In this short introduction to the power of the jingle we’re going to focus on commercial jingles for brand promotion. If you’re creating radio ads for your business, you’ll find that adding a jingle gives them life and character, and makes your product and company name much more memorable.

We often remember a jingle years and years after an ad has been forgotten: if you grew up in the seventies and eighties, short jingles like “For mash get SMASH!” and “A finger of fudge is just enough” have probably embedded themselves very deep in your memory, even though they haven’t been on TV or radio regularly for more than twenty years. When you consider examples like that, you can see how powerful jingles are – for a relatively small cost you can get a jingle that could promote your business for decades to come.

Deciding the lyrics

When you start working with a studio and composer to produce your jingle, one of the first things to decide is the nature of your lyrics. Clearly, you want some sort of memorable sales message in there, informing listeners of your key product’s benefit or simply repeating the name of your brand so people remember it.

How many words you can fit into your jingle depends on its length. Normally a jingle will be between 30 and 60 seconds. Commercial jingles come in two basic types. First is the “top and tail” – a jingle with a sung intro and outro and instrumental music underneath the voiceover section that forms the heart of the ad. Some of these jingles only feature a sung intro or outro; some use the same lyric as intro and outro; and some use a modified version of the intro version as an outro.

The heart of the commercial can be changed for each individual advertising campaign, but each different ad will be linked by the same jingle to reinforce your brand.

The other type of commercial jingle is a “fully sung” – a jingle that occupies all or most of an ad. Clearly, this type of jingle offers much more scope for creativity in terms of what can be sung and it’s important to make the right decisions about the theme, lyrics and style of music. Your studio and composer will be able to advise you on how lyrics can be made to work to the best effect.

Off-the-shelf vs. bespoke

Once you’ve got an idea of what you want to say, the next major decision to make is whether you want an off-the-shelf or bespoke jingle. Bespoke jingles are composed from scratch, specifically for your business, and are absolutely unique. An off-the-shelf jingle, on the other hand, is a readily available, pre-written instrumental track over which your studio can lay a custom vocal track, with lyrics written specifically for your business.

The big downside of off-the-shelf jingles is that other businesses may use them, too. If your jingle is not unique, it loses much of its power as an advertising tool. Additionally, because it hasn’t been composed for your business, it can’t be made to match your style and brand as closely as a bespoke jingle. Bespoke jingles may cost a little more, but the extra investment is definitely worth it.

Composition and recording

When it comes round to composing and recording your jingle, most reputable studios will provide you with samples of previous work. Very often, you’ll be able to identify one or two jingles that you think work well, and the studio’s composer will work up a custom jingle for you in a similar style. Alternatively, you can specify the genre of music you think would be most suitable and the composer and lyricist should work around that.

Recording the instrumental parts of the jingle is very straightforward, and is usually a wholly or partially computerised process. Once you’re happy with the basic jingle, singers will be brought into the studio, the vocals recorded and the entire tracked mixed. If you’re using the same studio to produce your radio ad, the jingle can then be stored ready for when the final ad is produced.

If you’d like a bespoke commercial jingle composed and produced, Clocktower Creative can help. Our team includes expert composers, writers and production engineers, and we have an extensive portfolio of successful jingles. Get in touch and we’ll send you some samples and advise you on your options.

For more information and contact details go to clocktowercreative.co.uk

The first thing to do is understand that writing for a voiceover is very different from writing for the printed page. When you’re reading a book, magazine or web page you can go at your own pace, and even skip back and re-read bits that aren’t clear. Audio is different. When you write a voiceover script, you need to remember that your listeners have to understand your words the first (and maybe the only) time they hear them.

So your number one priority is to write English that is clear and simple.
That sounds easy, but it isn’t. If you aim for simplicity, the big danger is that your voiceover ends up sounding like a reception teacher talking to a classroom of four-year-olds. That’s patronising, and the last thing you want to do is patronise your listeners, especially if you’re trying to sell them something.

The trick is to aim for a conversational effect. That doesn’t mean you have to be chatty or informal. It means using the style and tone of voice you would use if you were having a direct, honest, face-to-face conversation.

The best way to do that is to be as concrete and direct as possible, starting with the words you use. The difference between a good voiceover script and a bad one often comes down to word choice. Keep your words simple, preferring short ones to long ones. Avoid business and marketing jargon. Above all, use concrete words rather than abstract ones.

That means steering clear of words like cost-effective, efficient, impact, focussed, competent and cutting-edge. They are difficult for readers to grasp right away, and you’ll be making life hard for the voice over artist who has to get his or her mouth round them. Choose words that are easy to listen to, and easy to say: fast, low-cost, free, now, great.

You also need to limit the length of your sentences. In general, short is good, but if every sentence in your voice over script is short, you’ll find the whole thing sounds stilted and a bit weird. Aim for variation: one good technique is to use a relatively long sentence followed by a very short one:

Come to Dave’s Garage for Manchester’s best prices on tyres. Best prices guaranteed!

When you’re writing your voice over script, the best tool available to you is reading aloud. Write a draft, then read it out. Don’t whisper or mumble – blast it out in a good, strong, clear voice. When you’re doing dry runs like these, take care to enunciate clearly, just like a voice over artist would. That means making all the syllables of a word stand out crisply and clearly, while still maintaining a relatively natural tone of voice. If you’re doing it properly, you should find that you’re using your teeth and the muscles in the lower part of your face and jaw more than you would in normal conversation.

You could even record yourself on a Dictaphone or by using one of the simple freeware audio applications on the market.

Ask yourself: how does this sound? Are there any parts of the script that seem jumbled or untidy, even if they make perfect grammatical sense on the page? More important, did you find yourself tripping up or struggling to say particular words of phrases clearly? Those are the danger points in your script that you need to revisit and perhaps rewrite. If you have to work hard to say something clearly, the audience for your eventual voiceover – whether it’s part of a radio ad, an e-learning tutorial or a podcast – might have a hard time understanding it.

In summary:

1. Always remember that your audience only gets one shot at understanding your voiceover – listening to recorded speech isn’t like reading from the printed page.
2. Make sure everything is clear and simple without being patronising. Use clear, direct language and varied sentence lengths. (Avoid sentences that are too long – anything more than 20-25 words may need to be cut in two, and you should aim for an average length somewhere in the region of 8-15 words.)
3. Remember that reading aloud is your most valuable tool. Write an initial draft, read it aloud, spot the problems and rewrite accordingly. Keep going through this process. If possible, get other people to read it aloud and listen to it, too – they might spot problems you miss.

If you’re struggling with your voiceover scripts, feel free to get in touch with the experts at Clocktower Creative studios. They have more than a decade of experience in the writing, recording and production of voice over narrative for business – from radio commercials to on-hold marketing. They’ll be happy to offer advice or take over the writing work for you.

For more information and contact details go to clocktowercreative.co.uk