Marketing Briefing: ‘Jingles just work’: Why marketers are tapping celebs like Doja Cat, Pusha T and Charlie Day for songs

By Kristina Monllos

If you follow Doja Cat on TikTok (or were scrolling your For You Page) you likely saw a post earlier this month where she let fans know she’d written a jingle for Taco Bell, ending the video with, “Shhh, I know it’s bad.” That video garnered 18.4 million views. The next day, Doja Cat posted the Taco Bell jingle – about the chain’s Mexican pizza — on TikTok; that video has since racked up 31.6 million views.

Doja Cat and Taco Bell aren’t alone in rolling out a new celebrity-made jingle. Mountain Dew recently tapped Charlie Day to write a song about being thirsty and, of course, drinking a Mountain Dew to quench said thirst. Meanwhile, Arby’s hired Pusha T to write a “diss track” about Filet-o-Fish to tout Arby’s fish sandwich. Marketers and agency execs see the recent rise in partnerships with celebs to create jingles or songs as a way for brands to tap into audio branding as well as a recognition that “sound-on” advertising is making a comeback, particularly on TikTok.

“There are so many signals trending around voice,” said Rosa Cubas, social strategy director at Gut. “Naturally, this causes brands to evolve how they use sound to drive significant and memorable associations. Often, we see ‘organic’ music or jingles, like Doja Cat for Taco Bell, as an output of this strategy — and it works!”

Cubas continued: “I like to think of sound-on or music-forward content achieving three things: Recognition (audio branding), relevance (opportunity for inclusion), and a welcome reflection of the consumer (via desires and value). That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if several brands refresh their actual jingles with culturally-relevant voices in upcoming campaigns soon.”

The opportunity for audio branding via songs or jingles has also increased with social media platforms, especially TikTok, which has songs new and old to the top of the charts (Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” is currently trending on the platform) so often that publications now write round ups of trending songs on the platform. “Today there are more opportunities, not just for TVC spots but for richer stories to unfold across multiple media outlets and online platforms,” said Christopher McLallen, head of integrated production at Via. “The ability to tell a transmedia story is enticing and exciting for everyone involved.”

While jingles have never gone out of fashion — Liberty Mutual and Empire are two catchy jingles that still air today though there had been initial disdain for them from some in the marketing community. Given the meta marketing landscape of today, where making fun of marketing tactics can often be a marketing tactic in and of itself (see: Jaja Tequila) some marketers and agency execs believe that disdain has dwindled.

“There was a time when advertising creatives cringed when asked to consider a jingle,” said Steve Diamond, chief creative officer at Rain the Growth Agency. “It was second only to ‘make the logo bigger’ as the most derided request a client could make. Audio branding gets talked about a …read more

Source:: Digiday