Direct Line’s red phone jingles back onto our screens

Britons have voted for their favourite jingles in a survey by leading insurer, Direct Line, with some classic catch-phrases and memorable tunes making the top ten. Direct Line conducted the study to mark the launch of a new ad campaign starring the iconic red phone and mouse on wheels with its classic clarion call jingle which first burst onto TV screens in the mid-80s.

[UKPRwire, Tue Apr 07 2009] Britons have voted for their favourite jingles in a survey by leading insurer, Direct Line, with some classic catch-phrases and memorable tunes making the top ten. Direct Line conducted the study to mark the launch of a new ad campaign starring the iconic red phone and mouse on wheels with its classic clarion call jingle which first burst onto TV screens in the mid-80s.

Britain’s All-time Top 10 Jingles:
1. Secret lemonade drinker – R Whites (21 per cent)
A young Elvis Costello provided back-up vocals for the ad which his father wrote and sang.

2. I’d like to teach the world to sing – Coca-Cola (20 per cent)
The original radio ad was a failure and it wasn’t until the now famous images of children singing on a hillside that the ad became a success. Like most good ideas, the jingle lyrics were drafted on the back of a napkin.

3. Crumbliest, flakiest chocolate – Cadbury’s Flake (17 per cent)
The Flake ads have seen considerable controversy over the years due to their suggestive nature featuring a number of beautiful women enjoying the product.

4. Everyone’s a fruit and nut case – Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut (16 per cent)
Fronted by Frank Muir, these ads made the most of the ‘nut case’ element with Frank famously suggesting that they ‘make them up as we go along’. The ad featured a less than authentic Scotsman tossing the caber and a panto horse trotting through a field.

5. Just one Cornetto – Wall’s Cornetto (16 per cent)
The original song was an Italian classic titled O Sole Mio (My Sun). Elvis Presley’s biggest international hit, It’s Now or Never, used the same tune with lyrics written especially for him.

6. Um Bongo, they drink it in the Congo – Um Bongo (11 per cent)
Sung by Tony Jackson from the band Rage which had the hit dance single ‘Run to You’ in 1992, the jingle was produced by Monty Python’s composer.

7. A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play – Mars Bar (11 per cent)
Written back in the day when it was okay to suggest big bars of chocolate are a great way to get you through the day.

8. If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit – Club Biscuits (11 per cent)
There were various incarnations of this jingle, with an early 90s ad featuring kids and teens enjoying themselves in a park. The ad suggests that if you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, you can join a club filled with sunshine, fun and early 90s fluorescent clothing.

9. A finger of fudge – Cadbury’s Fudge (10 per cent)
This ad featured two kids playing conkers. One of the kids is distracted by his mother with a Finger of Fudge, drawing him away from the conkers contest.

10. For mash, get smashed – Cadbury’s Smash Mash (9 per cent)
Featuring Martian puppets that made the Thunderbirds look advanced, this was quite a surreal ad. The ad suggested that only a ‘primitive people’ would make their own mash.

Spokesperson for Direct Line Insurance, Frances Browning, comments;
“With Britain’s obesity crisis growing at the same speed as our waistlines, it is interesting to see soft-drinks and chocolates feature in nine out of the top ten most popular jingles. You must ask whether it is the jingle we remember, or is it the indulgent goodness of the sweets and drinks we enjoyed as kids?

“There will be plenty of debate about the best jingle, and no doubt many of us will have the words stuck in our heads for hours. For marketers, this survey shows how a good jingle can increase brand awareness and even generate brand strength decades later - jingles can actually outlast the products they were designed to sell.

”Direct Line has launched its 2009 advertising campaign with a return of the Direct Line clarion call jingle and the red phone and mouse taking centre stage just as they did when they burst onto our screens in the mid-80s. The jingle acts as an exclamation mark at the end of the ads which seek to educate consumers that Direct Line does not appear on price comparison websites.”

For further details on Direct Line Insurance visit www.directline.com