It’s the season for peace and goodwill to men. It’s also the season … for buying stuff!
Businesses go to great lengths to get your attention all year long, and there’s no better way to take residence in your mind than music. Valley Review decided to take a walk through some of the finest in commercial jingles to reach our ears in the Fox Cities. Some are newer. Some have been with us seemingly forever.
Let’s sing them together.
First, let’s lay the ground rules. We’re sticking to jingles. There needs to be a musical element. The spoken, trademarked catchphrase does not apply here no matter how much you protest that Howie Voight will sell the best and service the rest.
We’ll kick things off with an honorable mention. We’re going for local, but it doesn’t seem right to leave out Menards, a Wisconsin business that has cast its tentacles well beyond the state’s borders. Whether its “save big money at Menards” or the holiday classic, “more seasons greetings to you all from Menards,” they’re tunes that every sentient being here recognizes from the first note. It’s a topic for another day, but I am curious how many employees have been driven to madness by having the banjos and jubilant voices drummed into their ears for eight hours every day.
Krieger Jewelers: It’s one of the longer jingles on the playlist and it has one special feature. It has a man’s part and a woman’s part, so you can sing along with a friend. “Let’s go engagement ring shopping, we don’t like those chain stores at all …” There’s one point to ponder. The final line of the song says “let’s get away from the mall” before announcing their location at Northland Mall.
ABT Basement Solutions: Conjure up a good bass voice. Think Oak Ridge Boys or Statler Brothers, now belt it out: “733-4ABT.” That’s it. That’s all there is to it, but if you spring a leak in the basement, you don’t even need to google up a phone number. Brilliant.
Speaking of phone numbers, you are not the only person who knows the number to Security Luebke Roofing. “People you know call 920-Roofing.”
Kossels TV and Appliance: It’s one of the all-time classics. It’s a jingle that grandparents can sing with their grandchildren. “K-O-double S-E-L-S …Kossels, for the very best.” And by the time you’re done, you know how to spell it.
Car dealerships are almost a category onto themselves, though our nods for the list? We gotta go, gotta go, gotta go with Gustman. Les Stumpf also gets a mention as the music is interesting with Seinfeld-esque popping sounds as the lead voice belts out his love for Les Stumpf Ford.
In the grocery industry, it must have been determined that the most powerful route to success is short, yet dramatic. The method is demonstrated in both, “service and savings, it’s Woodmans” and “great stuff for not a lot of money, Festival Foods.”
Di Renzo and Bomier: It’s not the most pervasive jingle on the list, unless of course your viewing habits are limited to Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy. Though if you were injured in accident, know the best way to start the quest for justice is to identify the catchiest jingle, and on that end, Di Renzo and Bomier deliver: “Call the heavy hitters, we’re the ones for you …800 LAW 1552.”
