SING YOUR BRAND’S PRAISES

We want Key Copy Words (KCWs) to stick, like a Post-It-Note in our target customers’ heads. What better way to do it? Sing it!

Have you ever experienced an “earworm?” You know, a tune that keeps popping up in your head. Try as you might; it just won’t go away!

Well, jingles are like that, and they’ve been used in virtually every category to help KCWs stick in our target customers’ minds. They serve as a commercial earworm.

“I’m stuck on Band-Aid brand ’cause Band-Aids stuck on me.” I merely put the lyrics before you, and the tune pops into your head. I hope it sticks as I participated in its development in 1975. The lyricist? None other than Barry Manilow. Johnson & Johnson continues to run this campaign when others fail to stick.

It’s approaching noon, and all I’m thinking is, “I want my Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back, Chili’s Baby Back ribs.” 

Or, maybe, I’ll have an Oscar Mayer Weiner. “I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer Weiner; that’s really what I’d love to be, cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner, everyone would be in love with me!”

It’s a bit hot and sticky here in Pensacola; otherwise, I might have Campbell’s Soup cause “Campbell’s Soup is Mmmm good.” 

I could go to McDonald’s. My wife and I deserve a break from preparing meals. Come to think of it, I’ll tell her, “You deserve a break today, at McDonald’s.” 

Whatever we choose for lunch, it would be great to wash it down with a nice cold Coke. “It’s the real thing, Coca-Cola is. What the world wants today.” 

It’s a bit too early for a beer. Otherwise, “Schaefer is the one beer to have when you’re having more than one. Schaefer’s pleasure never fades even when your thirst is done. The most rewarding flavor in this man’s world for people who are having fun.” 

I gotta watch those carbs! I need to keep my blood sugar in check. Perhaps, I should ask my doctor about “O-o-o-ozempic!” The tune is from “Magic.” Think they’re suggesting that Ozempic works magic on people with Type 2 Diabetes to lower their A1C and lose weight? Yeah, their target customers, and we can infer that.

Regardless, I could suffer an upset stomach if I overeat. Thank goodness there’s Alka-Seltzer. “Pop, pop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.” 

Indeed, an upset stomach can lead to problems. If so, I’ll “Call Roto-Rooter, that’s the name, and away goes trouble down the drain. Roto-Rooter.” 

We’ve got a tropical storm heading our way. It is expected to hit late tonight and go into the early morning. If it damages my home and property, I’ll probably need to call Jake, my insurance agent. “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is here.” By the way, this is another jingle created by Barry Manilow. (If you don’t know Barry Manilow, look up and listen to his music. “(He) is music. (He) writes the songs.”

If Jake can’t help me, then I guess I will need to go to our local ACE Hardware Store as “ACE is the place with the helpful hardware man.”

Despite the coming storm, I expect (and hope) to get a good night’s sleep with “My Pillow.” “For the best night’s sleep in the whole wide world, visit My Pillow.com.” 

When I lay my head down to bed on a My Pillow, I begin thinking about my morning cup of coffee. Why? Well, “The best part of waking up is Folger’s in (my) cup.” This Folger’s campaign and lyrics have been around for more than 30-years. While I was with Procter & Gamble’s Folger Coffee Division, we aired Mrs. Olsen advertising for more than 20 years. Typical of P&G, we strove to develop a backup campaign to top Mrs. Olsen advertising to no avail. We needed to have a backup if our ad effectiveness declined and, as Virginia Christine, the actress playing Mrs. Olsen was getting older. (She starred in The Mummy’s Curse in 1944, one of her many film credits.) The company eventually achieved it with the “The best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup” campaign. And it’s still running. 

It seems that when I was an impressionable child, there were many more KCWs that were sung rather than stated. In the 1950s, we started our day with Rice Krispies cereal. “Snap, Crackle, Pop, Rice Krispies.” Dinah Shore urged us to “See the USA in your Chevrolet.” And while on the road, “You can trust your car to the man who wears the star—the big, bright, Texaco star.”

If you were going to chew gum, then, “Double your pleasure, double your fun, with double good, Doublemint, Doublemint gum.” The word “gum” leads me to toothpaste. Pepsodent was a popular brand at the time. “You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.” One of my favorite commercial lyrics of all time is for Brylcreem. “Brylcreem, a little dab will do ya. Use more only if you dare. But watch out, the girls will all pursue you. Simply to get their fingers in your hair.”

Mr. Clean was a popular figure. “Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute. Mr. Clean will clean your whole house and everything that’s in it. Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean.”

You may think it is incredible that I can remember these lyrics. (Well, not all but many!) Yes, I do have a reasonably strong memory. However, I venture it is putting the words to music that stuck itself within the creases of my mind.

So, don’t just say your KCWs. Consider singing them—if you can! Sing them from the highest rooftops.

“NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF ADVERTISING DOESN’T SELL MUCH OF ANYTHING.” David Ogilvy

Is your advertising among the ninety-nine percent? Read Chapter 9, Brand Communications that Suck, in AVOIDING CRITICAL MARKETING ERRORS: How to Go from Dumb to Smart Marketing. It will identify those critical errors and, importantly, point the way to developing advertising in the Top 1%. Learn more here: http://bdn-intl.com/avoiding-critical-marketing-errors

Peace and best wishes,