G Flip and Banoffee call on Australians to cover ‘Happy Little Vegemite’ jingle
Australian artists G Flip and Banoffee have kicked off a competition for Vegemite, devised by Thinkerbell, asking consumers to create their own versions of the brand’s iconic jingle.
The ‘Mitey Covers’ competition is seeking versions of the jingle in all genres of music from Australians of all ages. The winner of the competition will have their jingle aired on national radio as a campaign.
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The jingle was created in 1954 by Vegemite’s former creative agency J Walter Thompson (now part of Wunderman Thompson), and has been used intermittently in Vegemite’s advertising over the last 60 years. To mark the launch of the competition, Vegemite found the original sheet music for the jingle and is releasing it to the public.
This is a grand idea and a good way of promoting (not that it needs much promotion) brand awareness.
However, a word of warning. The jingle ( perhaps anthem) is what people today call “iconic,” it is, in fact, a solidly embedded tradition in Australia where it has entered everyday speech in both plural and singular form as an indicator of happiness, positivity or good feeling.
Remember the words of the old adage: Make new friends, but keep the old, for one is silver, the other gold.