The most memorable commercial jingles, and what they teach brands today

What makes commercial jingles stick

The commercial jingles people still sing decades later share a short list of traits: the brand name or promise is in the hook, the melody is simple enough to hum after one hearing, and the brand kept running it for years. Talent matters, but repetition and consistency do most of the work.

Below are eleven of the best jingles in American advertising, roughly in order of when they first aired. We've stuck to facts that are well documented: who wrote them and when they ran. Where the record is fuzzy, we say so. After the list, we look at what these jingles have in common and what a brand should take from them for a jingle or sonic logo today.

Oscar Mayer, “The Wiener Song” (1960s)

Chicago ad man Richard Trentlage wrote it in 1962 for a contest Oscar Mayer ran with its agency, J. Walter Thompson, and it reached the air around 1963. His children recorded the demo at home, with his daughter Linda singing. The song ran in Oscar Mayer advertising for decades, until 2010.

Why it worked: it's written in a kid's voice, about a kid's wish. The product sits inside the fantasy rather than being sold at you, which is why kids sang it on playgrounds and parents didn't mind.

Nationwide, “Nationwide Is on Your Side” (late 1960s)

Nationwide's agency, Ogilvy, Benson & Mather, proposed the line "Nationwide is on your side" in 1964. Jingle writer Steve Karmen set it to music; Nationwide's own history dates his jingle to 1967, while some accounts say 1969. Versions of it still close Nationwide ads.

Why it worked: the slogan rhymes and scans like a lyric, so the music simply had to carry it. A short, sung brand line at the end of every spot is the template for many modern sonic logos.

Coca-Cola, “I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke” (1971)

McCann Erickson creative director Bill Backer came up with the line in January 1971 while stuck on a fog-diverted flight. Backer, McCann music director Billy Davis and songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway built it on a melody adapted from an earlier Cook and Greenaway song, and the jingle debuted on radio in February 1971 before becoming the famous "Hilltop" TV spot later that year. A rewritten version without the product, “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony),” became a hit record for The New Seekers.

Why it worked: it sold a feeling, not a drink. The jingle was good enough to stand as a real song, and when listeners asked for it, the brand let it become one.

State Farm, “Like a Good Neighbor” (1971)

A young Barry Manilow wrote the State Farm jingle in 1971, before his recording career took off. He was handed the slogan and wrote the melody around it. The "like a good neighbor" line became one of the most recognized slogans in insurance.

Why it worked: it turns a brand promise into a short melodic phrase that can close any spot. That closing phrase does the job a sonic logo does today.

Band-Aid, “I Am Stuck on Band-Aid” (1970s)

Manilow also wrote the music for Band-Aid's jingle, with lyrics by Donald B. Wood. Sources disagree on the exact year it first aired, but it ran through the 1970s and returned in many later versions.

Why it worked: a pun on the product's literal function, a melody kids could sing, and the full brand name in the hook. That last part matters for a name people already used for the whole category: the jingle keeps saying whose bandage it is.

Alka-Seltzer, “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz” (1970s)

Usually credited to jingle writer Tom Dawes, a former member of the band The Cyrkle, the Alka-Seltzer jingle is generally dated to 1976 on TV. Some accounts credit others on the campaign and give later dates, so treat the details as debated.

Why it worked: the hook is the product's own sound. It tells you what to do with the tablet and what happens next, in four syllables of onomatopoeia.

Toys "R" Us, “I Don't Wanna Grow Up” (1982)

Linda Kaplan Thaler wrote the music and lyrics while at J. Walter Thompson, with the "Toys R Us kid" line credited to her colleague James Patterson, who later became a bestselling novelist. It hit the air in 1982.

Why it worked: it speaks for the customer's identity rather than the store's inventory. Kids heard themselves in it, and adults heard their own childhood.

Folgers, “The Best Part of Wakin' Up” (1984)

Music by Leslie Pearl, lyrics by Susan Spiegel Solovay and Bill Vernick. It has run in Folgers advertising since 1984 and has been re-recorded by many artists over the years, including Aretha Franklin and Randy Travis.

Why it worked: it claims a daily moment. Every morning cup becomes a cue for the brand. Re-recording the same melody in new styles kept it current without losing recognition, which is exactly how a modern sonic identity is meant to flex.

Kit Kat, “Gimme a Break” (1986)

Composer Michael A. Levine and copywriter Ken Shuldman wrote it at DDB, and versions of it have been used in Kit Kat's US advertising since 1986. University of Cincinnati marketing professor James Kellaris, whose research helped popularize the word "earworm," cited it among the tunes most likely to get stuck in people's heads.

Why it worked: the product's ritual (snapping off a piece) is built into the lyric, and the melody is relentlessly simple. It has been re-recorded in many styles since without losing the hook.

Chili's, the “Baby Back Ribs” jingle

A fixture of 1990s Chili's ads, it was written by Guy Bommarito for GSD&M in Austin and produced by Tom Faulkner, who sang the melody, with New York bass singer Willie McCoy on the low line. A 1996 version by the a cappella group Take 6 is one of the best known.

Why it worked: it's built for the ear first. The bass hook is the memorable part, not the words around it, and it was short enough to drop into the end of any spot.

McDonald's, “I'm Lovin' It” (2003)

The campaign started with Munich agency Heye & Partner, whose German line "Ich liebe es" won a global pitch in 2003. The melody was developed with the music company Mona Davis Music, and a pop version produced by The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) was released by Justin Timberlake before McDonald's revealed the link. The five-note "ba da ba ba ba" became the brand's sonic logo worldwide.

Why it worked: it was launched as culture before it was used as advertising, and then reduced to five notes that work in any language. It's the bridge between the jingle era and the sonic branding era.

What the best jingles have in common

• The brand is in the hook. Nationwide, State Farm, Band-Aid, Kit Kat: the name or promise is in the melody itself.
• One idea, sung simply. Few notes, small range, a rhythm that follows natural speech.
• A point of view. A kid's wish, a neighbor's promise, a morning ritual. The best jingles describe the customer's world, not the product's specs.
• Years of consistency. Every jingle on this list ran for a long time. Recognition is earned through repetition, which is why changing the music every campaign throws value away.
• Room to evolve. Folgers and McDonald's re-recorded or re-arranged the same melody many times while keeping it recognizable.

Radio jingles, TV jingles and sonic logos

Many famous jingles started on radio. Coca-Cola's debuted there before the TV spot, and the Oscar Mayer song was a radio jingle first. Radio is unforgiving: there's no picture to carry the brand, so the music and the name have to do it alone. In broadcasting, "radio jingles" also refers to station IDs and imaging, the sung call letters between songs, which follow the same rules of short, branded and repeated.

Today the full-length jingle is less common than it was in the 1970s, but the idea hasn't gone away. It has split into parts. The short sung or melodic tag became the audio logo. The longer melody became a brand theme that can be arranged for different spots. And the rules for how a brand uses music overall became sonic branding.

What brands can learn for a jingle or sonic logo today

• Write for the end of the spot first. The last two or three seconds are where recall is built. If the tag works alone, the longer jingle has a backbone.
• Test it without picture. Play it to people who haven't seen the ad. If they can't name the brand, the brand isn't in the music yet.
• Plan the system, not just the song. You'll need a full version, cutdowns for 30s, 15s and 6s, an instrumental bed, a logo-length tag and stems for remixing.
• Own it outright or know your terms. A custom jingle should come with clear rights for the media, term and territories you need, and a plan for if you want to expand later.
• Commit for years. A jingle that changes every season never becomes a famous jingle.

How we write jingles at ITGM

Our in-house composers and producers write custom jingles and sonic branding for brands and agencies: the full jingle, the cutdowns, the sonic logo and the stems, cleared for where the campaign will run. We start from the brand's positioning and the media plan, write a few directions, and refine one with your team.

If you want to hear how we approach original music for brands, our work for Profeel Fluff and Carol's Daughter shows original compositions built around a product's personality.

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