146 !!Chapter 7
ing of Wheaties. At a company staff meeting, an advertising executive for
Wheaties suggested a business model that would save the cereal. He stated
that since the sales were good in those regions where the Wheaties musical
commercial was heard, why not air the commercial in as many regions of
the country as possible? To summarize, the musical commercials were
aired, sales improved, and Wheaties quickly became one of the most pop-
ular breakfast cereals.
!!In 1841 the first adver-
tising agency opened in the
United States. The name of
the company was Volney B.
Palmer, and they were lo-
cated in Philadelphia (www
.old-time.com/commercials/
wheaties.html).Jingles are miniature songs. In the
1940s, Pepsi-Cola broadcast the first
national jingle, ‘‘Pepsi-Cola Hits the
Spot.’’ Some jingles have become popular
songs; for example, ‘‘I’d Like to Teach the
World to Sing’’ was originally a jingle for
Coke. Many popular songs have been
used as jingles; ‘‘Like a Rock’’ became an
anthem for Chevrolet.
Most popular songs are formatted to
include a musical buildup to a memorable
chorus (or hook). Since the average popular song is 3 minutes, the com-
poser has time to build a compositional structure. Jingle writing does not
afford composers the same luxury; a jingle must immediately grab the
attention of the audience. Most successful jingles are catchy and memo-
rable.
Soft-drink companies have traditionally used jingles as the crux of
their advertising, such as Coke and Pepsi. General Electric’s slogan (and
singing logo) ‘‘GE, We Bring Good Things to Life’’ has been the heart of
their advertising for decades. The elements that make a song catchy are
the following:
- More conjunct (stepwise) motion than disjunctive (skips) motion in
the melodic structure. - Memorable after the first hearing.
- The average person can easily sing along.
Lyrics can create an image for a company. Advertising agencies devote a
painstaking amount of time developing effective lyrics for jingles. The
message must be clear and precise. It is not unusual for an agency to spend
months refining lyrics and creating alternative lyrics for campaigns or
‘‘pool-outs,’’ which are multiple commercials designed around a central
idea.
Since most advertising campaigns mirror popular culture, many cre-
atives use examples of contemporary songs to demonstrate the style of
music most appropriate for their commercial(s). The agency and client are
concerned about appealing to the demographic and/or psychographic
psyche of their consumers and/or potential consumers. They are therefore