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As the Faffter glow dimmed ever so slightly this past week, I had the chance to fan the FaffCon embers with a visit to Pittsburgh via Ohio (yes it was THAT kind of week) and dinner with the Souers.

Actually, there was probably no better group than Bob Souer and his family (sadly without their North Carolina family member Karen who was missed at our dinner) to review FaffCon with, as the entire clan was at the event helping out.

Cinda had some church activities to dash off to so we missed her for the picture and Brian wanted to take the picture above but my thanks to all of them (man, those Souer men are TALL) for joining me for a very special night with a very special group of friends.

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The Friday after FaffCon, I find myself saying “A week ago at this time….”, alot.

Oh, I have thought of MANY ways I could say thank you to everyone at FaffCon for the amazing boost I received from being in their presence.

Each idea, though, seemed to miss the mark in one way or another.

This one might too by inadvertently omitting someone (but I can fix that in post, if they or someone tells me).

The following are the people who made FaffCon 5 special for me and I thank them (underlined, bolded, italicized and exclamation marked):

Liz Aiello
Mars Hill, North Carolina

Rosi Amador
Cambridge, MA

Brian Amador
Cambridge, MA

Roger Baker
Asheville, NC

Bobbin Beam
San Diego, CA

Diane Bean
Cumberland, MD

lori berman
boston, MA

Peter Bishop
Bellport, NY

Amie Breedlove
Charleston, WV

Kelly Brennan
Lititz, PA

Don Brookshire
Cary, NC

Tanya Buchanan
Toronto, ON

Susan Burk
New York, NY

Sean Caldwell
Tarpon Springs, FL

mike carta
knoxville, tn

Tom Cassidy
Montverde, FL

Colleen Colin
santa clarita, ca

Courtney Colin
santa clarita, ca

Mike Coon
Portage, MI

Matt Cowlrick
Victoria, British Columbia

Steve Cunningham
Los Angeles, CA

Terry Daniel
St Louis Park, MN – Minnesota

Chuck Davis
North Stonington, CT

Liz de Nesnera
Pompton Lakes, NJ

Tom Dheere
Parsippany, NJ

Dustin Ebaugh
Las Vegas, NV

Wayne Edwards
Ashville, PA

Moe Egan
Manchester, NH

Vance Elderkin
Chapel Hill, NC

Robin Eller
Los Angeles, CA

melissa eXelberth
Nutley, NJ

Fred Filbrich
Rochester, NY

Jeanne Fishman
New York, NY

Lori Furth
Manhattan Beach, CA

Scott Gentle
New York, NY

Johnny George
Fishers, IN

Nancy German
New sharon, ME

Anthony Gettig
Portage, Michigan

Lee Gordon
West Hartford, CT

Rowell Gorman
Raleigh, NC

Van Gunter
Homewood, Al

Roxanne Hernandez Coyne
Los Angeles, CA

Darryl Hogan
Toronto, ON

Xavier Huix
Ocoee, FL

Dan Hurst
Lees Summit, Missouri

Debbie Irwin
New York, New York

Bruce Jacobson
Roanoke, Virginia

Mara Junot
New York, NY

Jeffrey Kafer
Monroe, Washington

Randye Kaye
Trumbull, CT

Glad Klassen
Niagara Falls, Ontario

Kelly Klemolin
Kimberly, WI

bri knickerbocker
glendale, ca

Jodi Krangle
Newmarket, Ontario

Dan Lenard
East Amherst, NY

Kristin Lennox
Indianapolis, IN

Dale Leopold
Manakin Sabot, VA

Mo Lotman
Somerville, MA

diane maggipinto
salt lake city, ut

Fran McClellan
Genesee, PA

Martha Mellinger
Radnor, Pa

Bob Merkel
Brookfield, WI

Chris Mezzolesta
Hampstead, NC

Deb Munini
Ocoee, FL

Rich Owen
Bakersfield, CA

Tera Parks
Ocoee, FL

Jay Patrick
Fletcher, NC

Jamee T. Perkins
Wilkesboro, NC

Carolyn Peterson
Salisbury, North Carolina

Jennifer Price
Birmingham , Alabama

Talmadge Ragan
Charlotte, NC

Jerry Reed
Whitesboro, NY

Randy Reeves
WOODSTOCK, GA

Lisa Rice
Thaxton, Virginia

Leesha Saunders
Hyattsville, MD

Joey Schaljo
New York, NY

Monk Schane-Lydon
Canaan, NY

Rob Sciglimpaglia
Norwalk, Ct

Kevin Silva
Raleigh, North Carolina

Jody Silvers
Charlotte, NC

Elaine Singer
Toronto, ON

Catherine Smith
Charlotte, NC

Bob Souer
Venetia, PA

Debra Stamp
Wake Forest, NC

Patrick Sweeney
Toronto, Ontario

Amy Taylor
Litchfield, CT

Bob Taylor
Derby, NY

Lori Taylor
Gainesville, FL

Christian Taylor
Wheaton, IL

Connie Terwilliger
San Diego, CA

Tom Test
Chicago, IL

Trish The Dish
Budd Lake, New Jersey

Pam Tierney
Chicago, Illinois

Gene Tognacci
Houston, TX

Doug Turkel
Miami Shores, Florida

Jeffrey Umberger
Atlanta, Georgia

Katherin Vasilopoulos
Brossard, Quebec

Leslie Wadsworth
Fallbrook, CA

Janet Walton
Fletcher, NC

George Washington III
Charlotte, NC

David White
Mill Creek, WA

Cliff Zellman
Dallas, Texas

Wendy Zier
Raleigh, NC

FaffCon 5 Staff:

Ashley Barton
North Hollywood, CA

Dan Friedman
Asheville, NC

CC Heim
College Station, TX

Lauren McCullough
Asheville, NC

Amy Snively
Los Angeles, CA

Natalie Stanfield Thomas
Corning, NY

Devon Stewart
North Hollywood, CA

Cinda Souer
Venetia, PA

Eric Souer
Venetia, PA

Karen Souer
Gastonia, NC

Tags: faffcon by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Dear Telephone Company With 3 Letters:

With all the excitement coming from your mistress in Cupertino these past few weeks, I only kinda sorta understand how you may have taken your corporate eye off the customer service ball…and yet I don’t.

No you don’t have any problems with me…your problem is bigger than that!

You went and crossed my friend who can handle herself just fine without my help. If you enjoy a good corporate spanking, then this is your lucky day!

Your problems in order are:

1. She’s a smart Texan

2. Your customer service…um, wasn’t

3. She’s a might handy with a video camera

The tale of the tape would seem to indicate your customer service department has lost its corporate mind.

You might want to check your records on this case and make nice-nice real quick like.

Tags: commentary, video by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Since about the age of 18, I have been an ardent supporter of Arby’s.

At UD, many days I would eat there for breakfast lunch and dinner and I still lunch there occasionally. So with all the money I have poured into the place, I have an unofficially vested interest in any branding change, regardless of your opinions of my eating habits.

So when I saw this hideous excuse for a logo change, I asked why? I asked it for two reasons.

1. The current logo describes very nicely the food and ambiance of the stores, especially the newer stores.

2. The new logo looks like crap. I tried to be more artful than that but words failed me.

The new logo is crap and it doesn’t matter what their new branding direction is – if the chain is not going to be Arby’s, then change the name and menu and move on. But if you plan on remaining Arby’s, true to the iconic nature of your brand (build with comparatively little branding vs. it’s main competitors in the fast-food area) then tweak the logo if you must.

Keeping the hat and changing the word mark in this way is more than a tweak, it’s a bastardization and if I was a franchisee with the looming costs involved in changing signage to this new craptastic logo, I would be pissed!

You can offer a differing opinion, but you’ll be wrong! 😉

Tags: advertising, branding, logo design, marketing by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Are you plagued by those little business oriented tasks that you never get around to even after months or years?

You know, the simple stuff that for whatever reason never seems to get accomplished?

Well, you probably don’t have that problem but I do.

Or in one instance, I can now say, I DID have that problem but now I can check it off my list.

When Mrs. audio’connell and I have purchased new cars, we’ve always agreed that the dealership did NOT get to put their logoed license plate frame or logoed sticker on our cars. It’s only because the dealership wouldn’t pay our $15,000 advertising fee (we go lots of cool places in our cars and our bumpers are seen by all the beautiful and influential people). We thought $15K a very reasonable rate considering it was a one time fee that would cover the life of the car. We even offered to let them take it off invoice.

And yet, no takers.

So our cars are un-dealerized. But I respected the value of that ad space/real estate and I vowed one day, I would claim that space for my own.

I think we bought our last car three years ago so how am I doing on THAT to-do list?!

Well under the category of better late than never, Da’s car now has a lovely etched (high falutin’!) customized license plate frame.

No, we didn’t pay the extra fee for a customized plate (that feels like giving away money to NY State) and no, we will do whatever it takes to AVOID New York State’s fugly orange and blue 1970’s color license plates.

But I like the simple and subtle message on the new plate frame that may not get everyone’s attention…just that special someone, with a voice-over need and a checkbook.

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, marketing, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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As you may know if you’ve read this blog ever, I can be somewhat obsessed with business cards.

Well as my branding recently changed slightly to be “Your Friendly, Neighbohood Voice-Over Talent” I decided I should update the business cards too.

So I did but I have come to a creative stumbling block for which your help is humbly requested and gratefully accepted (although it’s likely if I don’t pick your favorite, you’ll never speak to me again).

Everyone who has seen the front of the cards (the white side) really likes that design. So that’s staying.

But I came up with two designs for the back (both red versions) and I’m not sure which I like better (and I mean that sincerely, I do NOT have a fav, I like them both).

So please let me know from these two choices for the back of the card, which would you choose?

We will call the choices:

A. No Microphone (just red)
B. With Microphone

Thanks for your help.

Tags: advertising, logo design, marketing, silliness by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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