Songwriters occasionally struck gold when tunes composed as advertising jingles proved catchy enough to become chart hits in their own right. Three examples from the 1970s show how commercial commissions for banks, jeans and film brands crossed over into mainstream pop success, illustrating the era's close ties between advertising and the music industry.

The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" began as a jingle for Crocker-Citizens National Bank, written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams in a single afternoon before reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. David Dundas's "Jeans On" started as an advert for UK brand Brutus Jeans and later Wrangler in the US, before charting at No. 17 in America and No. 3 in the UK in 1976. Paul Anka's "Times of Your Life", commissioned by Kodak in 1975, became his final Top 10 hit on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 7.