We at Stately Anthill Manor contend that imaginative commercials may come and go, but catchy jingles are forever.
Sure, we recognise the Energiser Bunny and the Qantas koala. But we can’t summon up all the details of the visuals. Too much information, you see. So — memorable, but not can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head memorable.
On the other hand, read the following:
We’re happy little Vegemites …
How many of you attached the melody to it? How many continued the lyrics in your head?
… As bright as bright can be
We all enjoy our Vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea.
Heh. More than a few of you will have this 56-year-old jingle stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Sorry. But look at how effective and indelible the Vegemite song is. It’s become part of Australian popular culture, but from the start it was a pitch for sandwich spread made from yeast extract. Brilliant, really.
Another two in the Australian pantheon are the “Louie the Fly” song for Mortein household pesticide and the jingle for Aeroplane Jelly (“A little each day is a good recipe”). Heaven help us, we can’t stop humming ’em.
There are more contemporary examples. Kylie Minogue’s “Locomotion” seems to pop up everywhere, and dance-music duo Pnau’s “Baby” was the aural backdrop for a Dairy Farmers milk commercial.
What’s next? Well, how about a possible jingle for 99Designs, the crowdsourced graphic design service based in Melbourne?
Despite raising $35 million from the VC firm that banked Facebook, it seems that 99Designs now gets its jingles for free.
Garrett Sussman, a customer support rep for the company’s San Francisco office, put together this ditty on his guitar. It hasn’t been installed as an official jingle (you can offer your critique here), but with couplets like “graphic design prices can be pretty steep / you need an option that’s fast and cheap,” how can it lose?
What do you think of the 99Designs song? And could this be the new measure of success?
When your customers start writing songs about you… are you “Simply the best”? Is it “Amore”? Or “Que sera sera”?
