Commercial Voice Over | Demos and Samples for TV, Radio & Web
Commercial Voice Over Jobs
Commercial voice acting is an integral part of my experience as a voice artist, and it's often the first thing people think of when thinking about voice over jobs. My overall approach to commercial voice over is to able to identify the tone of the brand and who their target audience is, and find a way to promote the service or product in a way that can influence the audience to take action or digest a new message without feeling 'talked down to.'
The voice over jobs I'm available for are:
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Television commercials
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Internet / mobile commercials
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Radio commercials
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In-store commercials
And if you have another format of voice over commercial you want to explore, I'd be happy to discuss!
Commercial Voice Over | Approach
If it's your first time hiring a commercial voice over artist, no worries, I'll give you a break down of what to consider for your project so we can make this project awesome; but likely, you will be a commercial voice over pro, and will lead the way! But just in case, here is my overall approach.
Voice Over Tone
There are so many ways to set the tone for commercials that voice over artists need in order to be versatile performers. Often the range of tone can be a wacky character for a children’s snack to someone with calm authority for a life insurance commercial. A person’s voice and the way that they speak is one of the first things that we notice about people. Earnest or light-hearted, warm or distant, we all make snap judgements about people based on what we hear coming out of their mouths. It is the same for brands too, so brand voices have a lot of responsibility to carry, and it is important to get them right.
For the voice over artist to get the tone right, you have to know what the tone for your company should sound like. When you are defining it, the place to start is with your brand guidelines, which will have set the tone for all your print and online advertising. If you don’t have brand guidelines yet, think about your brand’s ‘personality.' Should it be humorous and light-hearted, trustworthy, and strong? Whatever identity you choose for your brand, that will be the starting point that decides how you communicate with the audience.
Voice Over Delivery
The way your commercial is being delivered is just as important as tone, and the style of delivery can generally be broken up into two categories:
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Hard Sell: A forceful delivery that gives the listener as much information as possible in usually a short time frame. In a hard sell, the voice over is quite often enthusiastic, and energetic with a sense of urgency.
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Soft Sell: A normal paced voice over is used and is more conversational rather than forced.
Commercial Voice Over | Types
Radio Commercial Voice Over Jobs
Radio commercial voice over jobs can be national or local. Radio commercials are sometimes produced in-house by radio stations, but often by independent production companies. Some prefer to direct and record VOs using ISDN or other remote recording methods. Voices read a script to time, which usually is for a short ad. There are a huge number of ads produced on a daily basis for the hundreds of radio stations.
Commercial Voice Over Jobs
Advertising agencies work for brands and smaller companies. The client will agree on a budget for advertising that is then used across many different media. The advertising coordinates every aspect of the advertising or marketing campaign. They come up with the initial creative concept, write scripts and more. TV Commercials now are no longer just seen on TV, many are also distributed across the internet.
Internet / Mobile Voice Over Jobs
Some advertisements are made specifically for internet only use e.g. a pre-roll ad for a YouTube channel or programme. These ads may reach millions of people. Other forms of internet voice over jobs involve explainer videos. These have become an increasingly popular way for a company to simplify their marketing message.