Love them or hate them, Super Bowl commercials are not cheap.
At this year’s match up between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, a 30-second spot costs an average $7 million, according to the New York Times.
So what makes a good ad?
Steve Karmen, who has written more than 2,000 jingles, has some ideas.
You may not know his name, but chances are you know his catchy tunes, including “Nationwide is on your side,” the “I Love New York” theme song, and Budweiser’s “Here Comes the King.”
The born-and-raised New Yorker has worked with all kinds of companies — cars, beer, gum — and even state governments.
In advance of this year’s Super Bowl, WNYC’s Alison Stewart talked to Karmen about how he got started, what makes a great jingle, and (of course) Kars-4-Kids.
You can hear their whole conversation here; an edited version is below.
Stewart: What does it mean to write something catchy? Are there certain notes or chord progressions that are guaranteed to hit?
Karmen: No. It doesn't work that way. I was in the business for a long, long time, and I haven't written a jingle for at least 15 or 20 years.
There's no secret, but there is a strategy. It's the big word that we were always faced with when we went to the meeting: What is the strategy of this campaign? And what you hear today, to my mind, seems to be developed without any strategy whatsoever.
People are putting songs on. To me, a pop song doesn't represent a product. It represents the pop song. And unless you sing the word or the name of the product someplace in there, to me the advertising fails.
The cover of Steve Karmen's CD
What's your musical background?
People say, “Where did you get the talent?” I think it's a gift. But what I did is, I worked at it and honed my gift. And whenever I had a problem, I called someone and asked a question.
But I have no musical training. I didn't go to music school. I went to the Bronx High School of Science. I graduated in 1954.
[Stewart plays a “Nationwide” jingle.] Steve, I feel like you take us on a journey with that one.
Nationwide, believe it or not, the longest-running campaign in the history of television, I believe. I wrote that in 1967. And as you note, there's a whole lyric there.
Now you see products and they come up with one cute line, and then they sing it and think they're hitting home runs.
But I’m in favor of something that will sit in the back roads of your memory and allow you to remember something in a nice way, and that's how they sell products.
I wanna read a [listener] text to you that's really interesting. “I am blind, and I have fond memories of the era of the jingle. Today, there's usually no dialogue or jingle that even mentions the product. There's just music that plays for a short while, and you have no idea what that was all about. My sighted husband tells me that it's sometimes difficult to figure out even if you're looking at the screen.”
Bravo. My super compliments to the person who wrote that, because that is the truth. And it's coming from the consumer. This is what people don't recognize. They think if they see some quick line on “Saturday Night Live,” and they say, “Hey. That'll make a great commercial for this.”
And they put it in, and it's one laugh, and you're gone. And that's why, again, I defend the music part. Music is everything. It's the universal communicator.
We're gonna throw the skunk on the table right now. Lynn is on Line 9.
Lynn: This is an earworm for me. [Lynn sings.] “1-8-7-7 cars for kids. Donate your car today.”
Karmen: OK. Now here's my gripe about that. It's wonderful. Number one: It’s public service, and it represents a charity, so that you can't knock that part. But the last line, it's sung by a kid. Donate your car today — the kid sounds like he's gotta get his teeth straight. Every time I hear it, I change the station.
I have to say for doing due diligence that there is some sort of trademark issue with another organization with Kars4Kids. Some folks wanted to know about royalties and the business model of this.
Remember when you played Nationwide before? And I told you it's been running for 300 years? Well, that was my first real getting into the big time. And my music was going to represent Nationwide Insurance.
And the advertising agency is Ogilvy & Mather in those days. Handed me a contract, and I was right out of the Bronx. I looked at it and he said, “Sign here,” and I signed it. If I recall, I got paid $2,000 dollars to write the Nationwide campaign. And all the lyrics, I always wrote my own lyrics.
And then it started to go on and on. And I did all the musical arrangements behind all the commercials for at least 10 years, but they would not pay me a royalty.
Nationwide, I got zilch. And still people say, “You must be very angry,” and I said no.
This campaign taught me that if you want something, you gotta fight for it. And advertising composers do not get any kind of royalty whatsoever unless they sing on the commercial. And all my colleagues used to get out there and be in the vocal group.
I knew people who made, literally, a million dollars a year. But if they did not produce the spot, they could not hire themselves as a singer. And so after Nationwide, I went to a friend who worked at a major theatrical agency. His name was Peter Kelly. He's gone now, but he's the man that changed my life.
He got together with a couple of agency managers and lawyers and came up with a contract where I did not have to sing to get a royalty. And we worked out a schedule, and I would get paid when it was played.
This was earth shaking, and I had to fight my entire career. I got along fabulously with the creative people. When it came to the business managers and the lawyers, they hated me, but I wanted my own contract, and I have used my own contract ever since.
And I promise you, Alison, I turned down some really heavyweight products. Because they wanted to own the copyright, and I said I wouldn't do it.
We can't end this segment without talking about “I Love New York.” What's the backstory?
My mother is very happy. “I Love New York” happened in 1977. If you have memory back that far, there was a great headline in the Daily News that said “President Ford to New York City: Drop dead.”
And the governor at that time was Hugh Carey, and he wanted to come up with an advertising campaign to make it so that New York sounded what it is. It's probably the most sought-after location for people to come on vacation. There's Broadway. There's everything that is New York that you think about, and I was asked to write a jingle for it.
I think they paid me $2,500 dollars to do the demo. This is meeting the production cost, for musicians and singers, and I think I used the 40-piece orchestra, and I had eight singers and, you know, a big production. And I made zero on it until they bought it. But then when it took off, particularly the Broadway commercials, it became iconic immediately.
You cannot possibly plan for something like that. This is one of those magical things that just happened. Gov. Carey proclaimed it as the state song in 1980. So, Alison, you don't have to stand up, but you're talking to the only living state song composer.
I'm standing up right now. They see me in the studio. I salute you, sir.
Thank you. I love New York. It's been great, and I know you're pressed for time. But what happened with that is, it's the first time that a municipal government of any kind ever advertised. And the Broadway commercials, and there was the very first commercial where one guy says, “I live in Brooklyn, but I love New York.” And it became, what New York is, iconic.
