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Title: The Sound of Business - Part 4
Author: Jerry Bader
Article:
PART IV - THE SOUND OF BUSINESS
STEPS TO CREATING YOUR SONIC PERSONALITY©
1. List all the human attributes inherent in your business
personality. An accounting firm may want to project stability,
reliability, and a conventional outlook - think the avuncular
voice of Walter Cronkite. An advertising agency might want to
deliver a hip, cutting edge, in your face creative personality -
think the edgy delivery of Chris Rock or Dennis Leary. Now
before you get all excited and start shouting, 'how I am I going
to afford these guys?' the answer is you don't. There are great
voice actors available at very reasonable prices that can
project the desired style and delivery.
2. What are the audio qualities of the Signature Voice? Do you
want a man or a woman, or a combination of both? Do you want a
deep base voice full of conviction, a snooty British accent
dripping in condescension, or a comic rapid-fire patter aimed to
amuse and entertain? When we created the
MassiveRecordProductions.com
(http://www.massiverecordproductions.com) project, we required a
smart-alec wise-guy approach, in the vain of Dennis Miller. In
this case, the actual accent of the voice was less important
than the delivery.
3. What kind of language, phrasing, and cadence is required to
give the Signature Voice its personality? When we were looking
for a Signature Voice for a DVD that was to be used at the
Winter Baseball Meetings, we decided on a combination of Dizzy
Dean and Mel Allen. The key was that 'good ole boy' southern
charm conveyed through a combination of baseball jargon,
phrasing, and dialect. We weren't looking for someone to imitate
Dizzy Dean, just someone who could deliver the essence of
Dizzy's love for the game.
4. Wet or Dry? Have you ever watched one of those 'The Making of
...' documentaries on a how a movie was made? Sometimes they
will show you a scene with dialog but no music or sound effects.
It's really very flat, even with the actors doing their dramatic
best. Voice without music or sound effects is called a 'Dry'
delivery. When the effects and the music are added in
postproduction, the scene delivers real emotional impact. The
music and f/x provide emotional clues and memory hooks.
5. Write the script. I find having the voice in my head is a
great help in writing the script. Whether you're shooting for
Sidney Greenstreet or Rod Serling, the cadence, phrasing, and
language are what makes the script come alive, and creates the
Sonic Personality© that will represent your company. Unrelated
to the actual voice but definitely of importance to the script,
is the point of view. The script should not be about you, it
should be about how your audience can benefit from knowing you.
Don't fall into the trap of focusing on you and listing a bunch
of product or service features. Talk about what you can do for
your audience, and in that way you will make a real connection.
6. Audition the talent. Once you have a script, it's time to
audition a number of voices to find the one that fits the Sonic
Personality© you are looking for, and of course the price you
are willing to pay. We generally have 50 to 100 people audition
for each script. We then narrow the search down to the two or
three best voices that fit the audio and budget requirements and
present them to our client.
7. Implement on the Web. Once the voice audio is complete, music
and sound effects can be added as needed. The audio tracks are
then cut into digestible clips, compressed, and converted into
appropriate implementible files. The Sonic Personality© program
can be delivered on a website, or a DVD or CD presentation.
The Proof Is In The Toaster
In a world of mental clutter, 'information anxiety', and low
attention spans, Sonic Personality© will become the next big
weapon in webmedia presentation and marketing. But let's say
you're still not convinced even after reading the four
installments of 'The Sound of Business.' Let me show you exactly
how Sonic Personality© can work in a practical example, but you
have to promise to participate.
Take a sticky note or a plain piece of paper and place a big
question mark on it. Under the question mark draw a line. Now
place the piece of paper in your daily agenda two weeks from
today. In two weeks, I want you to write down on that piece of
paper the name of the fictitious product in the example we are
going to create. If you can remember the product's name, Sonic
Personality© has done its job.
Here's the setup. There are certain things in life that are very
personal, the way you dress, how you comb your hair, the way you
take your coffee, and how you like your toast. There is nothing
worse (well of course there is) than waking up on a Saturday
morning, taking the last two slices of bread, placing them in
the toaster, and in several minutes find you have what can best
be described as a 'burnt offering.' There is definitely a need
here that needs to be filled.
Our made-up client is a small appliance company who has created
a toaster that audibly warns you what setting your toaster is on
as soon as you put your bread in it. This product has appeal for
anyone who has been irritated by ruined toast. The client isn't
sure what kind of Sonic Personality© they want to present, so we
create a series of Sonic Demo Spots.
Click on the link below to hear the various sonic demo spots,
each with its own Sonic Personality©. Don't forget to create
your two-week reminder and if you remember the name of the
product, you should start thinking about how to implement your
own Sonic Personality© campaign.
Click here for example: <a
href="http://www.sonicpersonality.com">www.sonicpersonality.com</
a>
About the author:
Jerry Bader, is a partner in MRPwebmedia, a website design firm
that specializes in creating multimedia websites that enhance
their clients business opportunities by delivering their
marketing messages using the latest audio, video, Flash, and
interactive techniques.
MRPwebmedia developed the Sonic Personalities© concept that
effectively conveys your brand, image and message on websites
and DVD/CD presentations using custom-crafted voice-overs.
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