The founder of Brand Music, Michael Burrows, whose work has helped shape the sound of some of Australia’s most iconic advertising campaigns, is warning brands against abandoning one of their most valuable assets – their jingle.
Since starting out in 1999, his work has included Chemist Warehouse’s iconic ‘Woo Hoo’ branding and Oscar Wylee’s ‘Look and See’, to Sushi Hub, Goat Soap and White Glove Movers. Burrows has spent more than two decades helping brands become instantly recognisable through music. Most recently, he contributed to Nike’s global Rip The Script campaign for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Speaking with B&T during a recent interview, Burrows said too many marketers still see sound as an optional creative flourish rather than one of a brand’s most valuable long-term assets.
“We all kind of get annoyed when a brand changes colours or changes its logo. You wouldn’t change a logo,” he said. “So don’t change your sound.”
“If you invest in a sound, but you change marketing managers here and there, it takes real guts for a marketing manager to say, ‘No, I’m not going to reinvent. I’m just going to evolve what we have because we already have something really good’.”
“But that is essential,” he said.
For Burrows, a jingle isn’t simply a catchy tune. Whether it’s a sung melody, a whistle, a mnemonic or a sonic logo, it has one job – “to create a memory.”
“For a while now the term ‘jingle’ has fallen in and out of favour,” he said. “People started calling it sonic branding or mnemonics because ‘jingle’ became associated with older-style advertising.
“But it’s still the same thing to me. It’s about creating a catchy melody. Whether it’s a whistle or a sung phrase, you’re creating memory.”
That memory, he argues, is precisely why brands should resist the temptation to refresh their sound every few years.
“Imagine if the new Nike managers over the years decided to change the logo,” he said. “That just wouldn’t feel right, would it?”
Australia’s most unforgettable earworms
Australians have no shortage of examples proving Burrows’ point. Few advertising campaigns have embedded themselves into popular culture quite like Happy Little Vegemites, Aeroplane Jelly, Aussie Kids Are Weet-Bix Kids, the Menulog jingle or the unmistakable Banana Boat theme.
Many of them have survived for decades, becoming bigger than the advertisements themselves.
One brand still embracing that philosophy is Australian food spread Vegemite.
Matt Gray, general manager of innovation and marketing at Bega Group, told B&T the famous Happy Little Vegemites jingle remains one of the company’s greatest brand assets more than 70 years after it first aired.
“When ‘Happy Little Vegemites’ was created back in 1954, it captured the joy and optimism Australians associated with Vegemite, and that’s a big reason why it continues to resonate today,” Gray said.
“We definitely still use the jingle. Most recently, we partnered with The Wiggles to give it a fresh, playful twist for a new generation.
“It introduced the iconic tune to children who may not have heard it before, while also tapping into the nostalgia so many Australians feel when they hear those familiar lyrics.”
Rather than replacing the jingle, Vegemite has evolved it. Gray said the strategy allows the brand to preserve its heritage while ensuring it still feels contemporary.
Within the remake, the Happy Little Vegemites are seen joyously dancing, gleefully running around the clothesline in the backyard, climbing trees and sharing moments with their friends.
And to make it even more special, the little girl from the original 1950s Vegemite commercial, Trish Cavanagh, made a special cameo appearance as an older adult in the 2023 remake of the ad.
“For a brand like Vegemite, staying true to our roots is central to who we are,” he said. “The jingle isn’t just a marketing asset — it’s part of Australia’s cultural fabric.
“Generations of Australians grew up singing it, often without even thinking of it as an advertisement.”
He added that emotional connection is “almost impossible to manufacture from scratch”
“A great jingle can do something that a logo or visual branding alone can’t — it creates an emotional and often involuntary connection with people. Consumers don’t just recognise the ‘Happy Little Vegemites’ jingle — they sing it.”
“It’s helped build a connection with generations of Australians and has become a distinctive part of our brand heritage,” he added.
“Connections like that are difficult to create from scratch, which is why we’ve continued to invest in the jingle rather than replace it.”
More than just background music
Burrows believes audio often does something visuals cannot, not only does it create lasting memory but it creates “instant brand recognition within seconds” too.
His message comes after System1’s research last year on audio in ad campaigns found audio significantly boosts commercial effectiveness, driving 75 per cent more profit, 81 per cent greater trust, 81 per cent higher price insensitivity, and 19 per cent stronger customer acquisition compared to campaigns without audio
That ability becomes increasingly valuable as consumer attention spans continue to shrink.
“You need attention and brand distinction within the first two seconds,” Burrows said. “Audio has the power to do that.”
The structure of a jingle also isn’t accidental, according to Burrows.
He explained to B&T that many brands still rely on what the industry calls the “top and tail” approach — introducing the brand musically at the beginning of an ad before reinforcing it again at the end.
“I’ve always believed: sing me the brand name, tell me the offer, then sing me the brand name again,” he said.
“Within advertising you’ve literally got less than five seconds to keep somebody interested.”
Others, particularly more established brands, now strip the music back to its simplest form.
“Sometimes the full jingle becomes just the sonic logo,” he explained. “It might only be the melody by itself because people already know it.”
That repetition isn’t accidental either.
“We use a lot of neuroscience when we’re developing jingles,” Burrows said. “When something is repeated, it’s got a much better chance of sticking in your memory.”
A brand’s sound should evolve, not disappear
Burrows isn’t against evolution. Seasonal updates, campaign-specific remixes and modern reinterpretations all have their place, he said.
But “abandoning decades of brand equity” simply because a new marketing team wants to leave its mark is a different story.
“I think evolving things for the moment is really good,” he said. “But when you’re changing things just for the sake of it because you’re new and you want to leave your mark, sometimes it can backfire.”
“If you find something that connects with people,” he said, “please stick with it.”
“Brands have to stick with their sound. That’s the biggest thing.”
