If I said advertising jingles to you, you’d probably think they were something resigned to the vault of advertising’s past. Dust-covered relics of the 1950s. But I’ve got great news, they’re back baby!

I, for one, absolutely love a jingle. I think it is my proclivity for karaoke that makes me love them so much. Traditionally, they’ve been the workhorses of radio, designed to hammer a brand into your subconscious through sheer repetition. In the UK, I guarantee if you walked up to a random stranger and said "Autoglass repair" and waited, they would instinctively sing back: "Autoglass replace."

Too often, the "sound" of a brand is left solely to the big dogs. Think Mcdonald’s "ba da ba ba ba, I’m lovin’ it" or the first jingle I had burned into my subconscious when I moved to Australia, "Lucky you’re with AAMI". I would argue it is one of the most overlooked aspects of a brand when you start to shrink down budgets, which means it is rife with opportunity.

Gen Z is currently obsessed with the "vintage" feel and nostalgic vibes hitting on TikTok, and the humble brand jingle fits that mood perfectly. Look at the Dr Pepper phenomenon from a few months ago.

It was a masterclass in jumping on a trend, but more importantly, it was a masterclass in why jingles work. They are inherently fun. The world needs a little joy right now, and that’s exactly what the Dr Pepper brought to the table. It was good. It was nice. Then the world joined in , and eventually, so did Dr Pepper.

So, what is the golden rule for creating a great jingle? Our founder, Rob, has the best advice: Can you remember and sing it when you’re drunk? That is the ultimate test. It needs to be memorable, simple, and possess a certain nursery-rhyme quality.

The clever part is how brands like McDonald’s then evolve that jingle into a "sonic." You hear those few notes and your brain fills in the words automatically, even if they aren't there. Netflix has a brilliant sonic with the "ta-dum" you hear at login. We recently applied this same logic for our client, Boral, creating a distinct four-note sonic that always accompanies their logo.

I’m not saying every brand is going to go viral overnight, but sound has a persistent, impressive way of staying with people. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with visuals, audio cuts through the noise. Millennials and Gen Z are essentially walking rolodexes of references; we have a golden opportunity in advertising to finally become one of them.