.7 seconds after they introduce themselves, jingles like Weetbix kids, Cottees Cordial and my all-time favourite, Call-call-Carpet-Court, still live rent-free in my brain. But while these songs are engrained in my memory forever, I haven’t actually heard them for years. So, what lessons can we learn from the success of jingles in the past, and how can we apply those lessons to our current adscape?

Jingles actually go all the way back to the 15th century, when vendors would walk the streets singing rhymes like ‘Hot Cross Buns’ to catch the attention of pedestrians¹. Fast forward to the 1920s and advertisers were realising what an incredible tool they were for association. If you could pair an infectious tone with a brand name, positioning statement or call to action, you’d struck gold. First appearing on radio and then television, by the 80s every brand had its own jingle, and jingle writers (a real profession) were making a fortune. But then, it all stopped. If jingles were so effective, why did they die?²

Jingles don’t sound like any other kind of music. Eventually, they became their own genre that was purely associated with selling a product. For the younger audiences that advertisers wanted to capture, there was nothing cool about a jingle. It was trying too hard.

Brands needed music that sounded like pop music. In 1971, Coke was the first brand to produce a song that sounded like a real pop song with ‘I’d like to Buy the World a Coke’, initiating an era of brands working with pop stars to produce more modern, cool brand music. While this was revolutionary of Coke, it led to a decision made by Pepsi that put the nail in the traditional jingle coffin.²  

While working on a Pepsi campaign in the early 80s, Michael Jackson came up with an idea that changed everything. Instead of singing the Pepsi jingle that had been written for him, he began revising the chorus of Billie Jean with the lyrics “You're the Pepsi generation, guzzle down and taste the thrill of the day, and feel the Pepsi way.” They started a hugely successful trend of collaboration between brands and pop musicians. Since then, the Pepsi brand has been committed to binding their product to youth culture through popular music.³  

The key to jingles is consistency and repetition. They thrived in a time of limited radio and television stations that meant brands could pin their market and play their jingles on repeat. With the expansion of entertainment platforms like streaming services, getting your jingle into the heads of your consumers might be a lot harder.

Because of this, brands have begun to opt for smaller soundbites over full-length jingles, like Nextflix ‘ta-dum’ or the six notes of the NRMA music box. As opposed to the earworm jingles of the past, these audio logos work with other aspects of branding to create a holistic impression⁴. A sting produces the same recognition without dominating ads. It can also signal a brand’s identity in a few seconds; a valuable ability in a digital world with short ads and diminishing attention spans.

In saying that, there is something about the nostalgia of a jingle that feels so warm and familiar. For this reason, there are some brands who have stayed true to their jingles and managed to update them to sound less dated. Think about McDonalds, Maybelline, Toyota and Telstra. Forbes claims that these brands are in fact benefitting from sticking with the jingle as “Subconsciously or not, we take note of a company’s loyal dedication to their sonic branding, and this consistency translates into a trustworthy connection to these brands”⁵.

But even if you’re not holding out hope for a jingle resurgence, you can’t tell me that you hear ‘Wouldn’t it be nice’ by The Beach Boys and don’t sing “… if the world was Cadbury”.

1. Imagine Words & Music, The History (2018).
   
2. Tiffany Stanley, What Killed the Jingle (29 Aug 2016) The Atlantic.
   
3. Jeremy D. Larson, How Pepsi Used Pop Music to Build an Empire (3 Feb 2017) Pitchfork.
   
4. Sonic Minds, Here Are the Sound Logos You Won't Forget - Find Out Why (28 Feb 2021)
   
5. Jordan Passman, Why Advertising Jingles Will Make a Comeback (30 May 2017) Forbes.