Music, Jingles, Commercials, and You.

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We all move to it; groove to it, and some of us sing along to it (guilty as charged). Do you ever go through a day without hearing music? 


On the radio. On the TV. On the internet. On your ipod or other mp3 device. In the car. In the grocery store. 


So unless you’re living in a cave in the woods somewhere or if, unfortunately, you cannot hear, music creeps into your life.


Music. It’s an advertising dream. Jingle writing can lead to a big musical career; hello Barry Manilow! He is credited with several famous jingles including “Stuck on Band-Aid” and “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there”. 


And, let’s not deny it. You remember “jingles” from when you were a kid. The song for Palisades Amusement Park is embedded in my brain forever as well as the Oscar Mayer jingle. Heck, I even remember catchy cigarette jingles: Winston or Salem anyone? Note: Despite enjoying the jingles as a kid, I’ve never smoked.


Music certainly helps you remember a product, doesn’t it? Nowadays, use of a song in a commercial can even launch a band. Remember the Mitsubishi Eclipse TV spot with a snippet of Days Gone By by Dirty Vegas? While the group went on to have a hit, the car brand stalled. But the ad did get our attention! 

Let’s go back to the Oscar Meyer ad from the mid-sixties. A hot dog (okay, a weiner). A cartoon. A catchy tune. Of course us kids are going to like it! We became ambassadors of the brand; recognizing it while shopping with our moms and pointing at the product in an effort to make her buy it. Music was the icing on the cake that made the product memorable in our young minds as well as the yellow Oscar Mayer packaging, a color that kids are typically drawn to. Those Mad Men had a winning blend there.


Oscar Meyer had yet another “hit” in the early 70’s when a curly haired boy sang a song about bologna. No baloney. Another success using the same formula.

I have to admit that a commercial with a catchy tune influenced me very much in my choice of pants. Growing up before the introduction of designer jeans meant that denim choices were mainly between Levis, Lees, and Wranglers. While I loved my first pair of Lees, which were taken away from me and tossed when they became ratty, I later gravitated to all the variety that Levis brought, including cords and brushed denim.  Thank you to whoever is responsible for that commercial.


What jingles are memorable to you? 


This is M in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. 
Here’s K and L.


If you haven’t had enough of me, stop by for more on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

Let Your Blog Flow!

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It’s one of those days. You wake up with a slight headache, and groan about the tasks that need to be done. First up, you read a depressing message from a friend. Oops. Wish you could take that back and start over, right?

However, what you’re dreading most is writing that blog post. Your brain is blank. You turn on music to stimulate it. For once, it’s not working. What to do?

This situation happened to a current client of mine who just started blogging. We wrote part of the first post together. She IS a good writer, so that’s not the issue. It was typing it and making it real that was the issue.

She wrote the second one completely on her own and we went through the steps on formatting it, adding labels, photos, etc. It was interesting and I couldn’t wait to see the third one. Then I got the email. She didn’t want to do it. I called and encouraged her. And she said that the topics she wanted to discuss had changed. I explained that the first two were actually important and spoke to that, since she had set the scene. I pointed out all the directions she could venture into, based on what she had already written. And she was energized by that!

What I’m saying here is let it flow!

My client has a lot to say and has already inspired a few people by her first two posts. Is that a reason to continue? Absolutely.

Take a step back and think about why you are blogging. That may include:

• A desire to inspire others
• Furthering your reputation by displaying your knowledge
• Creating greater awareness for your product or service
• Being one of the first for getting hot topics out there quickly
• Sharing personal thoughts / reflection
• Sharing a strong opinion
• You want to practice writing often to better your skills
• You want to have an audience to bounce ideas off of
• Journaling

And so on and so on. Everyone has a combination of reasons. I didn’t mentioning make money here because that’s a separate subject in itself.

So, what to do on those days when you’re stumped? Go out of the box and let that river run downstream! Back in January, it was slow going for me. I suddenly found myself basking in the sun in the afternoon with a book and a notepad and some music playing. So, I decided to write about it, even though it’s not about my main subject. That post can be found here.  We all need to take a quick breath sometimes! So be it.

Back to blogging: When you’re going off the usual subject matter, as long as it’s written in your usual prose it will likely strike a chord with your readers. After all, they need a break too, right? And it demonstrates your abilities to think beyond the usual. So, no more constraints…let it flow!

Going outside now with a book and a notepad. Here’s a #1 song from 1976 that talks about love flowing; that includes the love of expressing your thoughts and ideas, right? Click here for that tune.

Cindy Lou Who, Go Back to Whoville...You're Too Early!

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The Grinch was shown on TV a couple of days ago; a friend on Facebook posted that fact. I played Cindy Lou Who wearing my own pink and green bathrobe in the third grade production of that enduring tale, but upon hearing that Whoville happenings had already descended on us put a damper on my fond memory.

On Halloween, I stopped at Target to buy candy for Trick or Treaters. One side of the aisle was haphazard with bags of candy scattered around by past shoppers scrambling for their favorites. The other side was being stocked with everything red and green, from yummy candies to seasonal coffees. The sharp contrast wreaked havoc on my psyche and took an ounce of fun out of Halloween for me, particularly when I had to ask a Target employee to move the large cart heaped with soon to be shelved holiday delights just so I could get through the aisle.

In the supermarket, I heard a Christmas song was playing. It was a catchy one, and I started to bob a bit and mouth the words. Then I realized it was a holiday song and …November 2^nd. My initial reaction quickly ceased, replaced by bewilderment.

My local hardware store, OSH, just sent an email with 20% off holiday décor online. I stopped by there yesterday to buy a few things and the Christmas shop was in full bloom at the front of the store, resembling a store within a store with lighted arches over the aisles. How festive!

Bah humbug.

Hey all you marketers; I’d really like to enjoy Thanksgiving. Will you please take a step back and allow me to be THANKFUL before I have to start thinking about a jolly man in a red suit?

Seriously.

I know marketing is important; uh, I do it for a living too. Consumers need to be aware of you and learn what your brand is about and what it can do for them. No issues with that! What I don’t like (and I’m sure many of you agree with me) is the shoving down the throat syndrome; pressuring us all to gulp rather than sip.

October through December represents BIG bucks for the retailers peaking with “I dare you to find a parking space” Black Friday. While I welcome the frivolous “gotta get a gift” spending since it contributes to the lousy U.S. economy, I wonder if we’ve lost touch with what the end of year holidays are all about. It’s not about buying gifts for people!

I’m not against the tradition of gift giving. And now, I have to admit there are alternative ways to participate in my share of holiday giving. No, I don’t regift nor am I a crafter. I DO peruse the sales of course, but I’ve found that shopping at garage sales, resale shops and vintage stores results in unique, one-of-a-kind items that can usually can be bought for a song. I’m not talking about 1984 shoulder padded blazers here, but focusing on items more ornamental in nature that suit the recipient’s décor, a gently used collectible book, or something more practical…would you believe I know someone that collects old waffle irons?

In other words, I frequent those sellers who have little or no marketing! I’m still spreading the wealth, right?

The point is that through the magic of marketing, we continue to drift away and lose sight of what the end of the year is all about. Personally, I will do my best to avoid anything associated with red and green until after Thanksgiving. Bring on the turkey and all the trimmings!

Google, Google+, YouTube, and You.

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One big happy Google family! I wasn’t a bit surprised to learn that YouTube has been integrated into Google+.

There it was. The YouTube icon, beckoning me on the upper right of the page. I clicked on it. A little window opened with a friendly question: “What would you like to play?” so I typed in one of my favorite tunes by Melanie, Peace Will Come. Then I clicked, and a new window opened up with a whole list of videos for the tune. The first one automatically started playing, so do be prepared and don’t have your speakers cranked up at full volume.

How cool is that? But I became even more joyous when I noticed the little green share button at the top right of the video. A comment is easy to add and the choice of public or just a circle or two is available as well. Sweet!

What does this mean? For starters, we’ll probably start getting inundated with music videos on Google+ just like on Facebook! Yeah, I should talk! Some of you know I have a music/pop culture page on Facebook, Groovy Reflections, where many videos are posted every day. I’m going to defend myself and say “that’s different”. It represents an element of a business endeavor by solidify the imagery of the brand and besides, people choose to like the page, thereby saying “I WANT to see your posts”.

Wondering if Google+ will section off the YouTube feature at some point, sort of like what they’ve done with games? Personally, I’m happy that I don’t have to worry about hiding or blocking games or getting requests to join games all the time like on Facebook! But I really DON’T want to see zillions of music videos all the time. Wouldn’t it be nice to just click on a little icon to see a stream of everything just from YouTube? Like Blip.fm, for example, but with video right there? You could pick a tune or two and take a five minute break …then get back to work! Just kidding.

Facebook, on the other hand, has discouraged folks from posting videos as they move forward with their integration with Spotify and some other music sites. And lately, I’ve noticed that many posts I’ve attempted to make from YouTube come through without a thumbnail. Don’t know if Facebook is the one doing that, but hey, why would they want posts from YouTube since it belongs to the competition?

Will be interesting to see how things unfold over the next few weeks. I’m assuming that people will embrace the new feature on Google+ but who knows?

Google has their smarts on and it will be wonderful to see more of the blending of their tools in the future.