Lifestyle Commercial Voice Over
Lifestyle Commercial and Branding
Lifestyle branding and by extension lifestyle advertising has increased dramatically over the past several years. Fundamentally, lifestyle branding aims to relate to a consumers self-expression and identity, in contrast to trying to be 'all things to all people.'
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The lifestyle voice over's job is not to convince an audience that they need something but rather identify with an audience's already established preferences--taking on a 'we are what we are' approach that's non-forced.
Millennial Voice Over | Lifestyle Branding is Intuitive
As a millennial voice over, I tend to take the lifestyle branding approach when reading a script for a product or service and that is: Establishing a human connection is paramount and in a world where self-image and self-expression is the standard, the products people buy increasingly define them. In simpler terms, there's no need to 'hard-sell' in a lifestyle commercial voice over, the product or service being pitched is simply 'is what it is' and the consumer will identify with the product based on visual cues and a voice that matches that product or service.
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My voice over in a lifestyle branding commercial will always try to create a sense of belonging in the consumer, and identify with the core values that the targeted consumer may have.
What is a Lifestyle Commercial?
In the vast format of video, lifestyle commercials contain a broad range of narratives and styles, but a few features are common:
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-A “realistic” shooting style that gives you the feeling of being part of the action.
-Talents that consumers can identify with.
-Scenes that reflects real-life situations
-A concept that is grounded into real world concerns.
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Lifestyle Brand Categories
Health and Fitness Voice Overs
Health and fitness advertisements are all about conveying energy, positivity, and motivation. Often health and fitness brands want a voice over that's non-threatening, but at the same time firm, bright and commands attention. At the core of providing voice overs for health and fitness is giving a sense of a lifestyle that anyone can attain.
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Things I always take into account in health and fitness voice overs:
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Tone is everything! Human beings are sensitive to tone, especially in a health and fitness campaign; so keeping this in mind, my voice over always comes off as very positive in these campaigns.
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work with the images of the video (if its video format) and align all the elements of voice over: tone, pitch, emphasis, etc. to what's occurring on screen.
Beauty and Cosmetic Voice Overs
Voice overs for health and beauty have traditionally been assigned to female voice overs and they still are, but the trend in beauty and cosmetic voice overs are changing to more gender-neutral messages. Newer brands are growing their business with gender fluidity integrated in their DNA. Gender fluid beauty and cosmetic brands are using advertising that reflects diversity in race and gender, packaging products that avoid stereotypes i.e. blue razors for men and pink razors for women.
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So what does gender-fludity in cosmetic and beauty commercials mean for voice over? It means being overtly masculine or feminine is thrown out the window, and something that I've identified as a millennial voice over is that younger consumers want a voice that sounds assured and comfortable in their own skin, and not afraid to even put a slant on a few words in a voice over script i.e. some personal vocal flare.
Clothing Voice Over
Commercial voice overs for clothing and accessories ties in well with the lifestyle branding domain: No hard-sell voice overs and being as relatable as possible. But often in apparel voice overs the message and aim is to get people to click on a link or visit a store to take advantage of a price promotion and other retail incentives, so voice overs in this category tend to be a hard-sell most of the time.