Tag Archives: radio

Drive Thru America

Having lived in London for the past 8 years and relying on my feet, taxis or other various means of public transport to get around, I forget how utterly reliant Americans and Canadians are on their cars. Whenever I go back home or travel somewhere in the U.S., there are always so many brilliant reminders of this.

I was in Miami this past Christmas and rented a big old American SUV to get around. Even driving from the car rental place to the highway,  there were so many amazing examples of how interwoven cars are into American culture.  American advertisers seem well aware of this, creating very stark and easy to digest large outdoor creative executions.

Many businesses have geared their services towards this and it was incredible to see the variety of companies offering drive-thru services, beyond the usual suspects like McDonald’s and fast-food restaurants of that ilk. Many banks, pharmacies, even doctor’s offices all had a drive-thru lane.

While we were driving around, we listened to the radio a lot. It was clear from all the dial turning we did that commercial radio is alive and kicking and there are stations in each market to cater to every niche – Spanish, hip-hop, R&B, C&W, classic rock – anything you can think of.

Even in New York, a city known for its subways and taxis, this was true. Apparently 1010 WINS, the local AM talk radio station, gets over 12 million listeners a day because people rely on the station to give them up to date local news, weather and information, all with a quintessentially New York spin.

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What’s The Digital Equivalent Of A Jingle?

Please don’t say ‘dingle’. This is a question I’ve been pondering for a while and reading this post kickstarted some thoughts.  

Seriously though, what is the digital equivalent of a jingle? The jingles from my childhood still stick in my head and when I heard them used again in TV & radio ads when I was back in Toronto, they had the same resonance. So while Scamp suggests that “while you & I may remember tons of jingles and slogans from our childhood, the adults of tomorrow won’t. What sticks in their heads is more likely to be the visual extravaganzas of Cog, Balls and Gorilla,” I don’t think this is true. A short piece of music with catchy lyrics has the power to connect on an emotional and rational level. Take this example for Canadian pizza chain, Pizza Pizza 967-1111, this one for Fabricland and the still ubiquitous Sleep Country Canada jingle. 

The ultimate power of all of these jingles were that they hardwired the brand into consumers’ minds through sheer repetition. It’s simple, but it works. 

Art and creative directors seem to believe there’s a certain absurdity to the jingle and that it’s no longer relevant to today’s audience. I think they’re missing a serious trick. It often takes something very simple to connect consumers and I think we as an industry often get wrapped up in the idea of bigger and better when Occam’s razor would often do.  But I digress.

Does anything online have the same emotional resonance on a mass level as a jingle? Certainly digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have captured imaginations on a grand scale but is there an advertising related equivalent? 

Are there three digital equivalents to jingles?

  1. Brand related meme (ie. Elf Yourself)
  2. Avatars (ie. the dog or paperclip avatars in Microsoft Word)
  3. Branded utility (ie. NikeID, Talk To Frank Messenger Bot)

But I still don’t feel satisfied with this and I suppose that this isn’t a question that automatically generates a simple yes / no, black / white answer. 

Would love to hear thoughts on this.

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Filed under Advertising, communication, thinking, Uncategorized