I’ve mentioned before how I loiter occasionally on VO-BB.com with my fellow voice professionals. Well occasionally, an avatar theme develops if members care to join in. The avatar is the little picture that is featured under your screen name on many message boards…the picture can be your photo, your logo or darn near anything you can justifiable identify in what amounts to a pretty tiny box.

Over on DB’s board, there have been such themes as animals, photos photo shopped in into KISS band members (some were especially odd), the Simpsonization graphics that I wrote of here and then, more recently, comp cards. Comp cards are those cards models and actresses leave behind for agents or casting directors when auditioning for a role; they usually feature one or more “headshots” and contact information etc.

Well, this brings up the old voice over talent argument of whether to ever feature your photo if you are a voice actor. Will your photographic image change in any way a casting director’s opinion of whether you are the right voice talent for a voice acting role (nothing on camera about it)? As I don’t like to do on camera work because I think I’m lousy at it, I always vote no to pictures but also do not begrudge any voice talent who also does on camera work for featuring their photo on their web site etc.

So when the board started posting comp card avatar’s after audio’connell Voice Over Talent Amy posted her recent headshot, I wasn’t going to participate. Until, that is, I got the crazy idea to create a comp card from my Simpsonized photo. THAT seemed most apropos as it’s a cartoon caricature and one of the things I do is character voices for cartoon and animation. Further, it also seemed silly and for me that sealed the deal.

So now on my web site biography, you will find my comp card and I’m also featuring it on my Facebook profile as that’s about the only photo of me I think the web is really ready for!

Tags: advertising, announcers, commentary, peter o'connell, tv, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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A great blog design without good writing is like a bubble gum comic….it’s a passable idea but who cares?

Likewise, good blog writing is meaningless if it’s presented within a wishy-washy design.

And if you want to highlight your podcast, then all of that becomes a bit more complicated.

Well today Mitch Joel of Twist Image unveiled his new design and rebranded Six Pixels of Separation Blog and Podcast site.

If his company uses just this site as its design-content-web functionality calling card…Twist Image may not have actually write many more new business marketing/advertising/podcasting/public relations proposals. You can see it from the first page.

And he writes well.

THAT’S how its done, folks. Take note.

BTW, I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to Mitch’s recent podcast on the Toronto Geek Dinner, which I wrote about recently. Listen to the interviews (not because I’m on it) but for the various opinions and uses for blogging and podcasting….totally unique perspectives unedited and rolling live from people all using the same tools. And a great steak dinner, I might add.

Tags: advertising, blogs, commentary, internet, marketing, media, podcasting, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

If one is to believe the hype from the National Association of Broadcasters, the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio may lead a kind of broadcasting apocalypse. I’ve no doubt there are those who have studied the deep financial impact for both sides of the argument. The FCC is their usually failing wisdom initially showed their hand to be against it but may have softened that stance a bit.

If you’ll allow me, I’ll make it easy for everyone involved.

Let XM and Sirius merge. Do it. Do it now.

I do not have a satellite receiver, I am not currently a subscriber nor do I expect to be one in the near future. I don’t dislike satellite radio but I am also not drawn to it. So why am I so adamantly in favor of the merger?

It makes sense, that’s why.

Simple, I know, but the best answers usually are. We don’t need competing services and anyone with half a brain (thus leaving out the NAB, FCC and a voice over talent like me, for example) could see this merger coming as soon as the two services came out. Two satellite radio services is one too many. There is not and never will be enough customers to threaten terrestrial radio and its advertising pot.

And most importantly, if terrestrial radio stays true to its local roots, it will never seriously be threatened by satellite radio in any form.

Let me take you back a bit to the 80’s when we had two comedy cable channels: The Comedy Channel and HA! They merged. You know why?

It made sense, that’s why.

Tags: advertising, commentary, commercials, marketing, media, radio, technology, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on merging XM and Sirius

There’s been a fair amount of chatter on blogs I subscribe to and also featured on pages like digg and reddit about social networks. I’ve even addressed it briefly here.

The hottest brands at the epicenter of this cataclysmic topic are Facebook and Linked In. Should you be in just one, should you be in both, which is better?

I’d not given the debate much thought because I am in both. But in reading Christopher Penn’s blog today, he very fairly sums up each network’s value.

As I jokingly chided him in his comments section…if goes around calmly, accurately and succinctly summarizing internet debates like this, the internet will fall apart, we’ll have nothing left to debate!

Great post Chris, thanks!

Tags: advertising, blogs, commentary, internet, marketing, media, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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A recent Harris Poll survey asked consumers the following question:

“We would like you to think about brands or names of products and services you know. Considering everything, which three brands do you consider the best?”

They’ve been asking this question since 1995. These are spontaneous replies. Respondents are not read or shown a list of brand names. Here’s the entire story and here are the top 10 winners with their 2006 ranking in parenthesis:

1. Coca Cola (3)
2. Sony (1)
3. Toyota (4)
4. Dell (2)
5. Ford (5)
6. Kraft Foods (9)
7. Pepsi Cola (not in top 10)
8. Microsoft (not in top 10)
9. Apple (10)
10. Honda (6)

Good news for Coca-Cola, bad news for General Electric (they were 8th in 2006, this year they did not crack the top10) and even better or worse news for some advertising agencies depending on where their client finished on the list.

I talk about brands all the time because it’s critical for the financial success of every business including the voice over industry. It projects the identity of a business in the mind’s eye and heart of its intended audience. Some people think this only means a great logo or a flashy web site but those are only two channels through which the marketing message gets sent.

Others think you can buy branding with enough money spent on advertising. No doubt there is a bit of weight to this theory, certainly a consideration based on the top 10 finishers…..but it is NOT the whole story.

While you need money to expose your brand and marketing themes to the masses, there are a variety of simple, low cost, even guerilla techniques any size business can apply in EVERY phase of their business. There are hundreds of books with the steps to make it happen.

From answering the phone to how to handle complaints, to invoicing to exterior landscape to business cards…everything about your customer’s experience and interaction with your company involves continually establishing, maintaining and/or changing their opinion about your business in their mind’s eye and heart. It simply never ends.

Looking at it that way, you can see branding often has little to do with a logo.

It has a lot to do with the company attitude – towards its customers, its industry and its own culture. Corporate culture is a part of branding? Oh yeah. When it comes to branding your company, start from the inside…then head out. Yes even the smallest company has an attitude and your customer both perceive and shape it.

So take a look at these companies….think about how you have interacted with them in your daily life…what makes you buy their product, feel safe about ingesting their food or giving it to your family, spending large chunks of money of their devices? Is it simply price? Or is it trust? Is it comfort? Is there a “coolness” factor involved? What makes them cool?

Now think about how you came to feel that way….how did you evolve (or in a negative case dissolve) into that perception?

From all that, what can you apply to your business? Yes you, the non multi-billion dollar, non-thousands of employees, non summer home on the Cape – you. Your business.

My point is the principles that are implemented by these top 10 brands are basic and can be applied to your business too but you must THINK about them, consider them and decide which to apply. They won’t all work and some you will not be able to afford. But some you CAN apply and some you CAN afford and some (many) you are NOT doing now.

So first think, then do. Enjoy the process…its one of the reasons you went into business for yourself in the first place.

(All brand trademarks and copyrights acknowledged)

Tags: advertising, commentary, commercials, marketing, media by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
3 Comments »

A great product or service alone does not ensure a financial windfall. There’s this little issue of selling.

Notice I didn’t say marketing…I mean selling, where the rubber meets the road.

Apple’s iPhone now appears to have achieved sales success. My theory has usually been when you sell out and also get a bunch of press about what doesn’t work on the product (cause people love to tear about a success, it makes them feel better about their lack of success) then you’ve probably developed a winner.

While the technology was pretty terrific, I think much credit goes to Steve Jobs’ masterful iPhone presentation at Mac World in early 2007 that enthralled the audience and the web (oh, yes, the presentation has been viewed a few thousand times).

If you are in sales and make presentations to clients, you should watch the whole Jobs iPhone presentation here.

Then you should review communications coach Carmine Gallo’s review of the Jobs’ speech in Business Week to learn how you can apply the principles of the Jobs’ i-Phone presentation to your presentations

Tags: advertising, commentary, commercials, marketing, media, technology, tv by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »