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The Power of Music

Strumings was a name that Dave St. Clair, my late friend and brilliant designer, gave my blog when we launched it in 2009. I’ve written 500+ posts and counting, and some were even coherent. Dave clearly appreciated the philosophy of “Nameonics” popularized by BBDO great Jim Jordan, who went on to establish the firm Jordan, Case & McGrath. The idea of Nameonics was to integrate the brand name into the communication in a memorable way in order that anyone who remembered the communication would remember the brand. In today’s advertising one example is Rakuten’s advertising using Elton John’s Rocket Man music.

Clearly Strumings is an effective and memorable blog name for my rambling missives. I am always incredibly grateful and surprised when I’ve run into people (in the pre-COVID era when we did such things) and they said “I read your Strumings about…” and then tell me what I wrote.

Interestingly, the Strumings topics that they most often refer to are ones about music. Here too the blog name Strumings and the guitar visual (also a creation of Dave St. Clair) work double time when I write about music.

Music has always been a powerful motivator in my life. My musical creative talents were very modest. I played guitar as a kid, but not particularly well. My son Carl on the other hand is a brilliant musician and he records music playing multiple parts using his pedals. Very experimental and creative.

Given my interest in music, I became a DJ in college and continued at a local NJ station into my 30s. Had a blast. Music remains a passion and throughout my marketing career I always believed that powerful communications with music are highly memorable, particularly if the music relates to the brand.

I resumed writing Strumings in October and realized that the majority of my recent Strumings were based on music. This was not a strategic shift of my Strumings focus, but merely an indication of my recent thoughts. In an isolated and reflective time, music has been a good friend to me, and I assume to most of us. So the following are the recent “musical” Strumings: 

The Top 15 Listened to Songs, according to me.

The Story of MacArthur Park

December 6,1970. The Day I Became a DJ.

American Beauty: The Best Album of All Time

David Byrne is a Genius

What’s It All About?

Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2021. Go Yankees. Strum on.




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