In 2022, studies made by the University of Miami indicate that people in Puerto Rico have a higher propensity for Alzheimer's. One of the reasons could be a genetic variant they have uncovered, making this disease the fourth leading cause of death in people over 65 with a four-time increase in the last 20 years.

Puerto Rican Alzheimer’s Association help support the almost 100,000 people living with the condition on the island and came to us with a brief to not only create awareness but a way to improve their lives.

We felt their long-standing relationship with Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) - owner of the most important radio stations that have been part of the lives of Puerto Ricans for over 80 years was the place to do this.

Jingle Therapy was created with the goal of helping Alzheimer’s patients improve their overall mood, behaviour and cognition.

Less than two months after launch, over 600 patients were reached, accumulating over 50,000 hours of therapy.

Significant improvement was observed in memory, orientation, depression and anxiety in both mild (NPI scale) and moderate (HAD scale) cases. It also helped with delirium, hallucinations, agitation, irritability, and language disorders in the group with moderate Alzheimer’s Disorder.

The effect on cognitive measures was significant after only 4 Jingle Therapy sessions.

To date, 12 partnerships with health institutions around the island were made to use it as a regular therapy.

The effort was covered by the main media outlets in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, generating over 30 million PR media impressions, driving more people to jingletherapy.org to help Alzheimer’s patients improve their lives.

Studies have shown music can improve overall mood and reduce agitation and outbursts that are common in the middle-stages of Alzheimer’s.

So we took the tunes designed to never be forgotten - famous jingles - and turned them into a new, non-pharmacological, therapy to help people remember, rest, and relieve daily discomfort.

We partnered with Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), owner of the most important radio stations in Puerto Rican lives for over 80 years, and their unique archive, so caregivers could create personalized jingle playlists based on their patient’s birthdate and play them as part of their care plan to help remember moments of their youth.

We promoted it on the most popular radio stations in Puerto Rico, by replacing ads with old jingles, driving people to jingletherapy.org to start the therapy, creating a way to bring back meaningful moments from the past, to soothe their now.

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Music is one the biggest passion points for Puerto Ricans. You can see it reflected in the number of famous artists from this small island, like Hector Lavoe, Ricky Martin and today, Bad Bunny. It’s also reflected in the fact that Puerto Rico is the country with the most radio stations per square mile in the world.

These are the two main reasons why over the decades, advertising jingles have been so popular. Brands like Coca Cola and artists like El Gran Combo, had created memorable pieces that impacted pop culture, making these short and catchy songs earn a special place in the Island’s collective memory. Bringing them back not only helped Alzheimer’s patients to find a new palliative treatment but it helped all remember happy moments from their youth.