Good News Fridays: An Alabama Blast From The Past: Original Jack’s Burger Jingle Featured In New Ad Campaign

By Nathan Young on January 13, 2023

Welcome to the Good News Fridays segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Good News Fridays will feature something good, wholesome, positive, and overall something great. After a long and stressful week, we all need something good to read or watch on Fridays! Enjoy a heartwarming post below!

Alabama-based Jack’s Family Restaurants is tapping into a nostalgic sound from its past in some new commercials, thanks to a surprising find that dates “back, back, back” some 60 years.

The new commercials feature Jack’s original jingle – first recorded at Birmingham’s Boutwell Studios in 1960 – the year the first Jack’s opened its doors in Homewood. Today, the chain sports more than 230 locations in four Southern states.

For decades the master tape with the original arrangement was lost to history – until an audio shop owner from Alexandria, Alabama, recently rediscovered it.

The original 12-second jingle was composed by Henry Kimbrell. Variations have been used in the company’s advertising campaigns over the decades, including an extended, three-minute version commemorating the chain’s 50^th anniversary. The revised version was also recorded at Boutwell Studios and featured Kimbrell’s sons Mark on guitar and Matt on drums.

It was 2021 when the company received a message on its online customer response platform. The message from the audio shop owner asserted that she had in her possession what appeared to be a reel-to-reel tape of the original jingle. The tape, part of an audio lot she had purchased, was labeled “Jack’s Hamburger’s Jingle Master.”

“The message was a happy surprise for all of us, as no one at Jack’s ever had access to an original recording of the jingle,” said Billie Jo Waara, Jack’s chief marketing officer. “We knew we would take this individual up on her offer to purchase this item for historical relevance.”

The company ended up paying a relatively modest $42.31 for the find – “to cover costs of the reel and shipping,” Waara said – considering the “rich brand history” contained on the tape.

For months, the reel “was kept safely tucked away at Jack’s headquarters,” the company said in a news release, although Waara knew she wanted – at the right time – to incorporate it in a new advertising campaign.

The track reel made a return visit to Boutwell Studios. There, producers extracted the original audio of the jingle itself, plus never-before-heard instrument-only sections.

The audio can now be heard on 15- and 30-second TV spots promoting a limited-time, “Throwback Deal” – a classic cheeseburger, order of crispy crinkle cut fries and all-new raspberry fried pie for $4.99. The deal is available through Feb. 14 – when it and the latest commercials will go away.

It’s a relatively affordable meal deal for sure, but not quite the deal offered in the original jingle, which encouraged people to come “back, back, back to Jack’s, Jack’s, Jack’s” – for a 15-cent hamburger.

Now, there’s something to be nostalgic about.

Learn more about Jack’s history here.

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