Jingles, rhyme, puns, wordplay.

By Gonzalo López Martí – LMMMiami.com

When I started out in this racket in the mid-90s, we were more than just copywriters and art directors.

 

We were auteurs.

We created short films.

We wrote manifestos.

We were insufferable snobs.

Advertising was a highbrow craft.

Jingles, rhyme, puns, wordplay were frowned upon.

The sole idea of unironically considering a jingle as a possible campaign course of action could get you ostracized for life from a creative department.

Impact and memorability were afterthoughts.

To be sure, we didn’t really need impact or memorability.

Target audiences were sitting ducks.

We just knew they would swallow down our TV commercials, our radio spots, our magazines spreads.

They had nowhere else to go.

They had nowhere to hide.

Our frenemies in the media department made sure of it.

We got comfortable, just like our captive audience on their couches at home.

We had our heads up our rear ends.

Eventually, planners joined the party and brought behavioral insights to the table

When highbrow met self-help.

Oh boy.

That was then, this is now.

Consumers are exposed to a barrage of cognitive slop.

We have a split second to get their attention.

All of a sudden, those damn lowbrow tricks from the 1950s start making sense again.

Jingles, rhyme, puns, wordplay.

Only we call them memes now.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.