Ratt’s ‘Round and Round’ Returns to Top 20 Thanks to TV Ad
The classic Ratt song “Round and Round” returned to the Billboard Top 20 for the first time since its original release in 1984, thanks to its appearance in a current TV commercial.
Back then, it peaked at No.12; this week it reached No.18, following the success of the ad spot for Geico Insurance, which plays on the idea of a “Ratt problem” by having the band living in a couple’s basement.
“What comes around goes around,” the band said on Facebook. “Ratt is back for more on the Billboard rock digital song sales charts with 'Round and Round.' The band’s first hit single, from their debut record Out of the Cellar, in 1984 re-enters the charts 2020.”
You can watch the commercial below.
Variety reported that the ad had aired more than 10,000 times since its debut in April and has been viewed more than 8 million times on YouTube. It’s estimated that more than $20 million has been spent on the campaign.
“There’s a really cool grandma that lives next door to us and she goes for walks," Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy said. "One day, I’m out there … and she goes, ‘Are you in a commercial?’ I said, ‘How would you know that?’ She goes, ‘Well, you have a lot of energy.’ And I’m thinking, ‘All right, that’s what a national commercial means. ... It’s ironic, because in 1984 it was the year of the rat in the Chinese calendar, and it’s the year of the rat in 2020. What goes around comes around? No pun intended.”
Justin Harris, creative director at the Martin Agency, who made the commercial, said he and his team thought hard about taking a lighthearted approach when most ads have taken a different tone since the coronavirus pandemic. “At the end of the day, we realized people want to feel a sense of what’s normal again,” he explained. “It didn’t take us long to figure that out, and it was a great way to stay true to the brand.”