Bond. Ronnie Bond

There was a time in UK commercial television schedules when the short bursts of advertisements were actually more entertaining than the programmes that they were wedged into or between.

It was a creative time back in the 1970's and 80's with the marketing and selling of products and services being led by large trendy international Agencies and usually with an open ended budget provided by their Clients.

We were enthralled in short 30 second bursts by chimpanzees pushing a piano, robots laughing at traditional spuds and a bit of an action man going about the perilous task of leaving a box of rather mediocre chocolates on the bedside table of a lady who just appeared to be ready for her bedtime.

All of these TV commercial campaigns were notable not so much for the product but for snappy music and a memorable original tune, song or as they were called....jingles.

One particular specialist in the writing of jingles from that golden era was Ronnie Bond, a British musician and lyricist.

He was pretty prolific in his time and there were persistent claims that he could pen and produce 5 viable masterpieces every week although Bond himself was quick to dispel this myth.

It was an art form to compose music and words within a tight client brief and always with the constraints of time which was the paid spot in a commercial break on, at the time, just the one channel, ITV and its regional versions.

The secret of a jingle, in order to be an effective reminder of a product, is catchiness in the tune and a snappy slogan or tag line.

Bond was a genius at combining both of these elements and his services were highly sought after in the advertising world.

I spent most of my 1970's era childhood soaking up the ditties and slick marketing phrases from TV ads as though a consumer sponge even though I was too young to go out and buy the things being given the subtle sell let alone have any meaningful pocket money to contemplate it in the first place.

Nowadays the advertisers lack imagination and individuality reverting to the use of a well known power ballad or a hit record that has only just vacated the music charts after a few weeks.

Ronnie Bond can be judged on his most well known jingles as to creativity and uniqueness.

Take, for example, the TV campaign for Bran Flakes. Not a very inspiring foodstuff at all and to children it is a reminder of parental attempts to keep fit and healthy. They are dry and dead bits of cereal and yet, magically transformed into something exciting and desirable when marketed by a poppy tune and the lyrics "They're tasty, tasty, very very tasty".

The same could be said for Coco-Pops, a serial targeted at youngsters and early teens. I always thought they resembled rabbit droppings and they did leave a chocolaty stain on clothing if dribbled or spilled at the breakfast table.

However, they were also elevated to a "must have" product and because of Bond's line of "I'd rather have a bowl of coco-pops".

Both of these could really become deep seated in a young and active. although rather annoying child's mind and many I time I would be told off by parents and school teachers for singing or humming one or more of these particular ditties.

I am not ashamed to say that I felt my first strange feelings of sexual awareness as a result of something that Ronnie Bond wrote.

If I say that the advert and his composition were voted the 3rd most memorable in advertising history then you can probably guess what was being shamelessly sold through the portrayal of sex.

Yes, it was Cadbury's Flake.

The TV commercials for this choccy treat were amongst the most viewed in between the normal scheduled programmes.

They involved a young girl in light and seasonal clothing out in a field or doing some activity or pursuit in soft focus and eating the distinctive ribbed stick of milk chocolate matched by an evocatively luxurious melody and the famous slogan of "Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before".

It was a classic of its time and place. We may never see the likes of it again.  Thank you Ronnie Bond.

One of the adverts for Cadbury's Flake