SKYSCANNER’S LIGHTNING FAST OOH CAMPAIGN

This would have gone in the swipe file anytime (because we're suckers for a good pun and 70s music). But to have done an ad this good with a really sticky headline that also newsjacked Scotland qualifying for the World Cup and did a play on the Scottish team's unofficial anthem and did that play on words in a way that was directly tied to Skyscanner's core messaging and got the ad up lickety-split after the final whistle? Too good. Too goddamn good.

Now, the obvious take here is to be ready to move whenever a news story that your brand can jump on happens. Which, let's be honest, is PR 101. You can't engineer that, you just have to be ready. However, there is a technique here that you can put to work any time of year for any bit of copy you write: stealing the stickiness of well-known songs to make your own messaging cut through and get remembered.

That's because, when people read, they don’t just process the meaning of words, they also run a kind of internal voice. Psychologists call this part of the working memory, the phonological loop.

Basically, we hear stuff as we read. (Or most of us do.)

Which means if your line mirrors something familiar—like a song lyric—the reader doesn’t just read it. They hear it.

And because the brain loves anything that feels familiar (that's called processing fluency), it processes that line faster, with less effort and is more likely to remember it.

And there's one more smart layer too. Memory is associative. We hear one thing and it reminds us of another. Which means if you link your message to something people already know, you increase the chances that one will trigger the other later.

For example, when you hear Phil Collins drum solo, you probably picture a man in a gorilla suit, right?

That’s exactly what’s happening here.

Skyscanner are piggybacking on a melody their audience already has stored and making their message stickier.

Of course, it only works if people get the reference. That goes without saying.

But if you can find a song or reference that your customers know and make your message fit? It sends so many "we get you" signals and makes your message stickier.

For example, let's say Dyson release a hoover called UltraAir that is designed for purifying air and removing pet hair.

They could say: New Dyson UltraAir. Designed for even the most stubborn pet hair.

Or, they could run an ad that says:

Woah, it sucks pet hair! Woah, Dyson's UltraAir!

And the next time you hear Bon Jovi, you'll also think of Dyson. You're also more likely to remember the product and brand name too.

It's a really good way to make your copy stickier, more memorable and, importantly, have a bit of fun and build your brand voice.

Nick this for your brand: before you write a headline from scratch, ask yourself if there’s a version of it your audience already knows. A lyric, film line, famous phrase... then see if you can do a version that is about your brand but still recognisable. Nine times out of ten it won’t work. Or you end up with something that's not quite as good as it could be.

But sometimes, just sometimes, you end up with a line like this Skyscanner one.

PS. As a nice bonus, most of the time, song lyrics and movie quotes and phrases aren't protected by copyright. So it's free real estate,