Great Radio and TV Commercials Always Employ Great Music

by Tom Gauger

Ever since I can remember, hearing the great commercials from the past has always conjured up warm and well I hate to say it, cozy memories. From McDonalds, to Burger King and moving melody lines of United Airlines and a multitude of other jingles that many of us can remember, remain as one of the great eras of modern day broadcast.

Why is that? We can all say it's the music stupid - And that answer is correct. What's happened with modern day advertising? It's moved well past the memorable melody lines into a rhythmic fever. It seems that many rely solely on loops in their music production and then go on auto pilot with no sense of creativity or longing for something half way creative. I love virtually any kind of music and most of today's styles, but with the onset of crunched marketing dollars and an almost forgetful memory of the great lines and lyrics that still stand the test of time even today, it seems that we've moved into a very shallow and unadventurous and mundane marketing circle.

There are still great jingles being written and you should look at employing great music and jingles in your advertising if you're thinking about running a radio or TV campaign. Great writing can run the gamut of today's styles and even pulling from yesterdays - And with most anything goes musically, the doors are really wide open - And you should, most definitely, employ great music beds and jingles when at all possible.

What makes a great music bed and jingle? It's all of the elements put together from the lyric, to the singer, musicians, etc. You say, "Well I know that." Most people could tell you that, but when forced to recognize a potentially great piece of music or writing for their commercial, they might as well walk right by it. They really wouldn't know it if it bit them in the behind. So I go back to my statement that great music and writing needs not only to be employed in your campaign, but instantly recognized. That's the first key to great writing - it's instantly recognizable. "You deserve a break today...." I could hum the lyrics or just read the lyrics and you'd know exactly what company and commercial we were talking about - of course McDonalds.

Stay with hooks and ending melody lines that you can own. The problem with much of today's mediocre writing is that you can't own the melody even if you have a great lyric. It's trite, over used and abused and unimaginative. You want to stay away from jingles that sound too much like a jingle or incorporate too much hype. You almost want to feel like your singing a song - And it can be rock, dance, pop you name it. That's when you know you have a good melody line going - Couple that with great lyrics and your marketing dollars should go along ways and it should serve you well.

Along with a great hook and melody line should be a solid and well thought out voice over so that when the ending melody line comes back in, it's already been reinforced and your listeners are waiting for it because you've baited them with the tie in voice over - Now you're cooking. You've got a captive audience and an audience much more likely to listen to your spot and remember your spot and to retain the information - Hence increased sales and credibility with your buyers.

Stick with great melody lines in any music genre with great lyrics and voice scripting and you'll be well on your way to a successful advertising campaign!