The Jingle

A few months before I implemented the Honor Box, I had a patient come in desperately wanting chiropractic care.  When I explained my fees to her and her husband, I was made a counter offer.

"Money is a little tight right now for us," the husband explained.  "Can we make a trade instead?  I'll compose and create a jingle package in exchange for you helping my wife with chiropractic."

A jingle?  What the heck would I do with a jingle?  Is this guy for real?

I was, at the time, not spending a dime on advertising.  No radio.  No TV ads.  No wait, I think perhaps I was running a small ad in The PennySaver.  But that was it.

A jingle?  What the heck would I do with a jingle?

But I agreed to the deal.  I honestly thought it was pretty much like I was adjusting her for free-- that I was receiving the short end of the stick with this trade, getting just a useless, amateur product in exchange for my professional chiropractic services.

Wrong!

Photo by Creative Minds 808First, this musician took the time to sit down and work with me in discovering the feel, the vibe, and the message of the jingle.  We came up with the hook, "Who's got your back?" and set it to a Jawaiian groove.  This guy recorded the jingle in a professional studio playing all the instruments and doing the vocals himself.

Then about two weeks after we agreed to the deal, he presented me with my jingle package: an audio CD with 8 tracks, some with intros, outros, and a few "doughnuts" (tracks with an intro and an outro).  The jingle package was ready for radio and TV spots.

Of course, I still had no intention at the time to run any commercials.  How could I afford that?

But man oh man!  Did I have a cool jingle!

If you haven't heard it yet, click here to go to my website home page.  It will play automatically in about seven seconds.

So the barter went down like this: I gave $1000.00 worth of chiropractic care to his wife and I got a jingle package in trade.

Now more than eight years later, I can honestly say that I got the better deal.

At first I thought I was getting something of little worth, what I ended up with instead has been a blessing and a resource beyond measure.

• Having such a cool jingle did motivate me to find advertising opportunities to show it off
• The jingle anchored many radio spots on stations like 92.3 KSSK, Island Rhythm 98.5 and ESPN1420
• The following year, I was able to network with an account manager at KHON2 who was able to get me on TV at very affordable rates.  The jingle has played on every spot.
• A few years back, Ernie Cruz, Jr. graciously agreed to star in a new commercial for me and even wanted to compose his own version of the jingle.
• Since 2001, this jingle has helped me effectively brand my practice and the Honor Box throughout the islands

But most importantly, I learned a great life lesson:

You never know what hidden value something or someone may have.  What may at first appear to be of little worth, may in fact hold a tremendous life-changing benefit within only to be manifested months or years down the road.  We must be careful before dismissing and disregarding something that only seems worthless.  It might actually be of great worth, beyond our wildest dreams.

An adjustment.

A stranger.

A jingle!