November 25, 2024 • 29 mins
Advertising jingles: corny or clever? “Imagine the repetition over years in a community that hears it regularly,” says Clark Hook of Financial Marketing Solutions. “It’s whether you love or hate jingles, you cannot deny the power of that mnemonic device to put attribution to the things you’re putting into the world.”
On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Agri-Access — we take a look at bank jingles past and present. Expert bank marketers discuss:
- How and why community banks still find value in their jingles.
- The use of “sonic branding” and audio signatures as an alternative to traditional sung jingles — and how that sonic branding builds on historically successful and long-running jingles.
- The role of music in memory and brand recognition.
- Where banks overseas are using jingles.
- The interesting intersections between bank marketing and pop music.
Read Craig Colgan’s recent article on bank jingles.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Evan Sparks (00:01):
From the American Bankers Association, this is
the ABA Banking Journal Podcast.
Welcome back.
Today's episode ispresented by Agri Access.
I'm Evan Sparks, and I'm delighted tobe with you to bring you a few digital
earworms, some things that we hope willwill stick with you and that you'll
never be able to get out of your head.
And that's some Classicand newer bank jingles.
(00:23):
So we all know about the role of jinglesin marketing the insurance industry,
it's pretty good at, at these, youknow, like a good neighbor state farm
is there, you know, there's a lot inthe insurance industry and there are
several, several in the bank industryand they're not entirely retro.
If you take a look at an article thatmy colleague, Craig Colgan wrote in the
September, October issue of the bankingjournal, there are actually a lot of
(00:44):
banks that are continuing to use not justtheir classic jingles, but also kinds
of different forms of sonic branding.
And there's, it's not quite history,not quite as much a historical
topic as you might initially think.
So here to talk about that today,I am delighted to have Craig.
Craig is a senior editor atthe ABA Banking Journal and
(01:04):
my colleague, Craig, welcome.
Craig Colgan (01:06):
Great to be here.
Evan Sparks (01:08):
I also have Clark hook.
Clark is partner and executivecreative director at FMS solutions,
a marketing firm based in Franklin.
Clark, good to have you.
Clark Hook (01:17):
Good to be here.
Evan Sparks (01:19):
And we also have, we also have Debbie Arnold.
Debbie is senior vice presidentfor marketing at people's
bank in Southwest Arkansas.
So Debbie I, I know your bank has a jinglethat you are still y'all are y'all still
use, and we're glad to, glad to haveyou on to discuss that and other topics.
So thank you.
Debbie Arnold (01:34):
Thank you for the invite.
Glad to be here.
Evan Sparks (01:36):
All right.
So I'm going to just start with Craig,if you want to kind of pick us, kick
us off with a little discussion on,you know, What, what's the, you know,
the, are these, are these these kindsof you know, these musical riffs that
use this musical branding that peopledo, what, what's the kind of this,
the evolution of this and where didit go and, and where, where is it now?
(02:00):
What are, what's your kind of highlevel summary of, of the state
of play with with jingles in thefinancial services marketing?
Craig Colgan (02:06):
Okay.
What I would say is that the idea behindthis piece is just to sort of evaluate
not just where jingles are, but whereall of Banks use of music is right now.
Is it still part of thebank marketer's toolbox?
We know perhaps long ago, thereweren't many tools marketer's
(02:27):
toolbox, certainly a jingle and abig blue sign and a few other things.
And a few contests.
And now decades later, what we have is awhole new challenge with not just digital
marketing and digital content, but thedata that we can learn from all that.
And that really is the overwhelming focusfor a lot of bank marketers and a lot of
(02:53):
leaders in the bank marketing industry.
So we wanted to look at music.
Because for some reason, and we cantalk about this today, some banks are
sticking with a particular kind ofmusic, which is the sort of formerly
stayed jingle which is hard to define,but I think can be defined as That
(03:19):
short, bright, happy song that used tobe on the radio or used to be on TV.
And now for some banks is still in,can still be heard in those media
and now can be heard in social media.
So we wanted to take a look atthat, and we found some banks, as
(03:39):
we can talk about, have stuck withjingles and have updated jingles.
And we also included in the piece someskepticism from some experts around
about the idea of focusing on thissingle tactic as a value proposition for
bank marketers, given perhaps limitedresources and given the imperative of.
(04:02):
To embrace and be driven by strategy,be driven by data we can learn now
from the digital marketing universe.
That alone is a big.
Focus and can show us so much and teach usso much why we would we even bother with
this single stayed thing from another era.
(04:24):
So that kind of those twosides of this were sort of what
the piece was formed around.
But we found that a lot of people whodo both support both and love both.
And it's it's either or sometimesbut it's not either or all the time
So we talked a lot about how banksuse music how banks use pop music how
(04:48):
banks have sort of evolved their useof music and It's a fun piece And so
looking forward to talking about it.
Evan Sparks (04:58):
Great.
Well, why don't we, I'd love to talk,talk to go, go right to Debbie and
give, because I know people's bank hasa jingle and I'm going to play it now.
And hopefully you, y'alltell me if you can hear it.
Okay.
So but we're going to play itnow and Then we can chat a little
bit more about People's Bank andthe vision for how they use it.
Peoples Bank Jingle (05:15):
My bank is People's Bank.
Make it your bank too.
It's People's Bank.
Make it your bank too.
Evan Sparks (05:46):
All right.
Well, that was that's a very peppy upbeat.
Craig Colgan (05:48):
That absolutely rocks.
Evan Sparks (05:51):
Come on.
Craig Colgan (05:51):
Admit it.
It's amazing.
It's U2.
It's just like,
Evan Sparks (05:56):
it's just, it's got, it's got that, you know, I'm just like shaking
my shoulders here, listening to that.
So Debbie, can you talk a little bitabout why people's bank developed
that and how you're, how you'redeploying that today at the bank?
Debbie Arnold (06:09):
Sure.
First of all, let me, let medescribe my market to you.
So maybe you can understand mypoint of view a little bit better.
We're a community bank.
Our market is solely one CountyColumbia County in Arkansas.
We have four locations, threeof them in the town of Magnolia.
One of them in another town about13 miles up the road called Waldo.
(06:30):
So This is coming from a differentperspective than either a
regional or super, super regionalbank might be coming from.
And we still have presence on acouple of local radio stations.
Now the largest employer inColumbia County is Southern Arkansas
University, which is a D2 school ifyou follow sports, a D2 level school.
(06:53):
And so we use a lot of ourcommercials surrounded around
sports broadcasts for both highschool sports and college sports.
We get a good part of ourbusiness from referrals.
Therefore, the little jingle thaty'all so Adore, haha, is my bank is
people's bank, make it your bank too.
So we're asking people to be proudthat they bank with us and ask
(07:17):
their friends to come bank with us.
And so we use our commercials like Isaid, around sports broadcasts mostly.
We do have some othersthat run during the day.
But it was written several years ago and Ifound out after we talked for the article.
That actually the ladywho's now our CEO wrote it.
So that was a little tidbit.
(07:37):
I didn't know until later.
Evan Sparks (07:39):
Multi talented bank CEO.
Craig Colgan (07:41):
I hope she, I hope your CEO is getting some, some residuals from this.
Debbie Arnold (07:46):
Well, actually she's the owner.
So I guess you could say, yeah,
we're, we're, we're a family ownedsubchapter S bank, so There you go.
But like, you know, like Isaid, you have to kind of know
your market, know what works.
And for us, it, it works.
Evan Sparks (08:01):
And I think the other piece of this, and I'm curious,
Clark, what your thought is on this,you know, is persistence with it.
You know, whether if I thinkabout any kind of branding, right?
It needs to be omnipresent in away that you're not necessarily
consciously absorbing it, but youare picking up the brand message from
when you, whenever you see that, seethat a representation of that brand.
(08:23):
And so that's where I thinkof, you know, a jingle.
I don't have to, I just hear it onthe radio, hear it on a TV ad, hear
it on a social media, or I hearit in a pre roll ad on a YouTube
video or something like that.
And then I'm just, it's just subtlyworking its way in to the next time I
think about whether I need a mattress,you know, I'm gonna, you know, call the
(08:43):
company that has stuck their jingle intomy, got it into my consciousness, right?
Clark, what, what is your thought on kindof how, on the, the need for persistence
in using this form of marketing?
Clark Hook (08:54):
Well, we, we talk a lot to all of our clients about how profoundly
and important it is to be consistent.
And what we know from research that'sbeen around for a number of years
is that an enormous percentage ofadvertising is either not remembered
at all or not attributed appropriately.
We have plenty of datato support that notion.
What I think, where I think jinglesget sold short is that attribution
(09:18):
is half the success of advertising.
And if they remember it's you, Andsomething good has happened there.
If they don't, you've justspent money on nothing.
I think jingles do anamazing work of attribution.
I think that is half of their value is.
Take your pick of any jingle.
The MGM lion, you can hearthat from a mile away.
(09:39):
You don't have to see the screen,and you know who and what that is.
I think jingles do this kind of work.
That, huh, I listened to the People'sBank thing because you sent it, and I
listened to it in advance of the podcastand I was walking down the hall to come
to my office and I was paying attention tonothing and I was going like, I'm singing.
I've heard it two times in the last30 minutes and I'm already singing it.
(10:01):
That's just my experiencein one little bit.
Imagine the repetition over years ina community that hears it regularly.
It's whether you love or hate jingles,you cannot deny the power of that
mnemonic device to put attribution tothe things you're putting into the world.
And I think that is a remarkablyunused thing for lots of banks and
kudos to Debbie and their team forusing it because it clearly works.
(10:23):
What has been interesting and we do, wedo, most of our clients are some version
of community to, to regional banks.
We do focus groups all over the country.
And what Debbie says is right.
When we do focus groups, we do, we talkto customers and non customers of every
bank we work with in multiple markets.
If they have a jingle and it mayhave been around 20 years ago, I can
(10:45):
guarantee you that in every singlefocus group, no exception, someone
is going to mention the jingle.
There you go.
It is, it is, and sometimesyou hear the jingle and go,
Ah, are you sure you like that?
Are you sure that'ssomething you remember?
But they do.
It is, it is unbelievable howpowerful that device is to help
(11:08):
people remember something about you.
And so, yeah, that, like I said,I was singing along to Debbie's
Jingle on the way into my officeto do this recording, so something,
something good happened there.
Evan Sparks (11:18):
Well, speaking of kind of bringing something back, I'm going
to play something for you guys now.
This is from gate city bank out in NorthDakota, and it's this vintage ad that
they, when they did their hundredthanniversary, they kind of unearthed this
ad with their jingle from the seventies.
And I'm just curious to get your yourtake on it after we, after I play it here.
Peoples Bank Jingle (11:43):
Across the state of North Dakota, you're saving
Evan Sparks (11:48):
for a better way of life.
What our viewers can't see is theamazing colorful graphics that are,
like, it looks like, you know, anold Maurice Binder film at times.
Craig Colgan (12:37):
All right, so I think, I think that works in Nashville.
What do you think, Clark?
I mean, yes.
That is like a
Clark Hook (12:44):
time machine that I feel like I'm in my, my parents
station wagon, sitting in the backand listening to AM or FM radio on
the way to my grandparents house.
Like that is, that is a time machine.
I keep thinking about the therecording session of that.
Cause they had layered voices.
They had multiple voices, which meansthey're all sitting in front of a mic,
(13:04):
someone directing them and they'resinging about gate city savings.
Like but that, that doesa beautiful work of, of.
Like, you know when they ran that, thepeople in their community who grew up with
that, like, it made their hearts swell.
They were like, oh, I rememberthat, that's a, like, it, it, I
think with, with jingles like that,rarely do you have, particularly in
retrospect, rarely do you have anythingother than warm fuzzies for it.
(13:27):
Do you know what I mean?
Because it, even if it's antiquated,even if it's quirky or cheesy, it takes
you to a place in life that, that meantsomething to you or that, like, that
reminds me of my grandfather takingme to open my first bank account.
Like it issues that sort of emotionand emotion is money and marketing.
So I just love what that isand how that's portrayed.
Evan Sparks (13:52):
Yeah.
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Now, and so we're thinking fastforwarding to kind of, to the present,
you know, I know one of the conceptsthat, gets used today as less of like
you know, a, a musical jingle or asong and more of just this kind of
(14:36):
sonic identity, the sonic branding.
And Craig talks about this in the pieceand, you know, and you can see this
in some of kind of the the insurancejingles that as they've evolved, right.
It's like, you know, the statefarm, like a good neighbor,
they don't sing it anymore.
They just say like a good neighbor statefarm is there, but then they do this kind
of do, do, do, do, do, you know, they dothe musical notation in the background
(14:58):
and you know, instantly what it is.
I was thinking about this in relation toPNC bank, which, which is obviously based
here in the based here in the greaterWashington area, based in Pittsburgh, but
like throughout the West, throughout theEast coast and the Eastern United States.
And this I'll play this thing and thenwe can talk about it for a minute here.
(15:30):
What you can't see, see what theviewer can't see is that On YouTube,
this has tens of thousands ofviews and hundreds of comments.
This like little 30 second clip ofthe PNC Bank jingle is you know,
been adapted, been watched, youknow, tens of thousands of times.
There's a trap remix of it.
There's a crunk remix of it ispeople have, people are just going
(15:54):
crazy with this little visual audiosignature that basically played
under ads in the 2000s and 2010s.
I don't think they're using it anymore.
But it's it's something that has this,that instant that the, kind of the, again,
it's not, it's just a whistle, right?
There's a little some, some digitalmusic and a little whistling and
nothing that That says, with words,how great PNC Bank is, but the moment
(16:19):
you hear it, you say, hey, PNC Bank.
So what curious what your thoughts areon kind of the evolution of jingles
into this kind of sonic branding.
Debbie Arnold (16:27):
I envision like a kid sitting in the back seat of the family
sedan trying to learn to whistle asthat's playing is, is, is what I'm, I'm
gathering nostalgia, you know, and youknow, we're in some troubled times, and
I think people are hungry for nostalgia.
I think it's kind of likecomfort food for the ears.
Clark Hook (16:47):
Now we don't, we don't do audio signatures.
We don't do sonic brandingfor all of our clients.
Sometimes to your point with a communitybank that feels excessive when it
comes to budget and things like that.
And I understand that logic, but oneof the things we do tell people all the
time is Sonic devices are powerful tools.
And in my mind, a sonic device ofsome sort, or at least a consideration
(17:08):
of that is, is almost requisite tobeing part of your brand identity.
And we view it in that way.
I view, I don't view it as a,here's your brand identity.
Oh, here's your audio signature.
I view when you'recrafting a brand identity.
What we will try to do is crafta brand identity for which
sound is a portion of that.
Sometimes that may take place in termsof a, a piece of music that underscores
(17:29):
all of their work and then ends insomething that wraps around a logo
evolution or, or, or, or logo superand, and sort of feels like a mnemonic
device, like an audio signature.
For others, we do trueaudio signatures, but.
I think I think sound in generalis a powerfully important tool
if brands will use it right.
Just look at like I always thinkof farmers that we are farmers,
(17:52):
bumping up on that thing.
Take that or Nationwide is on yourside and then you have Peyton Manning
singing Chicken Parm You Taste SoGood and we all know what it is.
That is to me, that's the power of musicand so many brands do that so well.
And I, I think it's a missed opportunitya lot of times for banks because in
the, in the grander scheme of things,you might spend a little money to
(18:15):
get something that's really quality.
But the payoff on that quality, I think isundeniable, particularly based on what we
talked about earlier, where what you gotto get is someone's attention and you need
them to attribute that message to you.
I think sound and music can goa long way in doing that work.
Evan Sparks (18:32):
Well, I want to, I want to ask was a one, one question
I have is kind of how important isit to have, to have, does it have,
you know, we heard the PNC bank.
That's the example.
That's just the sonic branding.
No words.
How much do you need to havewords to make it successful?
I'm going to play something thatwe hear a lot on the radio here
in the DC metro area and probablyincreasingly throughout the country.
(18:54):
And this might, this might Annoy a fewof our some of our listeners from the
banking community, but I'll play this.
So that's the tag to the PenFed jingle,which is you know, Pentagon federal
credit union headquartered here in DC,but they are growing around the country.
One of the largest creditunions in the country.
And so I hear that a lot and I, and it'sjust, it gets stuck in your head, right?
(19:17):
You know, Do you need to, do you needto have the word, how important is it to
have some words that people will rememberversus a tonal sense that you take away
from it to associate with the brand?
Clark Hook (19:30):
My gut reaction to that is that Some of that is
going to depend on your market.
Like to Debbie's point, she, sheserves a fairly small footprint,
a very particular community set.
I think the nice thing about whatthey have done there is it, it feels
like a community bank and it feelslike a community bank that knows it's
(19:50):
community and I don't know why is that.
Maybe it's production value.
Maybe it's the lyrics to the thing.
I don't, who knows what that is, butit plays well in their community.
I think if you take that.
The words out of that for them,that's probably a mistake.
I think if you have.
larger markets that require more extensivebranding and a whole lot of different
(20:12):
audiences than, than the, than the audiosignature, some, some device like that.
A sound signature probably does morework more quickly and more value
over time, if that makes sense.
And I, that's not,there's no magic to that.
I don't know that that's accurate,but that's my, that's the sense I get
based on the work we do is the otherthing that's funny is, is, you know,
(20:34):
Jingles, I think, get this bad rap asbeing dated, and there is some logic
to that, because the ones we've lookedat so far, they all have this, what I
would say, is a sort of nostalgic toneto them that I think we all sort of feel
but I don't think that means that alljingles moving forward have to have that.
I don't think they all have to bethat way, and we see some, some
degree of success in some others.
I think the worst offenders of that are,are the pharmaceutical commercials where
(20:57):
they either take A song that they'dlicense, do a new performance of it that's
garbage and they put it with their, orthey'll take it and they'll make a new
song that is semi jingle, semi not.
Those feel like train wrecks to meand they always, I always go because
in my mind, what you want is areaction of your customer or potential
customer to be I feel somethinggood about this, whatever that is.
And I think if you don't, thenyou've got to look at whether
(21:19):
or not that should be in play.
Evan Sparks (21:21):
Well, speaking of the intersection of banking and pop
music, Craig, I know you talkedabout it a little in your piece.
I wrote about this many years ago inthe ABA Banking Journal, when we did
an article about societal trends inmarriage and how that affects banking.
But the song "we've only just begun" thegreat hit of the, one of the great hits
of the carpenters from the seventieshad its beginnings as a bank commercial.
(21:45):
Craig, do you want to talk a littlebit about that and how, and then we can
we can play it that for our listeners.
Right.
Craig Colgan (21:51):
So this was a And you can see the video on YouTube, it
was a commercial from a bank thatdoesn't exist by that name anymore, in
California, and it was a wedding, andthen there was this song underneath it,
written, co written by Paul Williams,who was a big songwriter of that era.
who also did some acting and I thinkhe sings it unfortunately, and if
(22:18):
we, if we play both, it's easily toprefer Karen Carpenter, but the legend
is Richard Carpenter Saw this ad onTV and his ear was for finding stuff
out there that he could rearrange andmake his own, make a carpenter song.
He did that a number of times.
(22:38):
So this was a very successful,extremely successful example, maybe
the best example, maybe the mostwell known bank jingle of all time.
Yeah.
Evan Sparks (22:48):
Yeah.
We'll listen to it right now.
How
Craig Colgan (23:49):
about that bass track?
Wow.
Clark Hook (23:53):
I can't believe I didn't know that was a bank commercial.
That is awesome.
Debbie Arnold (23:56):
Isn't that great?
Evan Sparks (23:57):
Amazingly.
So I have, this is the one, thisis one of the two things that the
Crocker Bank was most famous for.
It's, it was decades ago, it was absorbedinto Wells Fargo but based in San
Francisco, they did this commercial andthis commercial was a phenomenal hit.
I mean, as a commercial, and that'sone of the reasons, like, I think
Richard Carpenter liked this song.
It was like, it was a great song.
(24:18):
Right.
That's great.
And they, the bank started gettingall these people coming into the bank
to open accounts and get loans andthey were like, Oh, we actually, it
was actually more successful thanwe wanted it to be in our markets.
The other fun fact about the CrockerBank, and perhaps this is a reason why
it's not a bank anymore, is that it wasis that the creator of Dilbert, Scott
(24:40):
Adams, worked at the Crocker Bank.
In kind of middle management early onin his career and much of the much of
the early Dilbert you know, bureaucracythat he's skewering in this cartoon is
based on his experiences that the bankand that it ended at another big company
that he worked for in San Francisco.
So I love, so, you know, Crocker Bank has,you know, two, two claims to, you know,
(25:04):
To fame, one positive and one less, so
the
Debbie Arnold (25:08):
it's a great story.
Evan Sparks (25:10):
Yeah, it's like, it's just, it's interesting to see kind of the,
some of the connections that we have inlike in banking and music and how we're
you know, how we, and how people, youknow, like you were saying, Clark, you
associate these, this have this positivebrand association because of a music of
music that you you know, you heard ones.
And I think if you, you know, If youremember, we remember things when we
(25:34):
sing them versus, you know, if we just,if you want to remember something,
make a, make a song out of it.
Right.
You know, I grew up, I grew upin the South and we did a lot
of Bible memory with singing.
Right.
And it's like I remember a lotmore of those than I do of the,
the ones that I just, you know,Memorized as spoken word, so
Debbie Arnold (25:50):
yeah, I'm probably older than you guys, but "conjunction junction.
What's your function?"
Evan Sparks (25:56):
Yeah, schoolhouse rock.
Absolutely.
So, all right.
Well, this was, this was, we're,we're kind of at our time here.
I'm going to play one final song.
And then I'm just, cause I, causeone thing I was, as I was exploring
some going down some YouTuberabbit trails, I learned that.
The bank jingle is not justa, an American phenomenon.
(26:17):
It is it is actually, there areactually quite a lot of Indian bank
jingles and African bank jingles.
And so I got one from Nigeria herethat is pretty good and it's got
kind of a lion king vibe to it.
So I'll put this one on and thenwe'll wrap up our conversation here.
We are a co op, cause we are a unity band.
(26:39):
Yeah.
Wow.
Tremendous.
That is impressive.
So yeah, it's like That'sour Broadway level.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Yeah, I know, it's like,that's, that singer has, that
(27:24):
jingle's got some pipes on there, so Wow.
All right.
So what's still going to be inyour head at the end of the,
at the end of the day here?
Debbie Arnold (27:33):
Well, you know my answer.
Clark Hook (27:38):
Honestly, it might be Debbie's in my head too.
Although that last one, the,the one from Nigeria, that's
going to be in my head too.
That's going to stick.
Craig Colgan (27:48):
Well, I, I, when Clark said he found, caught himself
singing the Debbie's Banks jingle, Idid that as well when I was writing
this a couple of months back.
Walking down the street and I rememberthinking I remember I caught myself
but I remember thinking this is big.
This is It's a killer tune.
(28:11):
It's I want that on the record.
I think that's a killer tune.
All right Well, let me
Evan Sparks (28:15):
take it.
Well, i'm gonna just just thank thankThank Clark and Debbie for being on
the show today and Craig as well.
We really appreciated talking throughsome of these, some of these yeah,
unique marketing examples with you.
And thanks for helping us take a walkdown memory lane and see what's, you
know, kind of new and interestingin the world of of sonic marketing.
(28:38):
So thank you both.
Debbie Arnold (28:39):
Thank you.
This was fun.
Evan Sparks (28:41):
And so thanks so much for listening.
Thanks again to AgriAccessfor sponsoring this episode.
This is our last episodebefore Thanksgiving.
It's coming out a littleearlier in the week for you.
So, to all our listeners, Iwant to wish you a very happy
Thanksgiving with your friends andfamily or however you celebrate.
I'm thankful to you for listening.
So I'm going to play the People'sBank jingle to take us out and we will
we'll go out with a, send, send all ourlisteners out with a little earworm today.
Peoples Bank Jingle (29:05):
My bank is People's Bank.
Make it your bank too.
From the American Bankers Association, this is
the ABA Banking Journal Podcast.
Welcome back.
Today's episode ispresented by Agri Access.
I'm Evan Sparks, and I'm delighted tobe with you to bring you a few digital
earworms, some things that we hope willwill stick with you and that you'll
never be able to get out of your head.
And that's some Classicand newer bank jingles.
(00:23):
So we all know about the role of jinglesin marketing the insurance industry,
it's pretty good at, at these, youknow, like a good neighbor state farm
is there, you know, there's a lot inthe insurance industry and there are
several, several in the bank industryand they're not entirely retro.
If you take a look at an article thatmy colleague, Craig Colgan wrote in the
September, October issue of the bankingjournal, there are actually a lot of
(00:44):
banks that are continuing to use not justtheir classic jingles, but also kinds
of different forms of sonic branding.
And there's, it's not quite history,not quite as much a historical
topic as you might initially think.
So here to talk about that today,I am delighted to have Craig.
Craig is a senior editor atthe ABA Banking Journal and
(01:04):
my colleague, Craig, welcome.
Craig Colgan (01:06):
Great to be here.
Evan Sparks (01:08):
I also have Clark hook.
Clark is partner and executivecreative director at FMS solutions,
a marketing firm based in Franklin.
Clark, good to have you.
Clark Hook (01:17):
Good to be here.
Evan Sparks (01:19):
And we also have, we also have Debbie Arnold.
Debbie is senior vice presidentfor marketing at people's
bank in Southwest Arkansas.
So Debbie I, I know your bank has a jinglethat you are still y'all are y'all still
use, and we're glad to, glad to haveyou on to discuss that and other topics.
So thank you.
Debbie Arnold (01:34):
Thank you for the invite.
Glad to be here.
Evan Sparks (01:36):
All right.
So I'm going to just start with Craig,if you want to kind of pick us, kick
us off with a little discussion on,you know, What, what's the, you know,
the, are these, are these these kindsof you know, these musical riffs that
use this musical branding that peopledo, what, what's the kind of this,
the evolution of this and where didit go and, and where, where is it now?
(02:00):
What are, what's your kind of highlevel summary of, of the state
of play with with jingles in thefinancial services marketing?
Craig Colgan (02:06):
Okay.
What I would say is that the idea behindthis piece is just to sort of evaluate
not just where jingles are, but whereall of Banks use of music is right now.
Is it still part of thebank marketer's toolbox?
We know perhaps long ago, thereweren't many tools marketer's
(02:27):
toolbox, certainly a jingle and abig blue sign and a few other things.
And a few contests.
And now decades later, what we have is awhole new challenge with not just digital
marketing and digital content, but thedata that we can learn from all that.
And that really is the overwhelming focusfor a lot of bank marketers and a lot of
(02:53):
leaders in the bank marketing industry.
So we wanted to look at music.
Because for some reason, and we cantalk about this today, some banks are
sticking with a particular kind ofmusic, which is the sort of formerly
stayed jingle which is hard to define,but I think can be defined as That
(03:19):
short, bright, happy song that used tobe on the radio or used to be on TV.
And now for some banks is still in,can still be heard in those media
and now can be heard in social media.
So we wanted to take a look atthat, and we found some banks, as
(03:39):
we can talk about, have stuck withjingles and have updated jingles.
And we also included in the piece someskepticism from some experts around
about the idea of focusing on thissingle tactic as a value proposition for
bank marketers, given perhaps limitedresources and given the imperative of.
(04:02):
To embrace and be driven by strategy,be driven by data we can learn now
from the digital marketing universe.
That alone is a big.
Focus and can show us so much and teach usso much why we would we even bother with
this single stayed thing from another era.
(04:24):
So that kind of those twosides of this were sort of what
the piece was formed around.
But we found that a lot of people whodo both support both and love both.
And it's it's either or sometimesbut it's not either or all the time
So we talked a lot about how banksuse music how banks use pop music how
(04:48):
banks have sort of evolved their useof music and It's a fun piece And so
looking forward to talking about it.
Evan Sparks (04:58):
Great.
Well, why don't we, I'd love to talk,talk to go, go right to Debbie and
give, because I know people's bank hasa jingle and I'm going to play it now.
And hopefully you, y'alltell me if you can hear it.
Okay.
So but we're going to play itnow and Then we can chat a little
bit more about People's Bank andthe vision for how they use it.
Peoples Bank Jingle (05:15):
My bank is People's Bank.
Make it your bank too.
It's People's Bank.
Make it your bank too.
Evan Sparks (05:46):
All right.
Well, that was that's a very peppy upbeat.
Craig Colgan (05:48):
That absolutely rocks.
Evan Sparks (05:51):
Come on.
Craig Colgan (05:51):
Admit it.
It's amazing.
It's U2.
It's just like,
Evan Sparks (05:56):
it's just, it's got, it's got that, you know, I'm just like shaking
my shoulders here, listening to that.
So Debbie, can you talk a little bitabout why people's bank developed
that and how you're, how you'redeploying that today at the bank?
Debbie Arnold (06:09):
Sure.
First of all, let me, let medescribe my market to you.
So maybe you can understand mypoint of view a little bit better.
We're a community bank.
Our market is solely one CountyColumbia County in Arkansas.
We have four locations, threeof them in the town of Magnolia.
One of them in another town about13 miles up the road called Waldo.
(06:30):
So This is coming from a differentperspective than either a
regional or super, super regionalbank might be coming from.
And we still have presence on acouple of local radio stations.
Now the largest employer inColumbia County is Southern Arkansas
University, which is a D2 school ifyou follow sports, a D2 level school.
(06:53):
And so we use a lot of ourcommercials surrounded around
sports broadcasts for both highschool sports and college sports.
We get a good part of ourbusiness from referrals.
Therefore, the little jingle thaty'all so Adore, haha, is my bank is
people's bank, make it your bank too.
So we're asking people to be proudthat they bank with us and ask
(07:17):
their friends to come bank with us.
And so we use our commercials like Isaid, around sports broadcasts mostly.
We do have some othersthat run during the day.
But it was written several years ago and Ifound out after we talked for the article.
That actually the ladywho's now our CEO wrote it.
So that was a little tidbit.
(07:37):
I didn't know until later.
Evan Sparks (07:39):
Multi talented bank CEO.
Craig Colgan (07:41):
I hope she, I hope your CEO is getting some, some residuals from this.
Debbie Arnold (07:46):
Well, actually she's the owner.
So I guess you could say, yeah,
we're, we're, we're a family ownedsubchapter S bank, so There you go.
But like, you know, like Isaid, you have to kind of know
your market, know what works.
And for us, it, it works.
Evan Sparks (08:01):
And I think the other piece of this, and I'm curious,
Clark, what your thought is on this,you know, is persistence with it.
You know, whether if I thinkabout any kind of branding, right?
It needs to be omnipresent in away that you're not necessarily
consciously absorbing it, but youare picking up the brand message from
when you, whenever you see that, seethat a representation of that brand.
(08:23):
And so that's where I thinkof, you know, a jingle.
I don't have to, I just hear it onthe radio, hear it on a TV ad, hear
it on a social media, or I hearit in a pre roll ad on a YouTube
video or something like that.
And then I'm just, it's just subtlyworking its way in to the next time I
think about whether I need a mattress,you know, I'm gonna, you know, call the
(08:43):
company that has stuck their jingle intomy, got it into my consciousness, right?
Clark, what, what is your thought on kindof how, on the, the need for persistence
in using this form of marketing?
Clark Hook (08:54):
Well, we, we talk a lot to all of our clients about how profoundly
and important it is to be consistent.
And what we know from research that'sbeen around for a number of years
is that an enormous percentage ofadvertising is either not remembered
at all or not attributed appropriately.
We have plenty of datato support that notion.
What I think, where I think jinglesget sold short is that attribution
(09:18):
is half the success of advertising.
And if they remember it's you, Andsomething good has happened there.
If they don't, you've justspent money on nothing.
I think jingles do anamazing work of attribution.
I think that is half of their value is.
Take your pick of any jingle.
The MGM lion, you can hearthat from a mile away.
(09:39):
You don't have to see the screen,and you know who and what that is.
I think jingles do this kind of work.
That, huh, I listened to the People'sBank thing because you sent it, and I
listened to it in advance of the podcastand I was walking down the hall to come
to my office and I was paying attention tonothing and I was going like, I'm singing.
I've heard it two times in the last30 minutes and I'm already singing it.
(10:01):
That's just my experiencein one little bit.
Imagine the repetition over years ina community that hears it regularly.
It's whether you love or hate jingles,you cannot deny the power of that
mnemonic device to put attribution tothe things you're putting into the world.
And I think that is a remarkablyunused thing for lots of banks and
kudos to Debbie and their team forusing it because it clearly works.
(10:23):
What has been interesting and we do, wedo, most of our clients are some version
of community to, to regional banks.
We do focus groups all over the country.
And what Debbie says is right.
When we do focus groups, we do, we talkto customers and non customers of every
bank we work with in multiple markets.
If they have a jingle and it mayhave been around 20 years ago, I can
(10:45):
guarantee you that in every singlefocus group, no exception, someone
is going to mention the jingle.
There you go.
It is, it is, and sometimesyou hear the jingle and go,
Ah, are you sure you like that?
Are you sure that'ssomething you remember?
But they do.
It is, it is unbelievable howpowerful that device is to help
(11:08):
people remember something about you.
And so, yeah, that, like I said,I was singing along to Debbie's
Jingle on the way into my officeto do this recording, so something,
something good happened there.
Evan Sparks (11:18):
Well, speaking of kind of bringing something back, I'm going
to play something for you guys now.
This is from gate city bank out in NorthDakota, and it's this vintage ad that
they, when they did their hundredthanniversary, they kind of unearthed this
ad with their jingle from the seventies.
And I'm just curious to get your yourtake on it after we, after I play it here.
Peoples Bank Jingle (11:43):
Across the state of North Dakota, you're saving
Evan Sparks (11:48):
for a better way of life.
What our viewers can't see is theamazing colorful graphics that are,
like, it looks like, you know, anold Maurice Binder film at times.
Craig Colgan (12:37):
All right, so I think, I think that works in Nashville.
What do you think, Clark?
I mean, yes.
That is like a
Clark Hook (12:44):
time machine that I feel like I'm in my, my parents
station wagon, sitting in the backand listening to AM or FM radio on
the way to my grandparents house.
Like that is, that is a time machine.
I keep thinking about the therecording session of that.
Cause they had layered voices.
They had multiple voices, which meansthey're all sitting in front of a mic,
(13:04):
someone directing them and they'resinging about gate city savings.
Like but that, that doesa beautiful work of, of.
Like, you know when they ran that, thepeople in their community who grew up with
that, like, it made their hearts swell.
They were like, oh, I rememberthat, that's a, like, it, it, I
think with, with jingles like that,rarely do you have, particularly in
retrospect, rarely do you have anythingother than warm fuzzies for it.
(13:27):
Do you know what I mean?
Because it, even if it's antiquated,even if it's quirky or cheesy, it takes
you to a place in life that, that meantsomething to you or that, like, that
reminds me of my grandfather takingme to open my first bank account.
Like it issues that sort of emotionand emotion is money and marketing.
So I just love what that isand how that's portrayed.
Evan Sparks (13:52):
Yeah.
I want to take a quick moment here andthank our sponsor for this episode.
AgriAccess is a secondary marketfinancing participant that delivers
capital solutions to a nationwidenetwork of lenders, enhancing their
agricultural portfolios with tailoredand transformative solutions.
By providing higher lending capacity andlong term fixed rate lending products,
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(14:14):
relationship with their ag borrowers.
Learn more at agriaccess.
com.
That's A G R I hyphen access dot com.
And thanks again to themfor sponsoring this episode.
Now, and so we're thinking fastforwarding to kind of, to the present,
you know, I know one of the conceptsthat, gets used today as less of like
you know, a, a musical jingle or asong and more of just this kind of
(14:36):
sonic identity, the sonic branding.
And Craig talks about this in the pieceand, you know, and you can see this
in some of kind of the the insurancejingles that as they've evolved, right.
It's like, you know, the statefarm, like a good neighbor,
they don't sing it anymore.
They just say like a good neighbor statefarm is there, but then they do this kind
of do, do, do, do, do, you know, they dothe musical notation in the background
(14:58):
and you know, instantly what it is.
I was thinking about this in relation toPNC bank, which, which is obviously based
here in the based here in the greaterWashington area, based in Pittsburgh, but
like throughout the West, throughout theEast coast and the Eastern United States.
And this I'll play this thing and thenwe can talk about it for a minute here.
(15:30):
What you can't see, see what theviewer can't see is that On YouTube,
this has tens of thousands ofviews and hundreds of comments.
This like little 30 second clip ofthe PNC Bank jingle is you know,
been adapted, been watched, youknow, tens of thousands of times.
There's a trap remix of it.
There's a crunk remix of it ispeople have, people are just going
(15:54):
crazy with this little visual audiosignature that basically played
under ads in the 2000s and 2010s.
I don't think they're using it anymore.
But it's it's something that has this,that instant that the, kind of the, again,
it's not, it's just a whistle, right?
There's a little some, some digitalmusic and a little whistling and
nothing that That says, with words,how great PNC Bank is, but the moment
(16:19):
you hear it, you say, hey, PNC Bank.
So what curious what your thoughts areon kind of the evolution of jingles
into this kind of sonic branding.
Debbie Arnold (16:27):
I envision like a kid sitting in the back seat of the family
sedan trying to learn to whistle asthat's playing is, is, is what I'm, I'm
gathering nostalgia, you know, and youknow, we're in some troubled times, and
I think people are hungry for nostalgia.
I think it's kind of likecomfort food for the ears.
Clark Hook (16:47):
Now we don't, we don't do audio signatures.
We don't do sonic brandingfor all of our clients.
Sometimes to your point with a communitybank that feels excessive when it
comes to budget and things like that.
And I understand that logic, but oneof the things we do tell people all the
time is Sonic devices are powerful tools.
And in my mind, a sonic device ofsome sort, or at least a consideration
(17:08):
of that is, is almost requisite tobeing part of your brand identity.
And we view it in that way.
I view, I don't view it as a,here's your brand identity.
Oh, here's your audio signature.
I view when you'recrafting a brand identity.
What we will try to do is crafta brand identity for which
sound is a portion of that.
Sometimes that may take place in termsof a, a piece of music that underscores
(17:29):
all of their work and then ends insomething that wraps around a logo
evolution or, or, or, or logo superand, and sort of feels like a mnemonic
device, like an audio signature.
For others, we do trueaudio signatures, but.
I think I think sound in generalis a powerfully important tool
if brands will use it right.
Just look at like I always thinkof farmers that we are farmers,
(17:52):
bumping up on that thing.
Take that or Nationwide is on yourside and then you have Peyton Manning
singing Chicken Parm You Taste SoGood and we all know what it is.
That is to me, that's the power of musicand so many brands do that so well.
And I, I think it's a missed opportunitya lot of times for banks because in
the, in the grander scheme of things,you might spend a little money to
(18:15):
get something that's really quality.
But the payoff on that quality, I think isundeniable, particularly based on what we
talked about earlier, where what you gotto get is someone's attention and you need
them to attribute that message to you.
I think sound and music can goa long way in doing that work.
Evan Sparks (18:32):
Well, I want to, I want to ask was a one, one question
I have is kind of how important isit to have, to have, does it have,
you know, we heard the PNC bank.
That's the example.
That's just the sonic branding.
No words.
How much do you need to havewords to make it successful?
I'm going to play something thatwe hear a lot on the radio here
in the DC metro area and probablyincreasingly throughout the country.
(18:54):
And this might, this might Annoy a fewof our some of our listeners from the
banking community, but I'll play this.
So that's the tag to the PenFed jingle,which is you know, Pentagon federal
credit union headquartered here in DC,but they are growing around the country.
One of the largest creditunions in the country.
And so I hear that a lot and I, and it'sjust, it gets stuck in your head, right?
(19:17):
You know, Do you need to, do you needto have the word, how important is it to
have some words that people will rememberversus a tonal sense that you take away
from it to associate with the brand?
Clark Hook (19:30):
My gut reaction to that is that Some of that is
going to depend on your market.
Like to Debbie's point, she, sheserves a fairly small footprint,
a very particular community set.
I think the nice thing about whatthey have done there is it, it feels
like a community bank and it feelslike a community bank that knows it's
(19:50):
community and I don't know why is that.
Maybe it's production value.
Maybe it's the lyrics to the thing.
I don't, who knows what that is, butit plays well in their community.
I think if you take that.
The words out of that for them,that's probably a mistake.
I think if you have.
larger markets that require more extensivebranding and a whole lot of different
(20:12):
audiences than, than the, than the audiosignature, some, some device like that.
A sound signature probably does morework more quickly and more value
over time, if that makes sense.
And I, that's not,there's no magic to that.
I don't know that that's accurate,but that's my, that's the sense I get
based on the work we do is the otherthing that's funny is, is, you know,
(20:34):
Jingles, I think, get this bad rap asbeing dated, and there is some logic
to that, because the ones we've lookedat so far, they all have this, what I
would say, is a sort of nostalgic toneto them that I think we all sort of feel
but I don't think that means that alljingles moving forward have to have that.
I don't think they all have to bethat way, and we see some, some
degree of success in some others.
I think the worst offenders of that are,are the pharmaceutical commercials where
(20:57):
they either take A song that they'dlicense, do a new performance of it that's
garbage and they put it with their, orthey'll take it and they'll make a new
song that is semi jingle, semi not.
Those feel like train wrecks to meand they always, I always go because
in my mind, what you want is areaction of your customer or potential
customer to be I feel somethinggood about this, whatever that is.
And I think if you don't, thenyou've got to look at whether
(21:19):
or not that should be in play.
Evan Sparks (21:21):
Well, speaking of the intersection of banking and pop
music, Craig, I know you talkedabout it a little in your piece.
I wrote about this many years ago inthe ABA Banking Journal, when we did
an article about societal trends inmarriage and how that affects banking.
But the song "we've only just begun" thegreat hit of the, one of the great hits
of the carpenters from the seventieshad its beginnings as a bank commercial.
(21:45):
Craig, do you want to talk a littlebit about that and how, and then we can
we can play it that for our listeners.
Right.
Craig Colgan (21:51):
So this was a And you can see the video on YouTube, it
was a commercial from a bank thatdoesn't exist by that name anymore, in
California, and it was a wedding, andthen there was this song underneath it,
written, co written by Paul Williams,who was a big songwriter of that era.
who also did some acting and I thinkhe sings it unfortunately, and if
(22:18):
we, if we play both, it's easily toprefer Karen Carpenter, but the legend
is Richard Carpenter Saw this ad onTV and his ear was for finding stuff
out there that he could rearrange andmake his own, make a carpenter song.
He did that a number of times.
(22:38):
So this was a very successful,extremely successful example, maybe
the best example, maybe the mostwell known bank jingle of all time.
Yeah.
Evan Sparks (22:48):
Yeah.
We'll listen to it right now.
How
Craig Colgan (23:49):
about that bass track?
Wow.
Clark Hook (23:53):
I can't believe I didn't know that was a bank commercial.
That is awesome.
Debbie Arnold (23:56):
Isn't that great?
Evan Sparks (23:57):
Amazingly.
So I have, this is the one, thisis one of the two things that the
Crocker Bank was most famous for.
It's, it was decades ago, it was absorbedinto Wells Fargo but based in San
Francisco, they did this commercial andthis commercial was a phenomenal hit.
I mean, as a commercial, and that'sone of the reasons, like, I think
Richard Carpenter liked this song.
It was like, it was a great song.
(24:18):
Right.
That's great.
And they, the bank started gettingall these people coming into the bank
to open accounts and get loans andthey were like, Oh, we actually, it
was actually more successful thanwe wanted it to be in our markets.
The other fun fact about the CrockerBank, and perhaps this is a reason why
it's not a bank anymore, is that it wasis that the creator of Dilbert, Scott
(24:40):
Adams, worked at the Crocker Bank.
In kind of middle management early onin his career and much of the much of
the early Dilbert you know, bureaucracythat he's skewering in this cartoon is
based on his experiences that the bankand that it ended at another big company
that he worked for in San Francisco.
So I love, so, you know, Crocker Bank has,you know, two, two claims to, you know,
(25:04):
To fame, one positive and one less, so
the
Debbie Arnold (25:08):
it's a great story.
Evan Sparks (25:10):
Yeah, it's like, it's just, it's interesting to see kind of the,
some of the connections that we have inlike in banking and music and how we're
you know, how we, and how people, youknow, like you were saying, Clark, you
associate these, this have this positivebrand association because of a music of
music that you you know, you heard ones.
And I think if you, you know, If youremember, we remember things when we
(25:34):
sing them versus, you know, if we just,if you want to remember something,
make a, make a song out of it.
Right.
You know, I grew up, I grew upin the South and we did a lot
of Bible memory with singing.
Right.
And it's like I remember a lotmore of those than I do of the,
the ones that I just, you know,Memorized as spoken word, so
Debbie Arnold (25:50):
yeah, I'm probably older than you guys, but "conjunction junction.
What's your function?"
Evan Sparks (25:56):
Yeah, schoolhouse rock.
Absolutely.
So, all right.
Well, this was, this was, we're,we're kind of at our time here.
I'm going to play one final song.
And then I'm just, cause I, causeone thing I was, as I was exploring
some going down some YouTuberabbit trails, I learned that.
The bank jingle is not justa, an American phenomenon.
(26:17):
It is it is actually, there areactually quite a lot of Indian bank
jingles and African bank jingles.
And so I got one from Nigeria herethat is pretty good and it's got
kind of a lion king vibe to it.
So I'll put this one on and thenwe'll wrap up our conversation here.
We are a co op, cause we are a unity band.
(26:39):
Yeah.
Wow.
Tremendous.
That is impressive.
So yeah, it's like That'sour Broadway level.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Yeah, I know, it's like,that's, that singer has, that
(27:24):
jingle's got some pipes on there, so Wow.
All right.
So what's still going to be inyour head at the end of the,
at the end of the day here?
Debbie Arnold (27:33):
Well, you know my answer.
Clark Hook (27:38):
Honestly, it might be Debbie's in my head too.
Although that last one, the,the one from Nigeria, that's
going to be in my head too.
That's going to stick.
Craig Colgan (27:48):
Well, I, I, when Clark said he found, caught himself
singing the Debbie's Banks jingle, Idid that as well when I was writing
this a couple of months back.
Walking down the street and I rememberthinking I remember I caught myself
but I remember thinking this is big.
This is It's a killer tune.
(28:11):
It's I want that on the record.
I think that's a killer tune.
All right Well, let me
Evan Sparks (28:15):
take it.
Well, i'm gonna just just thank thankThank Clark and Debbie for being on
the show today and Craig as well.
We really appreciated talking throughsome of these, some of these yeah,
unique marketing examples with you.
And thanks for helping us take a walkdown memory lane and see what's, you
know, kind of new and interestingin the world of of sonic marketing.
(28:38):
So thank you both.
Debbie Arnold (28:39):
Thank you.
This was fun.
Evan Sparks (28:41):
And so thanks so much for listening.
Thanks again to AgriAccessfor sponsoring this episode.
This is our last episodebefore Thanksgiving.
It's coming out a littleearlier in the week for you.
So, to all our listeners, Iwant to wish you a very happy
Thanksgiving with your friends andfamily or however you celebrate.
I'm thankful to you for listening.
So I'm going to play the People'sBank jingle to take us out and we will
we'll go out with a, send, send all ourlisteners out with a little earworm today.
Peoples Bank Jingle (29:05):
My bank is People's Bank.
Make it your bank too.
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