Jingle All the Way

C’mon everyone.  Sing along! You know the tune…”800-588-2300…Empire!”

Anyone who lived in the Chicagoland area way back when, probably remembers this jingle before the now-ubiquitously promoted carpet-floor-window treatments company, Empire Today, went national.  Back then it was simply Empire and it was a local number (no “Eight Hundred” to sing about).  Since then, the company has made a ton of commercials; serves more than 50 markets in the U.S. and Canada; and has turned its human spokesman, the Empire Man, into a cute animated character who will presumably be immune to futher aging. 

But the jingle – that annoyingly upbeat tune that drives everyone insane – has stayed constant, but for a bit of a tweak to accommodate the new name. Rosser Reeves would be proud.  It’s been featured or mentioned in several movies and television shows (I recently heard Ellen DeGeneres riff on it), and there’s a whole subculture of YouTube contributors who have submitted videos of themselves, their dogs and/or their kids “singing” their own versions of the tune.  The dogs are my favorites – check out these two versions, here and here.

Today, the company has grown to serve more than a million customers and last year was named the nation’s #1 specialty flooring retailer by a trade publication. While there are probably many satisfied customers that have helped the company grow, the Web is rife with complaints about shoddy service.  Having no personal experience with the company and not knowing anyone who does, I can’t contribute pro or con to that dialogue. But it’s pretty safe to assume that the Empire commercials’ really cheap production values, its madness-inducing musical ditty, the iconic popularity of the Empire Man and the cool factor that is Chicago culture created a perfect storm of public buzz and consumer engagement and contributed mightily to the company’s nationwide success…for 30-plus years and counting, no less.  Call it an early version of a viral video strategy. Call it dumb luck.  Either way, it’s quite a feat.