Watch the full ad here:

Lori's thoughts:

See just a still from this ad, and people of my generation have an immediate flashback to the song. We can’t un-remember that if our carpets smelled fresh, our room did too; and that Shake n Vac was how to achieve that.

Did I want to know that? No. Do I remember it decades later? Yes I do.

I grew up in the generation of the catchy jingle. Which makes me: a) feel old, and b) wonder why we as an industry are not using song and sound more centrally today.

Not in the ‘so bad it’s good’ way. Likeability drives effectiveness, so wanting to make ads that work and are creatively great is commercially smart, not a vanity project.

But song, music and dance are all really powerful ways of making us feel, remember, connect and understand. It’s what drove TikTok’s early growth. It’s what we all grew up on. It’s what we spend precious money and time on. Why, then, is adland using it much less than it once did?

I can’t help wondering if the brilliant creative firepower in this industry could lean more into song, dance, lyrics and sounds, in a way that truly connects with real audiences.

And that’s key.

Gone are the days of assuming that women feel maniacally excited at the prospect of a fresher-smelling carpet.

But there’s so much in the way that all kinds of women think and feel and experience the world that we’re still overlooking in our work. And there’s equal opportunity to start creating positive, aspirational representations of men in the domestic sphere too.

If we don’t, one day someone’s going to be sitting looking back on what we’re doing right now and wondering ‘how did they ever think that was a good idea?’