Hear This: Modern Brands Are Reinventing Classic Jingles

Jingles aren’t retro, they’re renewable

For years, jingles have been treated as a relic of advertising’s past with some even calling them relics of a different age. With cinematic storytelling, celebrity cameos and licensed soundtracks in the mix, some brands have deprioritized owning their sound in favor of borrowing cultural, temporary heat.

At System1, we’ve tested thousands of ads with consumers to understand what drives both short-term sales and long-term growth. One finding is consistent: Distinctive assets, including jingles, materially increase brand recognition and amplify creative impact.

And lately, we’re seeing something telling. The most culturally fluent brands aren’t abandoning jingles. They’re modernizing them.

The Return of the Jingle (Done Right)

Recent campaigns show that jingles aren’t retro, they’re renewable.

Frosted Flakes remixed its 90s-era Tony the Tiger jingle, collaborating with rapper JID to introduce the brand to a new generation while retaining its instantly recognizable sonic DNA. The melody stayed. The cultural context evolved.

Folgers transformed its iconic “The Best Part of Wakin’ Up” into a contemporary wake-up anthem, building on classics pop tracks in the bargain.

Domino’s launched a collaboration with Shaboozey, blending country influence and modern swagger while ensuring the brand name is unmistakably embedded in the track.

These marketers understand something critical: When you own your sound, you compound your equity.

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Why Jingles Work: There’s Science Behind Sonic Branding

Creative effectiveness isn’t just about entertainment. It’s about being remembered and, more importantly, remembered correctly.

Assets like logos, colors, characters, taglines and sonic devices increase brand attribution. Without them, even highly emotional creative risks misattribution or forgettability.

Sonic branding consistently ranks among the most powerful devices for attribution. Why? Because sound shortcuts memory. A melody processes faster than a paragraph. A five-note sequence can signal a brand before a logo ever appears. When used consistently, jingles become cognitive anchors reducing processing effort and increasing fluency.

And fluency drives choice.

The Compounding Effect of Consistency

One-off cultural moments can spark attention. But long-term growth is built through repetition. As Orlando Wood discusses in Lemon, we’re drawn to what’s easy to process. Repetition builds familiarity. Familiarity builds preference.

The brands winning with jingles today aren’t reinventing their sound every year. They’re codifying it.

System1’s research shows that campaigns incorporating multiple distinctive assets see a significant uplift in brand recognition, with a notable jump once brands consistently deploy a broad system of assets working together.

A jingle is rarely the only code. It works best when paired with color, logo, recurring characters and consistent tone. But unlike visual assets, sonic devices travel seamlessly across channels: TV, TikTok, radio, streaming, in-store and beyond. They’re portable memory structures. If brands are going to invest in sonic branding for the long term, execution matters.

The Most Effective Jingles Share 4 Characteristics

Consistency over novelty. Modernize if needed (remix, reinterpret, collaborate) but retain the core melody or mnemonic structure.

Memorable simplicity. Short, melodic, repeatable. Complexity kills recall.

Emotional alignment. Insurance brands lean into reassurance. Food brands lean into joy. The music must reinforce the feeling you want to own.

Distinctiveness. In a world of licensed pop tracks, ownership is a competitive advantage. A custom jingle cannot be mistaken for a competitor’s.

A jingle is an appreciating asset. Each exposure strengthens memory structures. Each remix refreshes relevance without resetting equity. Each repetition increases fluency.

The brands revitalizing their jingles today aren’t being nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake. They’re leveraging decades of accumulated brand memory and making it culturally current.