Commercials

Commercial recording sessions are exhilarating. The creative team has spent weeks or months designing, testing, re-writing… and they are finally ready to give their production the last element: a voice to reach out and connect with the listener. When a voice and commercial concept come together, they make magic.

A Note about Commercial Styles:

When someone says the word “Commercial”, what do you think of? The spots you hear in between songs on the radio? The bits you fast forward through on your DVR (Stop! You’re missing some awesome VO!) or that interrupt an action scene on “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”?

If you’re like many people, the term “commercial” conjures up a sense memory of an overly-cheerful voice making a sales pitch. Once upon a time… that was true! Until recently, many commercials featured what’s known as “Announcer Voice”: Strong, smooth, heightened, definitely not the way you would talk to another human in the real world.

Today, that has been replaced with a refreshingly wide variety of sounds. The world is less formal, more fun. We don’t want to be given a sales pitch. We want to chat!

Sometimes that means an easygoing, conversational, straightforward and relaxed read. This style is everywhere for a reason. It’s great for all sorts of products and messages because it gets the point across without pushing it at you:

Sometimes a new style connected to a specific moment in time emerges quickly and fades just as fast. March 2020 saw the sudden domination of the “COVID Read”. We’re all in this together. Now, more than ever. We’re here for you. (Remember all of those lines?) We all needed a hug and a little compassion. But by the end of 2020? Yeah, we’d swapped out the “COVID Read” for the optimistic and energized “We’re Coming Back!” read.

Sometimes you do want to lean a little more into your voice and give it something extra special, particularly if a brand tastes a bit more… luxurious (have you ever tried this chocolate? OMG!):

Interesting fact: male voices are frequently perceived as more authoritative, while female voices are perceived as more trustworthy. We excel at exuding calm, secure confidence for finance, tech, science, and medicine - sometimes with a touch of badass attitude:

Sarcastic humor? My favorite. Any time a wry co-worker or mom-at-the-end-of-her-rope spec comes up, I jump on that like I grab my daily caffeine in my “May Your Coffee Be Stronger Than Your Toddler” mug (sometimes it even is).

And if you want that classic high-energy retail hit, we can jump right there (see the note about coffee, above).

When it all comes together with the video? There’s that magic I was talking about.