Allan Johnston, better known as the Jo in the now iconic creative agency Mojo, has created a new jingle, singing Black T-shirts, a cliche of the advertising industry, co-written by Jim Ingram.
“If you want the world to know you've got an arts degree. nothing says me like a plain black T.
"If you're a He you can’t disagree that nothing says me like a plain black T
“At a fancy lunch with a nice chablis, nothing says me like a plain black T.
"Yes, if you're a wannabe and you stand up to pee, nothing says me like a plain black T."
Jo created the jingle to help promote the Black T-Shirts podcast from Thinkerbell founder Adam Ferrier and prominent CMO Brent Smart, now with IAG and formerly of Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
The Mojo agency, with Jo and partner Alan "Mo" Morris (who died in 2007), was known for its run of hugely successful Australian brands platforms.
These included I feel like Tooheys, You ought to be Congratulated for Meadow Lea, Hit em with the ol’ Pea-Beu for Pea-Beu, Come on Aussie, come on for Kerry Packer's World Series cricket and Paul Hogan and the Shrimp on the Barbie.
Jo, after the recording the new jingle, spoke to Brent Smart and Adam Ferrier on the latest episode of Black T-Shirts.
He puts the absence of jingles in advertising now down to at least three possibilities: The dominance of the English art director in Australia; a lack of encouragement for making talent in advertising agencies today, as production is now separate from the creatives; and clients wanting to put their money into buying known songs (rather than original work) to try to leverage pre-existing equity.
Jo: “That was happening as I was getting out of the business. I know a lot of them blamed British art directors who hated jingles because they couldn't do them.
“I think Mo and I were unique.We could write our own music and do all that and not a lot of agencies in those days did that.
"The agencies would tend to write some rhyming lines, and that's what jingles became. We just approached it differently.
“We really just wanted to make it sound as much like a song as we could rather than just a little you know, rhyming jingle.
“We always tried to weave in Australians, a story, feeling, emotion.”
He still thinks jingles will work but “naturally I am prejudiced”.
Adam Ferrier: “It’s fascinating to hear how in some ways we’ve lost our way. Marketing Sciences would back up the effectiveness of jingles, yet for seemingly both superficial and easily surmountable practical reasons, the industry has all but stopped making them.
“It would be great if this episode could inspire a few more brands to invest in ownable songs for their brands.”
Black T-Shirts is a podcast powered by and housed on the Listnr podcast network.
Jo, via adman Rob Belgiovane, last year created You Oughta be Vaccinated, a variation of the Medow Lea jingle, to help with the COVID program.
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