By: Abigail Beurket
Brand jingles are something you constantly hear in your daily life. The best part of waking up for you might be the magically delicious cereal or the snack that smiles back. Your insurance might be like a good neighbor, but did anyone have to tell you the names of these brands to understand which ones they are?
So many brands have successfully rooted their recognition into a few lyrics used as a jingle to promote their products or services. These jingles are great for brand recognition, but how impactful are jingles on a company’s success?
Many brands incorporate their company name directly into their jingles. Perhaps the most on-the-nose is Liberty Mutual Insurance, where they simply sing “Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.” However, NJM Insurance takes an entirely different approach. The acronym NJM stands for “No Jingles or Mascots,” with the tagline “just great insurance.” Comparing these two brands’ success from when they began implementing these tactics through traditional media, specifically TV commercials, we will see which approach works best for the two companies within the same industry.
The cheesy snack industry has competitors similar to those mentioned in the insurance industry. Goldfish Crackers, the snack that smiles back, has a recognizable jingle used throughout its commercials. However, Cheez-Its, a competitive brand with a smiling golden cracker, does not have a recognizable jingle to accompany its communication strategies.
This blog will dive into the effects of implementing a commercial jingle within two different industries and analyze the brands deeper in their reported statistics, brand analysis and financial earnings reports from before and after each of their campaigns or implementation of a jingle to determine how impactful jingles truly are on a company’s success. It will use a strong competing brand without a jingle to compare the achievements of each brand and determine whether or not jingles help a company succeed.
Liberty vs. NJM: The Battle in Insurance
How they started and what they created
Liberty Mutual Insurance was founded in 1912 to provide workers’ compensation insurance. Surprisingly, as recently as 2019, the insurance company shared its first commercial that ended with the iconic jingle. Liberty Mutual was no stranger to commercial advertising before implementing its Jingle; it had many commercials before 2019, using a constant location in front of the Statue of Liberty.
Liberty is also known for its dynamic duo, LiMu Emu and Doug, a team committed to ensuring customers only pay for what they need. LiMu Emu and Doug have a jingle and use a few catchphrases throughout the campaign. They were first introduced in 2019, around the same time as the new “Liberty” jingle.
Funny Commercial – Liberty Mutual – Limu Emu & Doug #1
NJM, founded in 1913, utilizes drastically different tactics than Liberty Mutual. They have all the promotions an insurance company would need. NJM Insurance’s name indicates that the brand uses completely different strategies. NJM, or No Jingles or Mascots, the goal in their advertising is for their recognizable aspects to be that they just have great insurance and that they don’t need gimmicks like jingles or an Emu-human duo to be good at what the company was built for. It’s a form of differentiation similar to how other insurance companies use mascots, but NJM is differentiating itself by not conforming to that norm. The movement to use “No Jingles or Mascots” for their recognizable brand started in 2021.
Who wins in insurance?
Before Liberty Mutual used all the new tactics introduced by the brand in 2019 and later, based on their 2017 financial earnings presentation (reported in March 2018), they were 75th among Fortune 500 companies. This was using their previous tactics and messaging. In Liberty Mutual’s most recent financial earnings presentation, they are now 87th among Fortune 500 companies. Liberty dropped in this place and has fallen in several other categories since 2017.
Comparing the revenue of Liberty Mutual and NJM, Liberty won by around 30 billion dollars. However, comparing the two companies in terms of their advertising and the growth they have propelled with their campaigns. NJM has endured the most improvement and development with its brand in recent years. It would be reasonable to conclude that for this scenario in the lane of insurance, Jingles might not be as effective in success as they are with brand awareness.
From their polar opposite approaches to advertising in their insurance brands, there is no doubt that both companies have encountered significant success in their field. Despite the differences, they both are substantial, well-known companies. Liberty Mutual grew its brand into a Fortune 500 company well before implementing a jingle, and NJM might follow in the same success with their brand in the future.
Goldfish vs Cheez-It: The Battle of The Snacks
How they started and what they created
Pepperidge Farms first launched Goldfish Crackers in 1962, but it wasn’t until 1966 that It introduced the cheddar cheese-flavored cracker. When Goldfish Crackers were first introduced, they were simply fish-shaped and did not receive their signature smiling faces until 1997.
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish ad, 2001
Today, in 2024, goldfish crackers have had their smile for 27 years and have built a massive part of their branding around this attribute. In 2001, Goldfish Crackers created its first commercial using the jingle. After 2001, Goldfish crackers continued to be marketed as “the snack that smiles back” through commercials aimed more at children.
Cheez-It was first introduced by The Green and Green Company in 1921, 41 years before goldfish crackers. After bouncing around to a few different parent companies, Cheez-It finally landed in the hands of Kellenova, formally known as Kellogg’s, as their parent company in 2001 and has remained a product of theirs since.
Cheez-It Commercial: Interrupting Cheese
The biggest commercial campaign Cheez-It ran was when it featured a talking wheel of cheese, and a doctor-type character interacted with the cheese to determine if it was mature enough for Cheez-It. However, Cheez-It remained jingle-less throughout all its marketing tactics.
It is also important to note that Goldfish has several varieties of flavoring, with cheddar cheese being the most recognizable and popular flavor. In contrast, Cheez-It has various forms available, such as varying sizes and textures, but its flavoring has mostly remained constant.
Who wins in snacks?
Based on reports from 2017, which would be after all the relevant campaigns to the Goldfish jingle would have run, the leading cracker brand in the U.S., making over 685 million dollars, was Cheez-It. Following behind in second place is Goldfish, making over 523 million dollars.
This table shows the results of a more recent survey in 2022. This survey evaluated how Gen z’s in the U.S. placed goldfish among other popular snacks. As you can see in the chart, Goldfish was 2% above Cheez-It as the preferred snack brand.
Another pair of surveys concluded that eating habits for goldfish and Cheez-it are very similar: most people will have a bag of goldfish or Cheez-It one to three times every 30 days. As you can see, these charts are very similar.
Given that the success of both these products is extremely similar, it may not matter whether or not your product has a jingle in this industry. The parallels of how these companies have risen to success make it undeniable that jingles do not significantly contribute to this market. However, both brands have had great, successful marketing, whether expressed through song or not.
Conclusion
Just because a jingle has a cute message and a catchy tune doesn’t always equal success. Maybe a company has struck gold on a note rather than its product, but a song cannot save a failing product. Based on this information of how jingles have impacted two completely different industries and how they have ended on similar notes, I would have to conclude that jingles just aren’t going to be the deciding factor on whether or not a business will succeed in terms of the campaign or a company as a whole.
