The early Brand gets the Earworm

Let’s start off with a little game.

Albeit, one that you may ultimately hate me for.

Read the following advertising lines out loud or in your head, and notice what sound or phrase comes up next.

If you watch a good bit of TV, then your brain probably did the following things when you read those lines.

And now you may possibly have an earworm stuck in your head for the next few hours. Sorry!

This technique of creating a catchy tune that matches up with the brand name is called a mnemonic.

We are most familiar with mnemonics as patterns of letters that help us remember something, for example the mnemonic of “Every Good Boy Does Fine” helps musicians remember their treble clef lines (E-G-B-D-F).

But mnemonic devices can also be in the form of sound, visuals, phrases, and colors.

Therefore, Nationwide’s decision to have their slogan “Nationwide is on your side” done in a sing-songy kind of way is a mnemonic sound meant to aid recognition and recall of their brand.

Same for the musical notes added to Farmer’s Insurance and McDonald’s taglines.

Not exactly.

To nerd out on this a little bit, let’s look at the differences between a mnemonic, a jingle, and a song.

Songs are usually accompanying and/or background music for an ad that was either purchased or commissioned to create a feeling and emotion in the commercial. It does not feature the brand name and it usually changes from commercial to commercial (or campaign to campaign).

In the end, if you call mnemonic sounds “jingles”, then that’s fine too. Everyone does it. (I told you it was nerding out.)

This little sound device actually has a big impact on us.

Using the Nationwide example, I created a diagram that shows how these few notes add up to having a big, and lasting, impression on us.

Woah — mind blown, right?

Peyton Manning singing a tune about eating a chicken parm sandwich has resulted in your willingness to consider Nationwide as an insurance company.

Crazy, I know.

Another benefit of using a mnemonic is that it can create consistency across time and across different creative concepts and campaigns.

So that if a brand changes their advertising approach, or has several concepts running at the same time, the signature “sign-off” helps consumers connect them all together as one unified brand.

As featured in the above diagram, consistency also helps the brand be more memorable, which in turn means you’ll likely feel more positively about the brand (and either buy their products or recommend them to others).

Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula for what makes a mnemonic stick. Overall, they should be simple, quick and catchy while avoiding any potential annoyance factors (it must be pleasing to the ear).

Mnemonic devices are everywhere! How many mnemonic devices can you spot when watching TV this week?

Feel free to make it a drinking game ;-)

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