When the White Stripes announced that the rumours they’d be shilling for Coca-Cola were true, there was a bit of an uproar over the matter. That’s nothing new; the commercial jingle sell-out line of discussion is older than dirt. What was different this time around was that the Stripes were going to write a brand new song specifically for the campaign, thus sidestepping neatly their professed policy of never selling off one of their released songs for an ad. This isn’t the first time an artist has written a song specifically for an advertiser, either, but lately there’s been a lot more emphasis on finding just the right obscure indie track to put in your commercials—a Madison Avenue game of who’s got the biggest, coolest record collection. And if there’s one thing Madison Avenue wants to be all about, it’s knowing what’s cool.

Jim Guthrie isn’t the White Stripes; he will probably never be on Coke’s radar, let alone be asked to offer up a custom song for a grand payoff. But if you’re Canadian and watch television, you’ve already heard the song he’s written specifically for an ad campaign: “Hands In My Pocket” is the sprightly little tune playing in the Capital One commercials featuring men in business suits with—you guessed it—hands in the pockets of people without Capital One credit cards. Most commercials are either an excuse to associate another hip song with your brand identity (hello Mitsubishi) or else just in need of generic background music (remember the Civic commercial with M.I.A.’s “Galang”? The music’s been replaced recently with a generic rock track). If you didn’t know that one half of Royal City was also the man behind this song, though, the Capital One commercial would probably fly right past you; like a finely tuned movie soundtrack, you just don’t notice the music as an entity in its own right. It’s just a spectacularly well executed jingle.

And a bit more besides. Guthrie, in his infinite wisdom, didn’t tailor “Hands In My Pocket” too specifically to the commercial. He wrote tightly to the ad’s concept, of course, but not to the ad’s running time. The full-length result, also available on his website, is a better than average throwaway track that you can feel free to enjoy when you’re far away from any television set. It’s also a nice calling card for Guthrie, who might find some new fans thanks to the gambit. After all, it is one of the catchiest tunes playing on Canadian television today.