Oh my God, Oh my God: Have we found Australian radio's favourite song?
2020's Head & Heart could have slipped away, but the track is still firmly in the zeitgeist thanks to advertisers.
In 2020, English DJ Joel Corry and English singer MNEK teamed up on Head & Heart, an electronic dance track that quickly became the most played song on Australian radio and peaked at #2 on the ARIA charts.
Like other similar tracks out around the same time – remember The Business by Tiësto or Paradise by Meduza and Dermot Kennedy? – Head & Heart could easily have slipped away into the playlists of Top 40s gone by. However in 2024, the track is still firmly in the zeitgeist, having been picked up by advertisers – particularly radio advertisers.
In April 2021 – days after the 20th anniversary of the radio brand’s launch in Australia – Nova Entertainment brought back its iconic brand mascot Nova Boy in a campaign using Head & Heart as the soundtrack. The Turn Up The Feel Good campaign from creative agency Red Engine ran as a TVC, outdoor, and in cinemas, gyms and, shopping centres.
https://vimeo.com/537093647/dcc808820d
Speaking to Mediaweek after the campaign launched, Nova Entertainment’s chief programming and marketing officer (at the time) Paul Jackson said “I rate it amongst the best radio ads we have ever done.”
In 2024, the ever-cheery "bum-bum-bum-bum-da, bum-bum-bum-bum" of Head & Heart has hit the airwaves again, this time from ARN’s KIIS, spruiking Kyle and Jackie O’s 10 year anniversary with the network. With the campaign developed in-house, this time the song has a twist – singer MNEK has recorded a version that replaces the opening line of “This feeling's just begun” to “KIIS is number one.”
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Whilst the song is undoubtedly great for advertising due to its upbeat vibe and overall catchiness (it’s been stuck in your intrepid reporter’s head all week), does the use of the same song as a competitor risk brand confusion?
An ARN Spokesperson told Mediaweek “There was no concern about brand confusion for us. KIIS and Kyle & Jackie O are pretty unmistakable. We’d already made the song our own on air so extending that familiarity into a TVC was a no brainer.”
Will we see an SCA TVC using the song to hit the trifecta? Only time will tell.
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Top Image: MNEK and Joel Corry
