By MJ Gabriel
August 2025
You’ve heard it a million times before, and I bet you can start singing it as soon as you the phrase: “the best part of waking up.” Anyone have the sudden urge to make a cup of Folgers? Jingles have been part of marketing culture for decades. Ever since the invention of the radio, brands have fought to be remembered among the sea of sounds. They found the sound that often stuck was the catchiest. “Catchy” isn’t exactly a scientific term, but there is science behind what makes songs catchy. The “earworm” actually has a small following of brain scientists researching its nature – the notes and rhythms that make a song stick, the emotions and feelings attached to earworms, even the rhyming structures that are most popular among earworms.
The best jingles are earworms that are still stuck in our heads to this day. You don’t remember the first time you heard the classic “Ba-Da-Ba-Ba-Ba,” but you’re still lovin’ it. And if I sing the words “like a good neighbor,” I’d be hard pressed not to find someone singing “State Farm is there” back at me.
Those iconic jingles made decades ago hang around, but what about the modern jingle? Are companies still making jingles as a form of advertising? Many would argue the art is the jingle has been lost. Advertising trends follow the technology of the age. The TV commercial, which carried the jingle torch after the fall of the radio, was slowly beat out by the silent stills of the social media ad in the 2010s.
The 2020s, however, may have brought the jingle back to life, just in a different form. The rise of shortform (15-30 second) video on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels mirrors that of the old TV commercial timeslot. The video content is usually paired with a catchy audio, reminiscent of the jingles of radio ads. The difference is the audios are not usually made by companies themselves. Instead, they utilize popular songs and sounds that are circulating on their respective platforms. It seems the earworm has leant its magical properties from the jingle to the trending TikTok sound.
Keeping up with what songs and sounds are circulating the popular platform of the day can help ensure that your ad/content is running with the trend and therefore getting seen by as many eyes as possible. The algorithm gods favor trending; appease them with your audio choice. Platforms help you choose trending audios too, often giving users lists and suggestions for what’s hot using their insider metrics. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in writing the perfect caption, designing the prettiest graphic, editing the sharpest video, etc., that pairing a post with an audio becomes an afterthought. Don’t let it be. Do not forget your advertising forefathers and the power of the earworm.
Is the jingle dead? Perhaps in its original form. But the earworm is still thriving. Use it to your advantage in marketing.