54-40 or Fidelity
February 27th, 2006
While watching CNBC an ad for Fidelity Investments came on. I recognized the song they were using and I started thinking who is it? I was quite surprised when I figured out it was Vancouver’s own 54-40.
I’m of two minds to using songs in ads. On one hand as a huge Neil Young fan I agree with him:
I ain’t singing for nobody that makes me look like a joke.
However Willie Nelson has appeared in Gap ads. Willie Nelson also almost went bankrupt due to troubles with the IRS. I mean if you need the money it is hard to say “no” to advertisers. Plus no one can doubt Willie Nelson’s credibility. Advertisers want the songs to invoke certain emotions and thoughts which they want associated with their product. Advertisers do a lot worse than this.
So whoever decided to put just the intro to a pretty obscure 54-40 song in a Fidelity ad, I think that was pretty cool. My all time favourite comes from Nissan which featured an R.L. Burnside lick or two in a truck ad and the Who’s “Won’t get fooled again” in a Maxima ad. The other ad which recently featured an interesting song was the one with “Over Under Sideways Down” by the Yardbirds. I guess I prefer songs and artists a little bit further off the beaten track.
I’ve been living in China and hadn’t watched TV in years, but now I’m back in Canada and back watching too much TV at my mother’s house. Song placement in movies is more artistic but choosing a great song such as “Ooh La La” can still help corporations generate positive associations with their product. If you have thoughts on this you can leave them below.
This entry was originaly posted on , it was last edited on and is filed under: Rambles and tagged: 54-40, Advertising, Music.
OK,
Thanks Muskie….you’re right…different song…I found out the one I’m talking about is the intro to a Falco song, Der Komissar.
The song is called “Since When“, it is from the album after “Trusted by Millions” which I don’t own. However it is also on the double live album “Heavy Mellow” which I do own. I tried finding this track before, but I guess I didn’t try hard enough. That is one of the advantages to owning an album you can hunt down any song, of course there is also iTunes Music Store or other means to acquire your music.
The album the song is from is cleverly titled “Since When“.
I think we may be talking about a different Fidelity ad. The one I’m talking about is on CNBC all the time and is about how different people do things differently. The whole time the intro which has a keyboard (or is it a guitar?) is playing to a 54-40 song. I was looking for the song in my iTunes collection and either I haven’t ripped it or I don’t own it or I’m insane. Since I don’t think I’m insane, I’ll have to redouble my efforts as this post has proven surprisingly popular.
What would that song by 54-40 be called? If we’re talking about the same Fidelity ad (the one that has a guy named (Jeff?) having everything done for him (lights on/off, sprinkler on/off, etc) then I knew I had heard that song before somewhere….
I’m dying to get a copy of it….maybe I’ll become a 54-40 fan?