Today, sonic branding isn’t just about a melody at the end of an ad, but rather how a brand’s sound is seamlessly integrated into culture. Take Maybelline and its “Maybe She’s Born With It, Maybe It’s Maybelline” tagline - once just a marketing catchphrase, now an iconic sound of the ‘90s. Sound strategy has gradually shifted its focus onto cultural presence: connecting, engaging and interacting with people across every touchpoint.

This shift is easiest when a brand already has an established sound, bringing the recognition and freedom to play with it and show up in different contexts. That recognition is precisely what’s fueling the jingle’s return! But, it comes with a completely revamped strategy: one that taps into nostalgia and engages new audiences through artist collaborations and social interactions.

Modernising a well-known jingle isn’t just about a simple recreation but the contextual placement: where sound sits within culture. Brand sonic identities are increasingly moving away from just featuring in advertising. Instead, they’re becoming the music people are choosing to listen to. An obvious example here is Just Eat, whose ongoing artist collaborations - such as Craig David, Katy Perry, and Christina Aguilera - have evolved their iconic sound’s context from an advertising jingle to a playlist of songs embedded in culture. Craig David’s campaign ↗ cooked up over 425K impressions, while also delivering 2.4K new Craig David fans and an extra 9.7K streams on Spotify. This successful campaign demonstrates how brand sound is no longer focused on driving awareness alone, but creating moments that connect brands, artists and audiences in meaningful ways.

Nostalgia is also a powerful tool in multi-generational engagement, bridging the gap between older and younger audiences. The re-emergence of Folgers’ “Best Part of Wakin’ Up” ↗ jingle illustrates this well, built into a mashup of several well-known ‘wake-up’ tracks, ranging from 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up” to Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life”. Gen Z loves tapping into nostalgia, so the recreation of these famous jingles in new and unpredictable ways keeps engagement fresh and high, while still triggering that core familiarity. Frosted Flakes took the same logic further, collaborating with rapper JID to create a remix of the “Hey Tony” jingle - an anthem titled "HEY TONY!" ↗ inspired by the original "Day One" mascot, Tony the Tiger. This modern take feels entirely current, while anchoring into a comfortably familiar past.

Maybelline applied the same approach, but went an extra mile by seamlessly pairing the brand with a global nostalgic icon and muse of modern beauty. Their “Maybe it’s Maybelline” jingle was recently reinvented in collaboration with Miley Cyrus ↗ : an artist who carries her own reminiscent weight for millennials while genuinely resonating just as strongly to younger audiences like Gen Z. The result moved well beyond a basic refresh. An entire song and music video with a cultural life of its own brings us into an era where everyone wishes to relive simpler times. Our recent Sound Science study ↗ also uncovered that creative re-records are the top choice for a highly memorable campaign, which can make a brand 4x more effective at driving brand salience. Ultimately, reinventing a well-known sound in a new and exciting way can deeply engage an audience while keeping the brand front-of-mind.

Gen Z doesn't want to just passively hear a jingle. They want to participate in it. Maybelline understood this early on with content creators, launching a series of #MaybeItsMaybelline TikTok challenges ↗ that invited creators to use the sound for their makeup transformations and even create their own versions of the jingle entirely. Fanta also followed a similar path, reviving their iconic “Wanta Fanta” as a dance challenge ↗ on TikTok and handing the sound back to the target generation it was looking to reach. In both cases, the jingle stopped being a broadcast and became a creative driver.

That shift defines where the most effective brand sound strategy sits right now: moving beyond simple reinvention, and instead treating the jingle as a strategic cultural asset that lives authentically within the platforms and playlists of the next generation.