Don't Forget The Product Placement: Jingle Writing Goes The "American Idol" Route

Jingle Writing Goes The "American Idol" Route

CBS has decided to pick up the Mark Burnett game show Jingles, during which contestants will be required to write songs showcasing the various sponsors of the program in a positive light, then have those tunes judged by an "expert panel" and Americans. Winning songs will get used in the featured products' commercials, a fact that should make any indie musician hoping to pay his rent by selling his track to a soap company quiver in his boots. The designed-for-evading-TiVoers show will likely appear on the network's schedule come summertime, and casting is apparently going on right now! Here's a suggestion for CBS: How about cueing up a "marginal indie celebrity" version of the show to bring down your network's average viewing age—perhaps Feist vs. Wilco vs. Stephin Merritt? A preview of that potential throwdown is after the jump.

It's "Jingles" all the way for CBS, Burnett [Reuters]

Read More:

A Commenter Call To Action: Let's All Try Out For That Show Where You Have To Write A Jingle

9:30 AM on Mon Apr 14 2008
By Maura Johnston
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7 comments

Comments

by Al Shipley at 09:53 AM on 04/14/08
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I think CBS has misinterpreted the popularity of Charlie Sheen's jingle-writer character in "2 And A Half Men" as America's bottomless appetite for more glimpses into the sexy, sexy world of that character's profession.
by MyMuffinTop at 10:03 AM on 04/14/08
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Oooh, I hope Joey and Uncle Jesse are on!
by GeorgeLang at 11:02 AM on 04/14/08
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Writing jingles? How many pop trend pieces have been broadcast about the death of jingles as a viable ad strategy. Everybody is licensing these days -- it's way too easy to just insert a Yael Naim song than to have the boys at Sterling Cooper wrack their brains for a ditty.

[blog.newsok.com]
by How do I say this ...... at 12:23 PM on 04/14/08
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@GeorgeLang: As much as I appreciate the revenue that "indie bands" can pull by licensing one of their songs (since "kids these days" just download the music rather than paying for it), I do think that the world is a less enjoyable place given the current lack of commerical jingles. And TV theme songs for that matter. Oh, the halcyon days of yore...
by so1omon at 03:12 PM on 04/14/08
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Actually, all I can think of here is "How do I audition?".
by Charles A. Hohman at 03:12 PM on 04/14/08
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I give Merritt the slight edge in this roundup. The edge would be less slight if it was that marvelous Wrigley gum commercial instead.
by loudersoft at 04:27 PM on 04/14/08
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Whenever I see the Wrigley's ad, I feel like Stephen has captured my personal essence, spoken to a place deep within my soul...he may have even secretly been going grocery shopping with me because otherwise how would he know I chew not on chocolate, chili or chips?