JD Eicher

A funny social media video had a Speedy impact for Mahoning Valley musician JD Eicher.

Eicher, a Canfield native who now lives in the Columbus area, is appearing in commercials for Speedway gas stations and convenience stores. In addition to reworking Speedway’s old jingle, he can be seen in spots being shown on social media and streaming television.

It all started with an offhand joke during a show at the Bent Ladder in Doylestown. Eicher had a cup of Speedway coffee with him — he’s a fan of the chain’s fresh-ground brew — and at one point he held up the cup and said, “Speedway, let’s get in touch.”

Eicher was recording the performance, and his videographer Jack Karson created a compilation of Eicher’s between-song banter that included the ad lib. They tagged Speedway in the video, and fans commenting on it tagged the company as well.

“They reached out through my DMs on Instagram – ‘How serious were you?’ Suddenly, I was very interested,” Eicher said.

It started out last year with Eicher posting funny videos on social media. Speedway, which has more than 3,200 outlets nationwide and more in Ohio than any other state, is owned by 7-Eleven. That company decided to launch a major promotional campaign for Speedway. .

“They asked, ‘Would you like to be the face of the 2024 campaign?’ Yeah, I was excited to jump in and be a part of it,” Eicher said.

The commercial spots rework Speedway’s jingle from a decade ago — instead of singing “The convenient stores of Speedway,” Eicher sings, “There’s always more at Speedway” — and shows Eicher interacting with actors playing customers. Eicher said the commercials are finished, but he will continue to generate social media content.

“They always let me run with things,” he said. “They have a great sense of humor, very collaboration-minded.”

Eicher, who will be performing Saturday at Youngstown State University’s Federal Frenzy on East Federal Street, is no stranger to using nontraditional paths to draw attention to his music. He was hired by best-selling author Nicholas Sparks to pen a title song for his 2016 novel “Two By Two” and create a four-song “soundtrack” to the book. He also accompanied Sparks on a book-signing tour.

The Speedway commercials haven’t turned Eicher into the next Flo from Progressive … at least not yet. He’s not getting recognized on the street, but he’s hearing more from fans who encounter the spots on social media or while watching television.

It’s also a valuable source of income for an independent artist living in a very different professional world from the 1980s, when musicians who appeared in commercials or let their songs be used by advertisers were accused of “selling out.”

“If I had the luxury of being someone like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, I could pick and choose only the most high art opportunities,” Eicher said. “But the truth is, I like Speedway. I’m at Speedway all the time when I’m on the road. It’s a pretty relevant thing for me to talk about and a great opportunity to branch out and find another income stream. It’s both fun and funny, a collaboration between a musician and a gas station. We’re leaning into how it’s an atypical thing.

“The landscape for music has changed. Anyone who’s got a finger on the pulse of the music business knows anything we can do as artists to keep making music is fair game. Everyone is looking for opportunities to subsidize the creation of their music.”

Have an interesting entertainment story? Email Andy Gray at agray@tribtoday.com