September 24, 2023 • 25 mins
We vocalize our picks for the most memorable, effective, and iconic uses of celebrity voices in commercials and marketing.
Get show notes for this episode and check out past episodes of the Speaking Human podcast by visiting speakinghuman.com.
#Podcast #SpeakingHuman #VO #Branding #Marketing #Advertising #Business
Get show notes for this episode and check out past episodes of the Speaking Human podcast by visiting speakinghuman.com.
#Podcast #SpeakingHuman #VO #Branding #Marketing #Advertising #Business
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Speaking Human. Today, on SpeakingHuman, we vocalize our picks for the
most memorable, effective, and iconicuses of celebrity voices in commercials and marketing.
Speaking Human Welcome to Speaking Human,where we simplify the world of marketing
(00:31):
for humans. I'm Shad Conley andwith me is my co host Patrick Jebber.
So, Patrick, let me throwa little hypothetical at you. An
agency comes to your door, knockknock. They've been listening to the podcast
and they love your voice, smoothlike butter. They've got three clients who
(00:53):
are interested in bringing you on boardfor big money, some sweet cheddar as
the voice in all their commercials.But you can only choose one. You
know, there's some overlap in thework. You just the time commitments too
much. You can't do them all. Your choices are the squatty potty,
a stool that helps your pooh comeout better, a tongue cat brush This
(01:18):
is the device you put in yourmouth and use to brush your cat.
And third choice, a toe warpremover. This is the gel that penetrates
and removes warts. Which do youchoose? Of course you're gonna know.
I'm picking squatty potty on this.I mean, do you have a reason
(01:40):
Just check this out? Just checkthis out. The number one way to
number two. No, yeah,that's that's velvet, that's gold. Squatty
potty straightens your colon so you caneliminate the way nature intended. Doesn't it
feel smooth like almost like you wantto sit on the squatty potty right?
(02:02):
Well? I do, because Ionce you said that, I was like,
oh, yeah, that is hownature wants it done. Let me
just say I had to look upthe tongue cat brush, which is actually
called the licky. Did you seethat? I did not see the name
the licky. It's called the licky, it says. Licky is a soft
silicone brush you can hold in yourmouth to lick your cat like a mama
(02:25):
cat, grooms or kittens. Lickyis designed to feel pleasurable to your cat's
sensitive skin. In addition to grooming, massaging, and bathing your cat,
we can also be used to bondwith your cat by licking him. Of
course, it can be used onother small animals and dogs too. So
weird, so something I had neverseen before. You know what's going somewhere
(02:46):
when they start offering it and glowin the dark. If it hasn't already,
it'll probably catch on. I don'twant to judge people. I think,
you know, if this is somethingthat gives people comfort, helps them
to bond with their animals, bringsthem joy, so be it. Yeah,
we try to remain relatively positive onthis podcast. And let me tell
you, I'm positive I would neverdo the voiceover for that. I'll do
(03:08):
anything. I'm a shield for themoney. Yeah, I'll do them all.
I'd be like, I lick mycat every night, and I'd be
like, tell them you how youput on the cat tongue thing, And
I'll be like, you, whatare you talking about? What cat tong
They're like, you know, thelickey and You're like, there's a there's
a product for this. Oh thankgod. Well in case you didn't figure
(03:30):
it out yet. And I canunderstand why today we're talking about voiceovers,
more specifically celebrity voiceovers. I thinkthat's an important clarification here, celebrity voiceovers,
because we should say there's a lotof people that do voice over.
There's a lot of professionals out theredoing voiceover work, and they're very good.
(03:53):
We thought it would make the mostsense because most people know celebrities,
they can relate because might know acelebrity from a movie or whatever, that
we just sort of focus on themin this episode. Think Morgan Freeman.
You heard Morgan Freeman's voice. Youcould probably hear it right now even as
I say his name. He's donevoiceover work. Yeah, it's almost a
(04:15):
separate thing with the celebrity. It'ssomething you're gravitating towards someone you know,
something designed to stand out. Whereaswith other voiceover professionals, the ideas it's
natural, it's smooth, you almostdon't notice it's there. You're just more
taking in the message. That's kindof what their job is. So it's
(04:35):
kind of a very different thing whatwe're talking about here today. Yeah,
so we each are going to sharetwo picks of celebrity voiceovers we think are
great. Now, these are justpersonal selections, you know, obviously they're
a little subjective to what we think. There's a lot out there, and
you might have one that you knowand remember can recall right now, and
(05:00):
you're like, oh, that's agreat one. It's got to be that
one. Yeah, this is thepoint of this episode is that there are
just those voices, those very iconicvoices that we know that connect with us
in some way, and we aregoing to be sharing our picks for that.
Yeah, so you're ready to diveright in. Do you want to
talk at all about how you chosethe two you're going to talk about?
(05:24):
Did you have any method to yourmadness? How did you go into this?
How did you approach it? Inthis case, I did have two
criteria. Number one, it hadto be an established video for the brand,
meaning that through consistency and longevity,you can't remember a time before this
voiceover voice to the brand. Andthen number two, the video the voiceover
(05:47):
has to be very recognizable. Youdon't necessarily have to know the person's name,
but you recognize the voice that theperson is famous in some way.
You're like, I feel like Iknow that voice, which is what all
celebrity voiceovers are supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be connecting with people
(06:08):
who identify with that actor. Yeah. I think that's good criteria. I
don't know if I thought about thatspecifically, but I think that holds true
for kind of what I picked andhow I picked them, looking for that
longevity and that some sort of celebrityor status. Obviously someone that's if not
worldwide known, somebody that's at leastknown, or you would put in this
(06:30):
kind of elevated air. I thinka final piece of that, I think
the voice should speak to and kindof capture the audience the brand is trying
to talk to. That should kindof reflect that in like either who the
person is or you know, eventhe sound of that voice. So I
kind of went into it with adifferent way than I sometimes go into these
(06:53):
lists. I kind of worked backwardswhere I had. I was like,
what are the first voices I immediatelythink of from there? Just and looked
around him, saying, is thereanybody I'm missing that I have to be
like, I'll kick myself if Ididn't have them, you know, on
my list or throw out there.And so it's pretty organic for me in
that way. But even when Iwent through and looked, I kind of
(07:14):
stuck with who I had to beginwith. So that's kind of a unique
approach or something different for me.But I'll be interested to see as we
kind of talk through these if wehave any overlap. Yeah, there could
be some overlap, but I don'tthink there will be no I don't think
so, I just don't. Ijust don't see it, huh. I
mean maybe I think you'll appreciate mine, but I don't know if you'll pick
(07:39):
mine. I appreciate the work youput in, all right. So my
number one pick thing Raimes from RBS. This is USDA choice top round ange
is steak on a sandwiches. Wehave the meats. We have the meats
(08:00):
excellent. So you know Ving Ramsfrom pulp fiction and almost all of the
admission Impossible movies, and he's beendoing that. We have the meats since
twenty fourteen. Hits all my criteria. You know his voice from something you
don't necessarily always know, and you'retalking about almost ten years of him voicing.
(08:22):
We have the meats. You can'thear an Arby's commercial without hearing that
voice in your head. That's myfirst choice. What do you think of
that? I really like that one. That was a good one. That's
one I thought of, and Ihad to nix it for my own personal
bias, which was when I initiallyfirst heard it, thought it was James
Earl Jones. And that is acommon misconception. I think it's the way
(08:48):
he says Arby's. There's like aJames Earl Jones in tone to it.
So let me ask you this,that's actually kind of a pro right if
you think about it, James EarlJones other great voice. Yeah, I
mean so you almost get the bestof both worlds in that case. So
you're selling it as two celebrities forthe price of one. Yeah, kind
(09:09):
of if you're going the route oflike not recognizing that it's being Rames and
you think it's James Earl Jones,then yeah, you know. Yeah,
Well, let me take you fromone deep, reassuring voice to another.
Okay, I'm talking about Dennis Haysbertfor All State Insurance nineteen thirty one.
(09:37):
It's not exactly a great year tostart a business, but that's when All
State opened its doors, and throughthe twelve recessions since, they've noticed that
after the fear subside, a funnything happens. People start enjoying the small
things in life, a home cookedmeal, time with loved ones, appreciating
(10:07):
the things we do have, thethings we can count on. It's back
to basics, and the basics aregood. Protect them, put them in
good hands. Oh yeah, Voiceof All States starting in two thousand and
(10:33):
three. Yeah, that's a longtime dude, twenty years not you know,
the most famous of all actors.I think, you know, if
you ask a lot of people,he's not like a household name, but
he's a working actor for a longtime, a known quantity to some people,
and I think very recognizable for hiswork with All State. Just having
(10:58):
that you know, deep rotative voice, very trustworthy, very reliable, you
believe what he's telling you. Atthe same time, he's sort of like
calm and reassuring when he's talking aboutinsurance. He's just like the perfect guy
to bring in talking about All State. When I was thinking about voiceovers,
(11:18):
that was the first deep voice thatpopped into my head. I mean,
I can picture his face right now, but I just can't think of like
shows that he's been in. MajorLeague is Pedro Serrano. Oh yeah,
okay, that's where I'm thinking ofhim from. Yeah, okay, I
mean me two. That's probably whatI know him from the most. You
(11:39):
know, enough people know his namearound Hollywood, and part of that is
due to these commercials and the popularityof them. And there's something about having
that deep voice right that just speaksto you maybe you can just hear it
at a different frequency and you're like, ah, this calms me. I
can trust this guy relaxes the muscleat a cellular level, right, all
(12:03):
right, So my second pick,Tim Allen, Pure Michigan. We can
feel it, our spirits rising withthe sun, a warm breeze that thaws
our soul, and we sure areready. It's a new beginning, the
(12:24):
beginning of walks on the beach alongmiles of endless coastline, fishing lines and
bare feet dangling into calm lakes madeof glass, hikes down well worn trails
among acres of lush, towering forests. Rounds of golf were more strokes only
mean more time spent on breathtaking coursesand as much laughter on sun kiss faces
(12:50):
as there is splashing. Summer hasreturned, and not a moment too soon,
so let's enjoy every moment. Upand Pure Michigan. You know him
from Home Improvement to the television showThe Santa Claus Toy Story. Of course,
(13:13):
is the voice of Buzz Lightyear andone of my personal favorites Galaxy Quest,
which is kind of a parody nonparody of Star Trek. Very good
little sci Fi comedy, but PureMichigan started in two thousand and eight.
You got a long history of TimAllen voicing pure Michigan, whether you know
(13:33):
it or not. Like I saidin one of my criterias, you're like,
I know, I recognize that voice, but I don't necessarily know who
that is. And then you're like, oh my god, it's buzz lightyear,
familiar, brug it outdoorsy, youknow, kind of matches the imagery
you're seeing. This is a greatpick. This was a honorable mention for
(13:54):
me. It was really close whenI was thinking about these. One thing
I love about it is like it'sa pure voice over, you know,
across the board, and it's oneWhen I first heard it, and even
for a long time, it wasone of those ones where you can't quite
as you were talking about, can'tquite place your finger on it, so
you have to think about it fora little bit. You're like, I
know, I know that, butwho is that? So your brain almost
(14:18):
has to like churn a little bitto get there, which is I think
a net positive for it, especiallyfor something like you know, Michigan,
where they want people to like kindof pass that around and think about that
a little bit just watching him inwhat I've seen him in, you know,
home improvement or things like PEG himas a great voiceover guy, but
when you hear the voice over thecommercials works really well. To your point,
(14:41):
he voices this really well, andI think there is an emotional connection
that he has as a person tothe state and that shows through in the
voiceover acting. You feel his passionfor that state, You feel that through
the voiceover. I think that cango a long way, you know.
In addition the fact that he's acelebrity. Yeah, I agree completely.
(15:03):
I think he's a great fit.There also of another reflection with my final
pick here, you know, sortof deep, gravelly, masculine, rugged
voice associated with I would say,sort of a region of the country,
sort of Western. I'm talking aboutthe man Sam Elliott for cours. Legend
(15:28):
has it. Rocky Mountain miners knewhow to celebrate with get togethers called banquets.
They're beer cours. They called itbanquet beer brewed with Rocky Mountain water
and only the best High Country barleyfor a full flavored taste. Savored by
generation. Since eighteen seventy three,times have changed. The cours never will
(15:54):
cours the banquet beer. I knewyou were going to say that soon as
you said gravelly western western. Yeah. Sounds like he's talking with maybe a
mustache hanging over his face. Yeah. So this guy, Sam Elliott,
you know, he's he's your consummatecowboy. You think of him, you
(16:15):
hear that voice, You're just like, this guy's a cowboy. He comes
across, you know, in thatsort of authentic way he's out there.
He's talking about usually you know,it's over these kind of rocky mountain images
they're using in the marketing. Sohe's reinforcing this kind of idea of a
barrier drinking outdoors or something like that. You know, something that's been around
(16:37):
for a while. Something you knowwhat it is, you know what the
taste is, you know what you'regetting. Sam elliotts like the classic and
that's why his voice, I think, is just it's it's pretty timeless and
it's pretty effective in the way theyuse it in the marketing. Yeah,
he has almost like a I wouldsort of compare him to like how people
felt about the Marble Old Man.You know, he's cool, he's like
(17:03):
laid back, laid back, youfeel like you would just hang out with
this guy, right, and he'dbe like telling you stories about the Old
West, even even though that's,you know, not his time, but
it seems like it's his time.Seems like it should be his time.
And he's playing in a lot ofWesterns, so you know, but he
has that distinction, and that's maybewhat it is, is the distinction and
(17:26):
the distinctiveness of his voice is justvery timeless, I guess. Yeah.
And of course played a cowboy narratorin The Big Lebowski, so there's that
kind of voice association there too.He's one of these guys he's as much
associated with his voice almost as heis with his presence, kind of like
a Morgan Freeman in that way,you know, just kind of like stands
(17:48):
out for that reason. So whenyou hear him, you're just like,
ah, there it is. Core'sin a yellow can. Yeah, my
terrible Sam Elliott. I don't everdo that. Yeah, I've been riding
the horses all day. Now,time to kick back with a course black
I do. That was actually better. I like that. It was good.
(18:11):
That was that was pretty good.Yeah, Well, I gotta get
my reps in. You need ahandlebar mustache. Now, Yeah, you
need a little something to flap infront and kind of catch the lighter octave
notes before they hit the mic.Yeah, no, I see that like
a like a broom. Yeah.He comes in one day and he shaved
(18:32):
his mustache. He's like, ofcourse, it's really good. Why do
I sound like what's happened to me? Most people know him from a lot
of different things, but so goodin Tombstone. Yeah, that's the first
thing that comes to mind when Ithink Sam Elliott. Here's the two movies
that come to mind. Tombstone,Roadhouse. I love him in Roadhouse.
(18:55):
He didn't have a huge part,but man, he was so good as
Sam Elliott. Yeah, he playsa great Sam Elliott. Yeah. My
mom loves him. She's like,oh, he's a striking young fellow.
What a what a man? That'sSam Ellian. So we got a very
strong group of older men here.Were there any other honorable honorable mentions?
(19:21):
Anybody else you thought about or youknow, came close. One of the
ones that came up that I thoughtabout was Morgan Freeman. He's done some
pizza work, But there were someproblems in that for me, because,
like a lot of the examples theydidn't do a great job presenting Morgan Freeman
in his voice. I thought theycould have been better. I agree with
(19:45):
that. I have the same experiencewhen I was going back and watching him
and I was like, you havethis idea of Morgan Freeman and his voice,
and then I watched them and Iwas underwhelmed in some way. Yeah,
and it's a little bit of Imean, it's a little bit of
his his voice and his pitch,but it's also a little bit of the
cadence in which he speaks, theway in which he speaks that you recognize
(20:07):
him, and they don't use thatcadence when they present the voice over.
How they use him is it's kindof like almost like fast and yeah,
and that's just not quick and throwaway and yeah, if you really want
to take advantage of it, Ithink you need to use some of the
qualities that make his voice unique.And I just don't think they ever captured
(20:27):
that in visa. Yeah, Ialso thought of Samuel Jackson for Capital one.
M what's in your wallet? What'sin your wallet? You know,
Samuel Jackson has a very powerful,you know, grab your attention kind of
voice to him. I also,you know, you mentioned Tim Allen,
he was the one that was probablyI was closest to grabbing because I really
(20:48):
like what he does. I alsothought of Gene Hackman for Lows, which
is a very subtle voice work thatI didn't even realize was him for years,
you know, before someone else kindof like took that over. Kind
of similar to Tim Allen in thatway it was, you know, recognizable
enough that it was there, butnot in your face. You know.
It wasn't like throwing Gene Hackman atyou. It wasn't dumping Gene Hackman all
(21:11):
or you. Speaking though, ofLows. The other one that I really
like, but he's not a superbig celebrity. He has almost the same
stature as what's his name from DennisHabert. Yeah, and that is the
Home Depot guy, Josh Lucas.Yeah. I like him too, from
Sweet Home Alabama, which a lotof people know that movie, maybe maybe
(21:33):
from com with Reese Witherspoon, buthis voice is very distinct. I like
his voice, and his for HomeDepot I think is actually better than Gene
Hackman's for Lows for whatever reason.But yeah, Josh Lucas did it for
a while and you could you wouldknow the voice if you heard it.
Yeah, Sadly we picked all men. Yeah. I was going to mention
(21:53):
that maybe it's my own bias comingthrough here, or the bias of the
ad industry or society as a whole. I just feel like I couldn't find
anything that was super iconic or longterm. You know, as we talked
about some of these things interesting tome to just notice, I'm like,
wow, these are all middle agedor you know, kind of a little
(22:14):
older men that are just repeatedly comingup or doing a lot of brand voice
associations. But I don't know,I think those that's a great list ones
that maybe make you think a littlebit about this idea of using a very
recognizable voice for your brand. Right, not everybody can afford this, like
small business, But when you hearthese brands, think about what that does
(22:37):
to you. In some part ofyour brain, you are thinking, I
now have a connection to that brandbecause I've had a connection with that voice
in some way, whether it wasyour movies or whatever. Yeah, and
that can even be a good startingpoint even if you're not a brand that
can afford the celebrity or something.But to think if we were to get
a celebrity who would it be,you know, and kind of developing some
(23:02):
of your stuff from there. Evenwhen I sometimes will create content for a
brand, sometimes I will try topersonify that brand as like what actor would
this be? I think that's agood thing to also think about. With
kind of voiceover, you can geta sense of what kind of person would
you be looking for. Would yoube looking for somebody with a calm,
a soft voice, would you belooking for somebody who's more authoritative? And
(23:22):
if you think of that in termsof familiar celebrities, maybe that can set
you on the path of where you'retrying to go with your voiceover. That's
a great takeaway. Also, youcan just have a generative AI replicate that
you know you want Morgan Freeman avoice your brand. I'm just kidding.
By the way, don't do absolutely, do not do not do that.
(23:45):
But you're going to hear about ita lot if you haven't already. When
it's going, Wow, Morgan Freeman'sreally voicing every brand. Now that's weird.
Dave's use car lot ving rhimes again. Thing it could be like a
shoe brand. We have the feats, all these we have the beats.
(24:08):
What would they say for a vegetablemarket. We have the beats. There
you go, we have the beats. It could also be an electronics store
or a some sort of musical Ohyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it could be it. Yeah,it could be anything. A game store,
video games. We have the cheats. It's a stretch on that one.
(24:33):
We could do this all day.What about a linen store. We
have the sheets. Somebody's already usingthat. That's actually copyright. Yeah,
yeah, that's true. It couldalso be for the gas station. We
have the sheets. We are atthe sheets. You are sheets. That's
amazing. So we hope you gota lot out of today with our nuggets
(24:59):
of human wisdom, if you will, and some voiceover lists for you to
ponder. Yeah, chew on fora little bit. Yeah, just like
meats to get chew on them.Well, that's it for today's episode.
Everyone. You can find current andpast episodes of the podcast on Speaking Human
dot com. We'll be back intwo weeks with another episode of Speaking Human.
(25:26):
Catch you then, Humans Speaking Human
Speaking Human. Today, on SpeakingHuman, we vocalize our picks for the
most memorable, effective, and iconicuses of celebrity voices in commercials and marketing.
Speaking Human Welcome to Speaking Human,where we simplify the world of marketing
(00:31):
for humans. I'm Shad Conley andwith me is my co host Patrick Jebber.
So, Patrick, let me throwa little hypothetical at you. An
agency comes to your door, knockknock. They've been listening to the podcast
and they love your voice, smoothlike butter. They've got three clients who
(00:53):
are interested in bringing you on boardfor big money, some sweet cheddar as
the voice in all their commercials.But you can only choose one. You
know, there's some overlap in thework. You just the time commitments too
much. You can't do them all. Your choices are the squatty potty,
a stool that helps your pooh comeout better, a tongue cat brush This
(01:18):
is the device you put in yourmouth and use to brush your cat.
And third choice, a toe warpremover. This is the gel that penetrates
and removes warts. Which do youchoose? Of course you're gonna know.
I'm picking squatty potty on this.I mean, do you have a reason
(01:40):
Just check this out? Just checkthis out. The number one way to
number two. No, yeah,that's that's velvet, that's gold. Squatty
potty straightens your colon so you caneliminate the way nature intended. Doesn't it
feel smooth like almost like you wantto sit on the squatty potty right?
(02:02):
Well? I do, because Ionce you said that, I was like,
oh, yeah, that is hownature wants it done. Let me
just say I had to look upthe tongue cat brush, which is actually
called the licky. Did you seethat? I did not see the name
the licky. It's called the licky, it says. Licky is a soft
silicone brush you can hold in yourmouth to lick your cat like a mama
(02:25):
cat, grooms or kittens. Lickyis designed to feel pleasurable to your cat's
sensitive skin. In addition to grooming, massaging, and bathing your cat,
we can also be used to bondwith your cat by licking him. Of
course, it can be used onother small animals and dogs too. So
weird, so something I had neverseen before. You know what's going somewhere
(02:46):
when they start offering it and glowin the dark. If it hasn't already,
it'll probably catch on. I don'twant to judge people. I think,
you know, if this is somethingthat gives people comfort, helps them
to bond with their animals, bringsthem joy, so be it. Yeah,
we try to remain relatively positive onthis podcast. And let me tell
you, I'm positive I would neverdo the voiceover for that. I'll do
(03:08):
anything. I'm a shield for themoney. Yeah, I'll do them all.
I'd be like, I lick mycat every night, and I'd be
like, tell them you how youput on the cat tongue thing, And
I'll be like, you, whatare you talking about? What cat tong
They're like, you know, thelickey and You're like, there's a there's
a product for this. Oh thankgod. Well in case you didn't figure
(03:30):
it out yet. And I canunderstand why today we're talking about voiceovers,
more specifically celebrity voiceovers. I thinkthat's an important clarification here, celebrity voiceovers,
because we should say there's a lotof people that do voice over.
There's a lot of professionals out theredoing voiceover work, and they're very good.
(03:53):
We thought it would make the mostsense because most people know celebrities,
they can relate because might know acelebrity from a movie or whatever, that
we just sort of focus on themin this episode. Think Morgan Freeman.
You heard Morgan Freeman's voice. Youcould probably hear it right now even as
I say his name. He's donevoiceover work. Yeah, it's almost a
(04:15):
separate thing with the celebrity. It'ssomething you're gravitating towards someone you know,
something designed to stand out. Whereaswith other voiceover professionals, the ideas it's
natural, it's smooth, you almostdon't notice it's there. You're just more
taking in the message. That's kindof what their job is. So it's
(04:35):
kind of a very different thing whatwe're talking about here today. Yeah,
so we each are going to sharetwo picks of celebrity voiceovers we think are
great. Now, these are justpersonal selections, you know, obviously they're
a little subjective to what we think. There's a lot out there, and
you might have one that you knowand remember can recall right now, and
(05:00):
you're like, oh, that's agreat one. It's got to be that
one. Yeah, this is thepoint of this episode is that there are
just those voices, those very iconicvoices that we know that connect with us
in some way, and we aregoing to be sharing our picks for that.
Yeah, so you're ready to diveright in. Do you want to
talk at all about how you chosethe two you're going to talk about?
(05:24):
Did you have any method to yourmadness? How did you go into this?
How did you approach it? Inthis case, I did have two
criteria. Number one, it hadto be an established video for the brand,
meaning that through consistency and longevity,you can't remember a time before this
voiceover voice to the brand. Andthen number two, the video the voiceover
(05:47):
has to be very recognizable. Youdon't necessarily have to know the person's name,
but you recognize the voice that theperson is famous in some way.
You're like, I feel like Iknow that voice, which is what all
celebrity voiceovers are supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be connecting with people
(06:08):
who identify with that actor. Yeah. I think that's good criteria. I
don't know if I thought about thatspecifically, but I think that holds true
for kind of what I picked andhow I picked them, looking for that
longevity and that some sort of celebrityor status. Obviously someone that's if not
worldwide known, somebody that's at leastknown, or you would put in this
(06:30):
kind of elevated air. I thinka final piece of that, I think
the voice should speak to and kindof capture the audience the brand is trying
to talk to. That should kindof reflect that in like either who the
person is or you know, eventhe sound of that voice. So I
kind of went into it with adifferent way than I sometimes go into these
(06:53):
lists. I kind of worked backwardswhere I had. I was like,
what are the first voices I immediatelythink of from there? Just and looked
around him, saying, is thereanybody I'm missing that I have to be
like, I'll kick myself if Ididn't have them, you know, on
my list or throw out there.And so it's pretty organic for me in
that way. But even when Iwent through and looked, I kind of
(07:14):
stuck with who I had to beginwith. So that's kind of a unique
approach or something different for me.But I'll be interested to see as we
kind of talk through these if wehave any overlap. Yeah, there could
be some overlap, but I don'tthink there will be no I don't think
so, I just don't. Ijust don't see it, huh. I
mean maybe I think you'll appreciate mine, but I don't know if you'll pick
(07:39):
mine. I appreciate the work youput in, all right. So my
number one pick thing Raimes from RBS. This is USDA choice top round ange
is steak on a sandwiches. Wehave the meats. We have the meats
(08:00):
excellent. So you know Ving Ramsfrom pulp fiction and almost all of the
admission Impossible movies, and he's beendoing that. We have the meats since
twenty fourteen. Hits all my criteria. You know his voice from something you
don't necessarily always know, and you'retalking about almost ten years of him voicing.
(08:22):
We have the meats. You can'thear an Arby's commercial without hearing that
voice in your head. That's myfirst choice. What do you think of
that? I really like that one. That was a good one. That's
one I thought of, and Ihad to nix it for my own personal
bias, which was when I initiallyfirst heard it, thought it was James
Earl Jones. And that is acommon misconception. I think it's the way
(08:48):
he says Arby's. There's like aJames Earl Jones in tone to it.
So let me ask you this,that's actually kind of a pro right if
you think about it, James EarlJones other great voice. Yeah, I
mean so you almost get the bestof both worlds in that case. So
you're selling it as two celebrities forthe price of one. Yeah, kind
(09:09):
of if you're going the route oflike not recognizing that it's being Rames and
you think it's James Earl Jones,then yeah, you know. Yeah,
Well, let me take you fromone deep, reassuring voice to another.
Okay, I'm talking about Dennis Haysbertfor All State Insurance nineteen thirty one.
(09:37):
It's not exactly a great year tostart a business, but that's when All
State opened its doors, and throughthe twelve recessions since, they've noticed that
after the fear subside, a funnything happens. People start enjoying the small
things in life, a home cookedmeal, time with loved ones, appreciating
(10:07):
the things we do have, thethings we can count on. It's back
to basics, and the basics aregood. Protect them, put them in
good hands. Oh yeah, Voiceof All States starting in two thousand and
(10:33):
three. Yeah, that's a longtime dude, twenty years not you know,
the most famous of all actors.I think, you know, if
you ask a lot of people,he's not like a household name, but
he's a working actor for a longtime, a known quantity to some people,
and I think very recognizable for hiswork with All State. Just having
(10:58):
that you know, deep rotative voice, very trustworthy, very reliable, you
believe what he's telling you. Atthe same time, he's sort of like
calm and reassuring when he's talking aboutinsurance. He's just like the perfect guy
to bring in talking about All State. When I was thinking about voiceovers,
(11:18):
that was the first deep voice thatpopped into my head. I mean,
I can picture his face right now, but I just can't think of like
shows that he's been in. MajorLeague is Pedro Serrano. Oh yeah,
okay, that's where I'm thinking ofhim from. Yeah, okay, I
mean me two. That's probably whatI know him from the most. You
(11:39):
know, enough people know his namearound Hollywood, and part of that is
due to these commercials and the popularityof them. And there's something about having
that deep voice right that just speaksto you maybe you can just hear it
at a different frequency and you're like, ah, this calms me. I
can trust this guy relaxes the muscleat a cellular level, right, all
(12:03):
right, So my second pick,Tim Allen, Pure Michigan. We can
feel it, our spirits rising withthe sun, a warm breeze that thaws
our soul, and we sure areready. It's a new beginning, the
(12:24):
beginning of walks on the beach alongmiles of endless coastline, fishing lines and
bare feet dangling into calm lakes madeof glass, hikes down well worn trails
among acres of lush, towering forests. Rounds of golf were more strokes only
mean more time spent on breathtaking coursesand as much laughter on sun kiss faces
(12:50):
as there is splashing. Summer hasreturned, and not a moment too soon,
so let's enjoy every moment. Upand Pure Michigan. You know him
from Home Improvement to the television showThe Santa Claus Toy Story. Of course,
(13:13):
is the voice of Buzz Lightyear andone of my personal favorites Galaxy Quest,
which is kind of a parody nonparody of Star Trek. Very good
little sci Fi comedy, but PureMichigan started in two thousand and eight.
You got a long history of TimAllen voicing pure Michigan, whether you know
(13:33):
it or not. Like I saidin one of my criterias, you're like,
I know, I recognize that voice, but I don't necessarily know who
that is. And then you're like, oh my god, it's buzz lightyear,
familiar, brug it outdoorsy, youknow, kind of matches the imagery
you're seeing. This is a greatpick. This was a honorable mention for
(13:54):
me. It was really close whenI was thinking about these. One thing
I love about it is like it'sa pure voice over, you know,
across the board, and it's oneWhen I first heard it, and even
for a long time, it wasone of those ones where you can't quite
as you were talking about, can'tquite place your finger on it, so
you have to think about it fora little bit. You're like, I
know, I know that, butwho is that? So your brain almost
(14:18):
has to like churn a little bitto get there, which is I think
a net positive for it, especiallyfor something like you know, Michigan,
where they want people to like kindof pass that around and think about that
a little bit just watching him inwhat I've seen him in, you know,
home improvement or things like PEG himas a great voiceover guy, but
when you hear the voice over thecommercials works really well. To your point,
(14:41):
he voices this really well, andI think there is an emotional connection
that he has as a person tothe state and that shows through in the
voiceover acting. You feel his passionfor that state, You feel that through
the voiceover. I think that cango a long way, you know.
In addition the fact that he's acelebrity. Yeah, I agree completely.
(15:03):
I think he's a great fit.There also of another reflection with my final
pick here, you know, sortof deep, gravelly, masculine, rugged
voice associated with I would say,sort of a region of the country,
sort of Western. I'm talking aboutthe man Sam Elliott for cours. Legend
(15:28):
has it. Rocky Mountain miners knewhow to celebrate with get togethers called banquets.
They're beer cours. They called itbanquet beer brewed with Rocky Mountain water
and only the best High Country barleyfor a full flavored taste. Savored by
generation. Since eighteen seventy three,times have changed. The cours never will
(15:54):
cours the banquet beer. I knewyou were going to say that soon as
you said gravelly western western. Yeah. Sounds like he's talking with maybe a
mustache hanging over his face. Yeah. So this guy, Sam Elliott,
you know, he's he's your consummatecowboy. You think of him, you
(16:15):
hear that voice, You're just like, this guy's a cowboy. He comes
across, you know, in thatsort of authentic way he's out there.
He's talking about usually you know,it's over these kind of rocky mountain images
they're using in the marketing. Sohe's reinforcing this kind of idea of a
barrier drinking outdoors or something like that. You know, something that's been around
(16:37):
for a while. Something you knowwhat it is, you know what the
taste is, you know what you'regetting. Sam elliotts like the classic and
that's why his voice, I think, is just it's it's pretty timeless and
it's pretty effective in the way theyuse it in the marketing. Yeah,
he has almost like a I wouldsort of compare him to like how people
felt about the Marble Old Man.You know, he's cool, he's like
(17:03):
laid back, laid back, youfeel like you would just hang out with
this guy, right, and he'dbe like telling you stories about the Old
West, even even though that's,you know, not his time, but
it seems like it's his time.Seems like it should be his time.
And he's playing in a lot ofWesterns, so you know, but he
has that distinction, and that's maybewhat it is, is the distinction and
(17:26):
the distinctiveness of his voice is justvery timeless, I guess. Yeah.
And of course played a cowboy narratorin The Big Lebowski, so there's that
kind of voice association there too.He's one of these guys he's as much
associated with his voice almost as heis with his presence, kind of like
a Morgan Freeman in that way,you know, just kind of like stands
(17:48):
out for that reason. So whenyou hear him, you're just like,
ah, there it is. Core'sin a yellow can. Yeah, my
terrible Sam Elliott. I don't everdo that. Yeah, I've been riding
the horses all day. Now,time to kick back with a course black
I do. That was actually better. I like that. It was good.
(18:11):
That was that was pretty good.Yeah, Well, I gotta get
my reps in. You need ahandlebar mustache. Now, Yeah, you
need a little something to flap infront and kind of catch the lighter octave
notes before they hit the mic.Yeah, no, I see that like
a like a broom. Yeah.He comes in one day and he shaved
(18:32):
his mustache. He's like, ofcourse, it's really good. Why do
I sound like what's happened to me? Most people know him from a lot
of different things, but so goodin Tombstone. Yeah, that's the first
thing that comes to mind when Ithink Sam Elliott. Here's the two movies
that come to mind. Tombstone,Roadhouse. I love him in Roadhouse.
(18:55):
He didn't have a huge part,but man, he was so good as
Sam Elliott. Yeah, he playsa great Sam Elliott. Yeah. My
mom loves him. She's like,oh, he's a striking young fellow.
What a what a man? That'sSam Ellian. So we got a very
strong group of older men here.Were there any other honorable honorable mentions?
(19:21):
Anybody else you thought about or youknow, came close. One of the
ones that came up that I thoughtabout was Morgan Freeman. He's done some
pizza work, But there were someproblems in that for me, because,
like a lot of the examples theydidn't do a great job presenting Morgan Freeman
in his voice. I thought theycould have been better. I agree with
(19:45):
that. I have the same experiencewhen I was going back and watching him
and I was like, you havethis idea of Morgan Freeman and his voice,
and then I watched them and Iwas underwhelmed in some way. Yeah,
and it's a little bit of Imean, it's a little bit of
his his voice and his pitch,but it's also a little bit of the
cadence in which he speaks, theway in which he speaks that you recognize
(20:07):
him, and they don't use thatcadence when they present the voice over.
How they use him is it's kindof like almost like fast and yeah,
and that's just not quick and throwaway and yeah, if you really want
to take advantage of it, Ithink you need to use some of the
qualities that make his voice unique.And I just don't think they ever captured
(20:27):
that in visa. Yeah, Ialso thought of Samuel Jackson for Capital one.
M what's in your wallet? What'sin your wallet? You know,
Samuel Jackson has a very powerful,you know, grab your attention kind of
voice to him. I also,you know, you mentioned Tim Allen,
he was the one that was probablyI was closest to grabbing because I really
(20:48):
like what he does. I alsothought of Gene Hackman for Lows, which
is a very subtle voice work thatI didn't even realize was him for years,
you know, before someone else kindof like took that over. Kind
of similar to Tim Allen in thatway it was, you know, recognizable
enough that it was there, butnot in your face. You know.
It wasn't like throwing Gene Hackman atyou. It wasn't dumping Gene Hackman all
(21:11):
or you. Speaking though, ofLows. The other one that I really
like, but he's not a superbig celebrity. He has almost the same
stature as what's his name from DennisHabert. Yeah, and that is the
Home Depot guy, Josh Lucas.Yeah. I like him too, from
Sweet Home Alabama, which a lotof people know that movie, maybe maybe
(21:33):
from com with Reese Witherspoon, buthis voice is very distinct. I like
his voice, and his for HomeDepot I think is actually better than Gene
Hackman's for Lows for whatever reason.But yeah, Josh Lucas did it for
a while and you could you wouldknow the voice if you heard it.
Yeah, Sadly we picked all men. Yeah. I was going to mention
(21:53):
that maybe it's my own bias comingthrough here, or the bias of the
ad industry or society as a whole. I just feel like I couldn't find
anything that was super iconic or longterm. You know, as we talked
about some of these things interesting tome to just notice, I'm like,
wow, these are all middle agedor you know, kind of a little
(22:14):
older men that are just repeatedly comingup or doing a lot of brand voice
associations. But I don't know,I think those that's a great list ones
that maybe make you think a littlebit about this idea of using a very
recognizable voice for your brand. Right, not everybody can afford this, like
small business, But when you hearthese brands, think about what that does
(22:37):
to you. In some part ofyour brain, you are thinking, I
now have a connection to that brandbecause I've had a connection with that voice
in some way, whether it wasyour movies or whatever. Yeah, and
that can even be a good startingpoint even if you're not a brand that
can afford the celebrity or something.But to think if we were to get
a celebrity who would it be,you know, and kind of developing some
(23:02):
of your stuff from there. Evenwhen I sometimes will create content for a
brand, sometimes I will try topersonify that brand as like what actor would
this be? I think that's agood thing to also think about. With
kind of voiceover, you can geta sense of what kind of person would
you be looking for. Would yoube looking for somebody with a calm,
a soft voice, would you belooking for somebody who's more authoritative? And
(23:22):
if you think of that in termsof familiar celebrities, maybe that can set
you on the path of where you'retrying to go with your voiceover. That's
a great takeaway. Also, youcan just have a generative AI replicate that
you know you want Morgan Freeman avoice your brand. I'm just kidding.
By the way, don't do absolutely, do not do not do that.
(23:45):
But you're going to hear about ita lot if you haven't already. When
it's going, Wow, Morgan Freeman'sreally voicing every brand. Now that's weird.
Dave's use car lot ving rhimes again. Thing it could be like a
shoe brand. We have the feats, all these we have the beats.
(24:08):
What would they say for a vegetablemarket. We have the beats. There
you go, we have the beats. It could also be an electronics store
or a some sort of musical Ohyeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
it could be it. Yeah,it could be anything. A game store,
video games. We have the cheats. It's a stretch on that one.
(24:33):
We could do this all day.What about a linen store. We
have the sheets. Somebody's already usingthat. That's actually copyright. Yeah,
yeah, that's true. It couldalso be for the gas station. We
have the sheets. We are atthe sheets. You are sheets. That's
amazing. So we hope you gota lot out of today with our nuggets
(24:59):
of human wisdom, if you will, and some voiceover lists for you to
ponder. Yeah, chew on fora little bit. Yeah, just like
meats to get chew on them.Well, that's it for today's episode.
Everyone. You can find current andpast episodes of the podcast on Speaking Human
dot com. We'll be back intwo weeks with another episode of Speaking Human.
(25:26):
Catch you then, Humans Speaking Human
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