Starburst gets juices going with hit song Lara Sinclair
REACTION has been split over the hit single “Get your juices going” created by D’Arcy Australia for Mars confectionery division Effem Foods brand Starburst (see B&T Weekly, September 13).
The single rose in the Aria Top 50 Singles charts from number 37 last week to number 28 this week, and has been getting both radio and television play on Nova 100 and Ten music video show Video Hits, backed by extensive radio and television ads promoting sales of the single.
So is “Get your juices going” an ad or a single? Is it a fair tactic or foul? Opinion is divided.
“Shame on you, Effem Foods,” wrote one music industry reader obviously taking the former view. “Who cares what talented artists and producers are creating or what the general public want to hear when you are peddling fast-moving consumer goods?”
“No, we wouldn’t play that—it’s an ad,” was the view of Triple J music director Arnold Frolows, who was first presented with the single by record company Zomba Records. “It sounded like an ad with those lyrics,” Frolows, who rejected the single, said.
Nova 100 Melbourne program director Dan Bradley said the song “wasn’t good enough” to get airplay on his station, although ads promoting sales of the single were accepted.
Meanwhile, the major reaction from the advertising industry appears to have been one of admiration.
“The idea of taking an ad problem and coming up with a non-advertising solution is very commendable,” Brown Melhuish Fishlock principal Paul Fishlock said.
“I think that certainly it is part of advertising,” he added. “I think ad agencies have got to be thinking that way—outside the box.”
However, Fishlock said advertising to children was currently a topical and tricky issue.
“There’s a potential issue there if it is not entirely above board and especially if it is aimed at kids, that could all get a bit smelly,” he said.
AWARD chairman Rowan Dean said the single sounded like a “great campaign”. While many award shows have had trouble finding a place for non-advertising marketing solutions—for example, the rejection of BMWfilms.com from the Film section at the Cannes International Advertising Festival this year—he said it could be entered in the Innovative Media category at AWARD next year.
HMV Pitt Street Mall (Sydney) store assistant manager Michael Huntley confirmed the single had been “selling regularly, mostly to teenagers”.
“TV advertising plays a hell of a part in sales and Video Hits gives you younger market exposure. You’re pretty much guaranteed some sales if you can get your single on there.”
REACTION has been split over the hit single “Get your juices going” created by D’Arcy for Mars confectionery division Effem Foods brand Starburst (see B&T Weekly, September 13).
The single rose in the Aria Top 50 Singles charts from number 37 last week to number 28 this week, and has been getting both radio and television play.
So is “Get your juices going” an ad or a single? Is it a fair tactic or foul? Opinion is divided.
“Shame on you, Effem Foods,” wrote one music industry reader obviously taking a negative view.
“No, we wouldn’t play that—it’s an ad,” said Triple J music director Arnold Frolows
Nova 100 Melbourne program director Dan Bradley said the song “wasn’t good enough” to get airplay on his station.
However, the reaction from other agencies appears to have been one of admiration.
