It’s Not A Christmas Jingle 2022

Do you love Christmas jingles? Or are you ready for Christmas to be over just so you don't have to listen to Jingle Bells in the supermarket again... for the 100th time?

Either way, I thought I'd spice up Christmas this year with something fun.

I'm calling it - Not A Christmas Jingle.

Marketing jingles are an excellent example of how a brand can share its personality.

As a child of the 80s, and as a person with a weird talent for remembering the lyrics to 1000s of songs (I’ll tell you about that another time), the jingles of many an 80s and 90s TV ad take up permanent residence in my brain.

So, I feel like it's my duty to share them with you.

Here they are - my Top 5 Not A Christmas Jingles!

Not A Christmas Jingle #1
Happy Little Vegemites

As bright, as bright can be! We all enjoy our Vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea!

You'll have to watch the video to see the full jingle in all its glory.

But I'm pretty sure it's stuck in your head right now anyway.

What Makes This Jingle A Great Piece of Marketing?

It's happy. It rhymes. It describes the product clearly. And it mentions the products name in the lyrics rather than leaving us to try remember what product the song is for.

Not A Christmas Jingle #2
Spray and Wipe

I apologise in advance for the earworm that this next Not A Christmas Jingle will almost surely create.

It's Spray and Wipe of course.

There was more than one version of this repeated throughout the 90s (I think it might have even made another appearance in the early noughties).

But my favourite will always be getting a call from Mr Fryer who is bringing round the buyer. And who doesn't need some Spray and Wipe for their festive "dos"?

I just hope you don't have to clean anything quickly while feeling sickly. Thank you Spray and Wipe!

What Makes This Jingle A Great Piece of Marketing?

We've all been here - needing to clean the house quickly when unexpected guests pop by. It makes the jingle completely relatable. And it's pretty funny too (only in Australia would we reference having to clean something quickly while feeling sickly from a hangover!)

Not A Christmas Jingle #3
Louie the Fly (1992)

The first version of the Louie the Fly jingle actually appeared in the 60s.

But it's the 1992 version that my brain holds onto like it's superglue.

As you sing along in your head (or watch the clip to remind yourself of the words) I wish you a summer break, filled with warmth and good food but without Louie and his pals!  

What Makes This Jingle A Great Piece of Marketing?

The fact that Louie has been marketing Mortein to us for generations tells us everything we need to know - it's a catchy jingle, mentions the product name and even gives us a brand ambassador (or is that anti-ambassador?) to build a love/hate relationship with.

Not A Christmas Jingle #4
Toys R Us

It's impossible to talk about not a Christmas jingle jingles, without turning to something the Christmas season knows well... Toys!

Were you a Toys R Us kid?

Originally in Australia, Toy World released a version of this jingle. But when Toys R Us hit down under in 1993, they reclaimed it.

"I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid!"

If there's a time of year for us to feel like a kid and share in the joy and magic of the season, then I think this time of year is definitely it.

As you remind yourself of this one, I send you my wishes for ALL the magic.  

What Makes This Jingle A Great Piece of Marketing?

This particular jingle understands its market very well. While kids are the ones who benefit, it's the parents who will be making the purchase.

So, while the ad features kids and speaks to them, it also cleverly reminds parents what it was like to be a kid. It's fun but sentimental, bringing back memories of favourite toys and fun times. A great piece of heart oriented marketing.

Not A Christmas Jingle #5
Always Coca Cola

The Coca Cola “Always” Jingle is one of my all-time favourite jingles.

There are a couple of reasons for this.

The first is that it was bold to write a jingle that was sooooo long. It runs for an entire minute (when most ads run 15 or 30 seconds) and the jingle is the whole story. Apart from the animation on screen showing the words of the jingle, there's no narrative story device (or people) at all.

They relied on the jingle to do the job. And it did. Because it's Always Coca Cola.  

What Makes This Jingle A Great Piece of Marketing?

Marketing fast moving consumer goods is a hard job. It's one of the situations where your audience is a large one and the difference between one product and another is particularly hard to articulate.  

The Always jingle lyrics handle this well by speaking to every type of situation their audience might relate to.

The product appears in the lyrics (which, if you've read the rest of this article, you'll know is the signature of a great jingle) AND the "Always" line was so memorable, that it went on to appear as a tagline for the brand for many, many years.

In fact, even though Coke has changed their tagline many times, "Always" is the one I (and many others) always remember.

I hope you enjoyed playing along!

And if you loved my Not A Christmas Jingle, you might love some of my other content on Instagram or Facebook.

Hope I’ll see you there!