Jingle All the Way [PHIL-OSOPHY]

Consumers love great advertising jingles. Let me prove it.

If I say Lucky Charms, you'll sing, "they're magically delicious." See what I mean? Depending on your age, I can spark some nostalgia with some of the catchiest advertising jingles, like State Farm's "like a good neighbor," or Wrigley Gum's, "double your pleasure, double your fun." Kids from the '90s will never forget the "Wonderball" song while older folks will gladly hum Alka Seltzer's "plop, plop, fizz, fizz."

All this jingle talk is because the Massachusetts Lottery will award a cash prize for anyone writing an original instant appeal jingle with a good hook. There's $5,000 in it for the winner.

The theme of its advertising and social media campaign is "State of Winning" and the ditty should incorporate "the dual state of winning that the lottery creates for players as well as cities and towns." As I'm writing this, I'm humming, "I wish I had an Oscar Mayer wiener."

The contest will be accepting your composition through March 6. Finalists will be announced March 30 and then the general public will vote for their favorite through April 3, with the winner announced on April 17.

Some of my all-time favorite jingles include: "I love New York;" "weekends were made for Michelob;" Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat;" "if you've got the time, we've got the beer;" "you deserve a break today" and "in the valley of the Jolly (ho ho ho) Green Giant," just to name a few.

Oh no, I just got this one stuck in my mind and I can't get it to stop repeating: Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow...

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.