As business these days can be extremely competitive, with so many household brands familiar to us via all kinds of media, it’s important that products and services have something a little special to offer their customers and potential new customer base. Branding a product is one of the important ways companies can stand out from the crowd and really make an impact.
A great way to make sure you are offering just that little bit more to your customers is to use a custom-built radio jingle. A well written, professional, catchy sung radio jingle, or voiceover jingle can make sure you are spreading the word of your fabulous product far and wide.
In this article, we are going to take a look at what a jingle is, who can benefit from using a jingle, how you can use a jingle to promote your important existing or new brand, and a brief look at where this great advertising method began.
Let’s so we all understand it clearly, let’s start by taking a quick takeaway look below at exactly what a jingle is.
What is a Radio Jingle? A jingle is a short, memorable tune or song that is mainly used for commercial branding and advertising. They usually contain catchy hooks that promote a service or product. They are primarily used in radio and television commercials. Modern jingles use DJ drops and other forms of sound effects.
Now we’re clear on what a jingle is, let’s move on and find out where the jingle originated and how it paved the way for others to use this great method of advertising to elevate your brand or service above your competitors.
Where Did Radio Jingles First Originate?
The very first radio jingle was first heard as long ago as the mid-1920s. An ailing breakfast cereal company had a last attempt to promote their product, which was previously in danger of coming to an end of its production life completely, due to falling sales.
A catchy little sung jingle entitled,‘Have You Tried Wheaties?’ was aired on Minessota airwaves and shortly afterward they were astonished to see a remarkable spike in sales. They realised that from the 53,000 cases of Wheaties sold, 40,000 of them had come from the Minnesota area. Their advertising manager Samuel Chester Gale discovered that the jingle was only being aired in this area at the time.
General Mills the company who produced Wheaties, quickly changed their branding strategy and instead of dropping the product, went on to buy commercial airtime all over the USA. This helped to establish Wheaties as one of the most popular breakfast cereals of its time.
The catchy jingle was sung by a four-piece acapella group who became known as ‘The Wheaties Quartet’ and aired commercially on Christmas Eve in 1926.
Although the Wheaties Jingle is known as the first important jingle, some cite. ’In My Merry Oldsmobile’ by Gus Edwards and Vincent Bryan, as the world’s first jingle dated in 1905. However, this actually predates commercial radio as we know it, so this might be the first pop song which became licensed for advertising. It was eventually heard on commercial radio in the late 1920s.
So now you know how sung Jingles can help create a remarkable branding success story, let’s go on to take a look at what kind of companies can use a jingle to promote their brand, product or service.
Who Uses Jingles?
Many types of companies benefit from using jingles. Lots of everyday brands use them including McDonald’s and Intel, also in the U.K. the Directory Service 118 118 benefited from a well crafted professional jingle. Local businesses of all kinds, from hairdressers to local manufacturing companies can use the power of a professional catchy jingle.
Why Use a Jingle?
So, now we’ve uncovered who can benefit from using a jingle let’s take a look at some questions you may like to ask to see if having a professional, well crafted sung or spoken jingle can help your business.
- Do I need to increase brand recognition?
- Does my business have a lot of local and regional competition?
- Do I need to distinguish my brand?
Do I Need to Increase Brand Recognition?
Whether you are a sole trader or a larger company, you need to build a recognisable brand. If you aren’t sure how well you and your product or service is known in your target area, it’s a good idea to consider conducting some market research and collect some all-important marketing data. It may turn out your brand is just not as recognisable as you think it is.
Using a bespoke jingle is a really effective way of increasing your all-important brand recognition. By the sheer volume of how many potential customers your radio advertising reaches, jingles are an excellent way of getting yourself known and talked about! Although not everyone who hears your advert will immediately buy, they’ll have you and your stellar product in mind for when they are ready for your services or product.
Does My Business Have Local and Regional Competition?
Although you may not realize it, this is a good time to do some research and find out who the competitors are in your local area. Maybe you’re competing with many other similar small businesses or it could be there are a few larger companies out there currently getting the business. You may also be in a position where you hold the market share and simply need to make sure you stay in that pole position.
If your local completion is high, using a professional, and credible sounding, catchy sung or spoken jingle can really help to put you in the minds of potential customers in your local area. This will help you to make your brand stand out, helping you lead the pack and provide you with a new stream of customers eager to use your product or services.
Do I Need to Distinguish My Brand?
Using a short simple catchy tune based around a killer slogan, that we hear on our radio throughout the day can really help to put your brand in front of a large swathe of consumers whose attention will be taken and who are likely to remember your brand over your competitors, so If your business is having any trouble distinguishing itself from other competitors in your local, regional or national market place, it might be time to start thinking about creating a jingle.
Maybe you’re a local cab company for example. Most people will either search online, look through directories, or they’ll be asking their friends. This leaves many options available. So how are you going to stand out?!
Anyone who’s been exposed to your catchy spoken or sung jingle will remember it when they need a cab in future. If they need a plumber, they can search online, look in the local pages or ask their friends.
There’s a lot of options for people who simply need to find a plumber. But that’s when jingles come into play. Consumers that have been exposed to a catchy jingle, over time, for a cab company in their area will remember it when they next require a cab and will be more likely to visit the website or call for a quote because the jingle has helped them to establish a good connection with your brand.
So Whether you’re a mobile DJ looking for more customers or a brand new growing radio station, Jingles can help give you an edge in a competitive market.
So To Finish…
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article about the origin of sung jingles, and the power of jingles to advertise your product. If you would like to get started straight away, visit our jingle creation page and begin your journey with standing out from the crowd.
Our prices of sung jingles start at just £59 for an Acapella, and just £89 for a Slogan and Acapella jingle, it’s worth a look. You can visit our website and create your sung jingle using our online jingle builder. We will then deliver your sung jingle within 2 days. Once ordered it’s yours to use forever, 100% royalty-free!
If you need any help at all while creating your jingle, get in touch and we will be able to help.
Check out the short video we created showcasing the sung jingles we have to offer!
