Two frozen pizzas, a gallon of milk, trash bags and a six-pack of pale ale and my basket clunks toward the checkout registers. Five items. Express lane sign: 20 items or less. I’m good to go. Only one person in front of me with… WHAT? 32 items?? I look down at my basket. My beer is getting warm (oh yea, and the other stuff is too). Just when I’m about to grumble, the heartless sign-ignoring-rule-breaking shopper before me starts singing. And its one of my jingles.

Change of heart. Suddenly the hack is just A-OK with me. This is the kind of moment that makes all the challenges radio creative worthwhile. Living, real-time proof that I had successfully implanted a recall hook. This total stranger was unloading his basket while singing about my client, Quick Meds Pharmacy. I refrained from blurting out – THAT’S MY JINGLE! Instead, I turned my good ear toward him in hopes of hearing more. “Quick Meds Pharmacy… hmm… hmm…” Good enough. He remembered the important part.

I am absolutely fascinated by the power of musical advertising. Being a life-long musician turned radio ad man, it was a natural direction for me to go. One of the phrases I often use when attempting to convince a business owner to buy a jingle from me is: Have you ever had a print or billboard ad stuck in your head? Probably not. Iconic retention is fleeting. But chances are you can recall more than one jingle from today or when you were twelve. Most of them respond quickly with a list.

Of my top five client success stories, three involve jingles. Interesting footnote to the Quick Meds story, four months after their jingle hit the air, an AE came to me with another pharmacy wanting a musical brand. It seems Quick Meds was kicking their ass.

Cool. Jingle wars.

Steve Stone is Creative Services Director at Zimmer Radio in Joplin, MO.  He can be reached at steve.stone1@sbcglobal.net.