If you start me up I'll never stop: With our focus on words in naming and branding, it's worth noting that words set to music are often the most powerful expressions of a brand.

Start Me Up has struck gold twice as an advertising theme. Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones a reported $4 million for the use of the song to launch Windows 95, which introduced the "start" button to the computer interface. And this year, Ford hopes to start up sales using Start Me Up again in an ad campaign for the brand's entire line of cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles .

In advertising, cars and rock music seem to go well together. Sadly, Chrysler learned, to the tune of $14 million, that Celine Dion does not rock. Happily, Hummer rolled out a very creative commercial based on Happy Jack by The Who. Cleverly, Toyota set its brand to Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People. And, Chevrolet really got a rock solid hit with Bob Seger's Like A Rock, which has become more strongly associated with Chevy Trucks than with the original recording. Perhaps, this rock anthem remains the most enduring association of a brand with a previously recorded lyric.

Other brand advertisers have taken note. Microsoft tapped Madonna for Ray of Light to launch Windows XP, and this year, GAP matched Madonna's Get Into The Groove with Missy Elliott to reach a broad demographic with this commercial. Increasingly, major corporations are turning to recording artists for memorable branding statements using their hit music to make a connection with customers.

Is the advertising jingle dead? If you're interested in questions like this, and everything else about music in advertising, there's always good stuff to see and hear at Adtunes, the ad music weblog. For those who refer to commercial messages as adverts, there's also Commercial Breaks and Beats.