Writen by Michael K. Holmes
How did you learn the alphabet? You sang it. How much longer would it have taken if you had had to learn it some other way?
Songs get information into our minds faster and more permanently than any other communication. Lovers speak fondly of “our song” because it instantly calls up happy memories. McDonalds’ s “Da da da DA DAHH” is so entrenched that the second part no longer needs to be sung -- our minds instantly supply “..I’m lovin’ it!” This is powerful stuff.
A person can be hot in the middle of a conversation. A jingle comes on a radio playing in the background and goes into our heads even though we’re paying no attention to it. Could any advertiser ask for more?
There are two caveats: a jingle must be as good as a hit song, and its ‘hook’ line must put a specific, relevant idea into listeners’ minds. Here are some great hooks:
“I scream, you scream, for Kline’s Ice Cream!” “Red Lobster for the Seafood Lover in You!” “We’ll be good to your car, so your car will be good to you, Jiffy Lube!” “Your Steven Kia Dealer’s got great Kia deals for you!”
Each one says exactly what the business does except the first, which ties the generations-old “I scream…” with the business. Kline’s means ice cream!
Unfortunately, no license is required to write or produce a jingle, and there are far more awful jingles out there than good ones. Here’s how to make certain you get a good one:
When you hear a really great jingle, make a note of the business it was produced for, and find out who did it for them. Before talking with a jingle house, be sure you know what your company’s Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is. Your USP is that reason which gets people to buy from you rather than your competition. A USP is not a friendly staff, competitive prices, beautiful store, or number of years in business. Unique Selling Propositions are things such as money-back-plus-10-percent guarantees, 30-day free trials (if such a thing is rare in your industry), no-money-changes-hands-until-you’re-completely-satisfied, more color choices than any other store within 100 miles. In other words, a USP is a specific, instantly graspable, desirable advantage. Your USP can even be something common to every business in your industry except that no one is saying it. Claude Hopkins, the Father of American Advertising, once toured a new client’s facility, a brewery, and found that the bottles were pressure steam-washed three times during the bottling process. At the time, hygiene was a huge issue because we had not conquered the big killer infectious diseases. So Hopkins touted this steam-washing in the company’s ads. Their market share went through the roof.
But every brewer did that, steam-washed their bottles. It was simply that no one had said it in their ads. And now that Hopkins’ client was saying it, his competitors couldn’t, because they’d look like they were being forced into it in order to compete, the implication being that they weren’t doing it before.
You can find something about your industry that’s true of you and your competitors but none of you is saying. Get the jingle house to put it in a song, and you’ve just taken the lead.
A good jingle house wants your USP, they want to know your style, how you see your company through your eyes, how your customers see it through their eyes.
Don’t fool with a jingle company that presses you to accept an idea. If you aren’t deliriously happy with something they bring you, don’t accept it and don’t give them a penny. You can expect to be asked for fifty percent up front, but do it only with the written understanding that you do not pay the balance until you have exactly what you feel in your gut is going to work for you, and that if for some unlikely reason you reach an impasse with the jingle house, the deposit is refunded with absolutely no deductions. Good jingle houses have no problem with these propositions and will probably suggest them.
When you get something you like, play it for everyone. Email it to people outside your industry. Don’t count all that much on what people in your business say; people ‘in the biz’ aren’t as capable of objectivity as those on the outside.
Expect to pay three to five thousand dollars for a jingle. National companies pay a multiple of that. If you think 3 to 5K is a lot, consider that good jingles were three thousand in the 1970’s, which in today’s dollars would be about ten thousand. They aren’t because today’s technology allows talented composer / producers to create every musical component (every instrument) using digital samplers, and a roomful of musicians no longer has to be hired. It’s not good news for musicians, but the technology exists and unless a client has a very big budget, jingle houses cannot afford to use live musicians and stay in business.
You will get 10 – 15 versions of the jingle, in thirty- and sixty-second formats.
There will be ‘full sing,’ which is the song itself sung all the way through. There will be ‘donuts,’ so called because they are timed gaps in the singing to allow for voiceover copy of varying lengths (very useful), to fully instrumental.
You should use the full sing version of your jingle for at least the first month (or longer) it airs before going to the donuts.
A truly good jingle will be usable for ten years or more. If it’s really good, no one will get tired of it. Every time it airs, someone who has never heard it before will hear it for the first time. Your USP, your message, your identity, will be reinforced in a unique and powerful way that will make people feel good and want to do business with you.
Never get a cheap jingle. It will not do the job for you, period. There are companies who will plug your name into a pre-made jingle, but using music, lyrics, and style that can't be custom-fitted to your business is entirely counterproductive. Some companies partner with radio or television stations and offer "free" jingles to businesses who commit to schedules on these outlets. I have never heard one of these jingles that has a good hook, either in word or melody; most have one or two singers; often the same singer will do multiple jingles in the same market.
You’ll know you have the right one when you can't wait to get it on the air. It's not hard to get a jingle you'll love and that will boost your visibility and increase traffic. Never settle for anything less than what makes you smile and gets your blood pumping.
Michael K. Holmes will get your business a jingle that cements your name into listeners' minds and makes them happy to do business with you. Hear jingles of this caliber at http://www.commercialmagic.com.
