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RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – May 18, 2026 – – As brands compete for attention across an increasingly crowded digital advertising landscape, Phone Lasso® has selected veteran American male voice actor Peter K. O’Connell to deliver the voice of its newly launched nationwide campaign appearing across major streaming, social media and digital platforms.

WATCH THE COMMERCIAL

 

Phone Lasso® is a universal phone lanyard strap and adhesive patch system designed to help users securely attach their smartphone to a wearable strap, reducing the risk of drops, loss, or damage while keeping devices easily accessible throughout the day.

The campaign is now rolling out across YouTube pre-roll, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other paid digital media placements as part of Phone Lasso’s national marketing initiative.

O’Connell was brought into the project to deliver a clear, enthusiastic read that could communicate the product quickly and intuitively while maintaining a knowing, trustworthy tone.

Recorded at audio’connell Voiceover Talent Studios, O’Connell’s workflow supports fast-turnaround commercial production, remote collaboration, and producer-directed revisions for national and international campaigns.

“The goal was a read that feels excited, striking and trust-worthy without needing to over explain anything. It really came down to letting the message speak clearly to the listener,” O’Connell said.

The Phone Lasso® campaign adds to O’Connell’s body of national commercial voiceover work across digital advertising, broadcast, and branded content campaigns, with a continued focus on conversational performance styles that prioritize clarity, authenticity, and immediate audience connection.

The campaign is now live and continues to roll out across multiple digital platforms nationwide.
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About Peter K. O’Connell
Peter K. O’Connell is a professional voice actor and live announcer (Voice of God) whose work spans commercial advertising, narration, and branded content for national and international clients.

His voice can be heard in campaigns and productions for brands including Ford, Disney iHeartMedia, Crest, IBM, SiriusXM Media, and Amazon Web Services, in addition to his recent role as the voice of Phone Lasso’s nationwide digital advertising campaign.

Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, O’Connell operates audio’connell Voiceover Talent Studios, a Source-Connect equipped recording studio supporting remote commercial and narration production for clients worldwide.

About Phone Lasso®
Phone Lasso® is dedicated to physical phone safety because we believe people should not be afraid of losing or breaking their phones while doing the activities they enjoy most. Every day we renew our commitment to provide products for people to live active lifestyles without fear. Phone Lasso® is focused on keeping you safely in charge of your phone and connected to today’s relationships, news and activities.

CONTACT:
Peter K. O’Connell
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent
audio’connell Voiceover Talent
PH. +01 716-572-1800 & +01 919-283-1516
EM. peter@audioconnell.com
W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER:
http://www.audioconnell.com/media

Tags: commentary, media releases by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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A microphone, a finish line and a Saturday morning that reminded me exactly why I do what I do.

Last week when I did the live announcing for the Apex (NC) Chamber of Commerce’s Run The Peak 10K & 5K race, it was fun on many levels, including a few I had not thought about.

I’ve been doing Live Announcing and Emceeing (like at the Run) for decades.

It’s always a great gig, as is the Voice of God (VOG) work as well. Whether it’s a race, a corporate event, an awards ceremony or a conference, live event hosting and emceeing is one of my favorite things to do as a voiceover professional.

But I had not done anything local in a while, so I forgot how many friends I would likely see at the race.

In addition to the many new folks I met, like the team at Peak City Drone who captured awesome drone footage of the race, I also caught up with some relatively old friends.

Out of the crowd came Aaron Lurie from VMA Studios in Fuquay-Varina, whose photography is more like artistic storytelling. It’s just so sharp, and he has the most infectious, happy attitude. https://vmastudios.com/

Both Peak City Drone and VMA were kind enough to share some of their footage and photos with me so I could cut together a quick one-minute video of my performance as a Live Announcer and Emcee at Run The Peak.

Also out of nowhere I heard someone call “Peter! Hi Peter!” and it was Natasha Gilliam from TLG Film Group! We had a lovely visit and she took some pictures of me that look great and that I am free to use, so you’ll be seeing them on social media. She has real talent because I don’t look like my weirdo self in the shots. That takes artistry!

I was so lucky to reconnect with current friends and make new ones. It made getting up at o-dark-thirty on a Saturday morning completely worth it!

HERE’S THE VIDEO WITH VIDEO FROM PEAK CITY DRONE AND PHOTOGRAPHY FROM VMA STUDIOS:

Tags: commentary, emcee, live announcing, VOG, voice of God, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Lately I’ve been getting out of my home voiceover studio and doing something old-fashioned: networking. Meeting local business owners around Raleigh, Durham and the Triangle in North Carolina. They have been getting a lot of Peter K. O’Connell, Your Friendly Neighborhood Voiceover Talent lately at various small networking groups, and honestly, they seem fine with it.

The reactions when they find out I’m a voice actor are nice. There’s always a “wait, I knew your voice was familiar.” Always a few wide eyes. And then, right on cue, somebody says one of three things:

• “I’ve always wanted to be a voice actor.”
• “People tell me I have a great voice.”
• “How do you get started in voiceover?”

Every. Single. Time.

Look, I love the enthusiasm. I really do. But if I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that last question, I would be networking from a much nicer zip code.

So rather than answer it for the four hundredth time over a business card and a lukewarm coffee (well, Pepsi, and mine is always properly chilled), I finally did the responsible thing. I wrote it all down. You’re welcome in advance.

First things first: how do I get started in voiceover?

I’m going to start off with the bad news first: now is very probably one of the worst times to begin a voiceover career, in my opinion – hey, I’m honest. Why is it a bad time?

First reason is for a while technology has allowed any jackass with a computer microphone to label themselves a voice talent. The work most produce doesn’t even rhyme with the word talent, yet that silo of fakers keeps filling, not diminishing.

But the latest knife in the back of voice talents is AI, artificial intelligence. AI allows almost anybody to take a purchased voice computer made or a voice actor that has sold their voice (yes there are people who sell their voice and, in my opinion, their careers) to free AI voice generators. Those nasty (in my opinion) but perfectly legal companies then mix an AI voice with a downloaded script and that fake voice is now the narrator.

Good, fast and cheap – pick two. With AI, good is not necessary. Humans are a time and financial nuisance to those media producers who use AI voices and they are glad to tell you that.

I haven’t even mentioned those devious, unscrupulous individuals from around the globe who just plain steal human voices from previous recording (completely unauthorized) and sell them as their own. That kind of CRIME has taken place at the HIGHEST levels of business.

I don’t feel like this tornadic truth of the current voiceover climate will be changing any time soon. I HOPE it does but I don’t have that crystal ball and I promised to be honest.

THAT’S the world new voice talent are coming into.

So. Still want to swim in our pool with those sharks? OK. Here’s how you do it right.

Find a qualified voiceover coach, an actual working professional voice actor whose primary business is teaching, not someone whose real business model is selling you a demo. That distinction will save you thousands of dollars and a whole lot of heartbreak. Take individual lessons. Consider group voiceover workshops. Build your foundation before you build anything else.

Now. The other questions.

How do I make a voice acting demo with no experience?

You don’t. Not yet. A voice acting demo is a result of training, not the starting point. A demo produced before you’re ready is an expensive way to tell casting directors you aren’t ready. Why? Because voiceover is not just talking, there is acting, performance technique, script interpretation…so much stuff that you have not been trained in. As an example, if you can find a group voiceover class of voiceover professionals (not beginners), audit the class. Watch and listen to what they do. Then you will REALLY know how NOT ready for a demo you are. Be humble, not eager. Invest in professional voice over coaching first. When your trusted VO coach tells you it’s demo time, that means something. When a voiceover demo production mill tells you it’s demo time after one phone call, that means something too. And it’s very *not* good.

Do I need professional recording equipment to start?

No. For voiceover training and practice (first and foremost), a decent USB microphone and a quiet closet will do just fine. Don’t let gear anxiety stop you from starting if you really have the drive to be in voiceover. That said, as you progress toward auditioning and booking professional voiceover work, your home recording studio setup absolutely matters. Clean audio is non-negotiable for clients. But right now? Record. Practice. Learn. Save your money for lessons.

How long should a voiceover demo reel be?

About :60 seconds for a commercial demo reel. A qualified demo producer will help you on that, you don’t need to obsess about it. More importantly, I recommend that your first demo ALWAYS be your commercial demo. 99% of the time, your first paid VO jobs will be commercials. Even the famous character voice actors will tell you that. Yes, you can do an audiobook demo next (if that’s your passion), but start with commercial. Casting directors and voiceover agents are not sitting around hoping your demo is longer. They decide fast – honestly you have about 15 seconds or less before they know whether they want to consider or hire you.

Should I have different demos for different genres?

Yes, eventually. A commercial voiceover demo and a corporate narration demo serve completely different audiences. An audiobook narration demo and an e-learning voiceover demo are not interchangeable. As your voiceover career develops, separate demos for separate genres signal professionalism and make it easy for the right clients to find the right version of you.

What should I include in a voice acting portfolio?

The more you train, the more you talk with voice over teachers and the more you hang out with fellow voice talents (or just check out the content of their websites) it will become clear. Since you’re just beginning, you don’t need to focus in your portfolio now…but when you’re ready, my recommended areas of focus (ranked by priority are):

1. On-going, professional voiceover training – (many, many months, not weeks and certainly not in a weekend)
2. Commercial Demo – (with a professional coach and demo producer with scripts and styles the coach thinks you not only excel at but also differentiate you from many other talents)
3. Voiceover website – if you’re hot to do something to do right now for your voiceover career, go to a domain registrar (think Go Daddy or someone like that) and see if you can secure your name as a dot com domain. If not your name, then yournamevoiceover.com or yournamevo.com. Then later, when you’re ready for a website…you can start with a one page with an audio player for your demo and some text (and build from there). You just need a landing page when you start out.
4. A business card – doesn’t have to be fancy….doesn’t have to be perfectly branded. Name, website address, email address and phone number — something you can hand out.

What about a bio? What about a headshot? What about….knock it off. You’re just starting.

OK, you need a project? You want to feel like you’re doing something for your burgeoning voiceover career?

Start an excel spreadsheet. Save it as voiceover database. Across the top, left to right, label the cells “First Name”, “Last Name”, “Company Name”, “Business Address”, “City”, “State”, “Zip Code”, “Email Address”, “Web Address” & “Phone Number”.

Then research and fill out those cells for your regional ad agency Creative Director, Video Production Company Owners and or Producers, Recording Studio Owners and Engineers….this document, more than anything else I have told you, will be the start of your voiceover business.

What do you do with it?

That’s a blog post unto itself. Hope this helps.

Tags: commentary, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Look, I’ll be honest with you.

When I moved from Buffalo to Raleigh after five decades, I had a moment of voiceover panic. Do I just… pretend Buffalo never happened? Do I scrub 30+ years of Western New York history from my website and go full North Carolina?

That felt wrong. Really wrong. After all, one does not simply erase Buffalo out of his system. Nor does one want to (#GoBills).

But here’s the other side of it: after 10 years in Raleigh, I think I’ve paid my dues. I’ve survived enough North Carolina summers to earn my humidity badge. I know what “Apex” means without needing GPS. I’ve even stopped reflexively saying “pop” instead of “soda” (okay, that’s a lie, but I’m working on it).

So I figured I should create a dedicated Raleigh North Carolina voice talent page on my website, even though my Buffalo Niagara voice talent page is still very much alive and kicking.

Why the North Carolina Voiceover Connection Matters

Here’s the thing: even though I work remotely with clients worldwide via Source-Connect, local connections still matter. The Triangle area is booming with tech companies, universities, and creative agencies that need commercial voiceover, narration, character voice work and corporate video content. As a professional voice actor now based in Raleigh, I wanted to make it crystal clear that I’m here and available for both local sessions and remote projects throughout North Carolina.

But I’m also still very much a Buffalo guy. That city shaped everything about my broadcasting career, from my first radio station field trip as a kindergartener to decades of work with Western New York clients like Rich Products and the Buffalo News. Buffalo taught me the work ethic and authenticity that define how I approach every voiceover project today.

The Dual Identity Advantage

I genuinely am both a Raleigh resident AND a Buffalo native (I even kept my 716 phone number). This gives me unique positioning as East Coast voiceover talent who can serve clients from Charlotte to Durham to Greensboro to Apex to Cary to Buffalo and everywhere in between.

Whether you’re a producer in the Research Triangle Park looking for a Raleigh recording studio for a directed session, or a Buffalo agency needing a narrator who gets Western New York, I’m your guy. Same voice talent, same professional studio, same commitment to making your project sound great. For me, geography is flexible, but voiceover quality never is. You get that way after 40 years in this business.

Tags: commentary, North Carolina, raleigh, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Let me start with a confession that every solopreneur in the voiceover industry will understand: writing about yourself is excruciating.

I just published a completely revamped “About” page at audioconnell.com. It was one of the hardest web pages I’ve ever written. Not because I don’t have 40-plus years as a professional voice actor to draw from. The awkwardness comes from having to sound braggadocious. Listing campaigns. Name-dropping clients. Talking about awards and testimonials from people in the business.

Ick!! That’s just not who I am.

But here’s what pushed me to finally revamp this page on my website and update this content: the way casting directors find voice talent has fundamentally changed. Traditional search engine optimization isn’t enough anymore because people aren’t just googling “voice actor” and clicking through links.

They’re using voice search and asking AI assistants conversational questions like “Who’s an experienced automotive voice talent with Source-Connect in North Carolina?” and getting direct answers. If your content isn’t optimized for AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), you’re invisible to this growing search method that’s adding millions of sessions monthly.

The Uncomfortable Truth
Here’s my struggle: how do I mention that I voiced the Maaco “Uh-Oh, Better Get Maaco” campaign without sounding like I’m showing off? How do I talk about being character voices for Kraft Dinner or doing the Crest “Pro-Active Defense” commercials without feeling like a braggart? How do I highlight my corporate narration and live announcing work without coming across as self-important?

But then I realized: casting directors aren’t reading “About” pages anymore. They’re asking ChatGPT. They’re using Perplexity. They’re having AI tools create shortlists based on specific criteria and user intent. If your website content (like this reconstructed “About” page) doesn’t answer those natural language queries with clarity, you don’t make the shortlist.

The Part That Made Me Squirm
You know what was worse than listing clients? Showcasing testimonials. Geez!!!

Don’t get me wrong, the clients who provided them are lovely and were genuinely happy to contribute. But having to originally request them felt so cringe. Posted them on a “Client Testimonials” page…ack!!!

Now I’ve got to put some of them on my “About” page on top of my testimonials page because that’s what content strategy demands in 2025???? Feels rather clownish for me.

BUT it’s the craziness of how internet search works now. You need authoritative sources and third-party validation scattered throughout your site because AI systems are looking for that confirmation everywhere, not just in one spot.

Something about it still makes my skin crawl. Like stepping on a wet bathroom floor in socks.

The Structure Question
I wrestled with how to organize everything to make AI happy (because evidently that also now part of my job description). Do I lead with my origin story? Do I jump right into the client roster? How do I structure my explainer video samples and voice of god demos?

I finally realized the answer: both. But in scannable sections with clear brand messaging that work for human readers and AI systems alike, optimized for featured snippets and question-based queries.

Why I’m Telling You This
I’m writing this because I know a lot of you are in the same boat I was in.

You know your old “About” page is outdated. You’re not doing any (or enough new) SEO copywriting or content creation to improve your organic traffic. But the thought of writing about yourself, of listing your achievements, of including client testimonials makes you deeply uncomfortable.

I get it. I felt/and still feel/ exactly the same way.

But here’s the truth: if casting directors and producers are using AI tools powered by large language models to research voice over talent, and they are, then your discomfort with self-promotion is literally costing you work.

The page is live now at audioconnell.com/about.

Check it out. See how I handled the awkwardness.

See if it helps you think differently about your own site’s content optimization.

And if you’re still struggling with the braggadocious feeling? Remember: it’s not bragging if it helps the right people find you for the right projects.

Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning professional voice actor, live announcer, and voiceover coach based in Raleigh, North Carolina. For over 40 years, he’s been “America’s Friendly Neighborhood Voiceover Talent,” delivering versatile, broadcast-quality voice over for national brands, Fortune 500 companies, and live events worldwide. Connect with Peter at audioconnell.com.

Tags: branding, commentary, internet, marketing, technology, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Here’s the thing about dogs and statistics.

Neither of them lie.

Dogs will let you know pretty quickly whether they like you or not – they can sense if you’re good people or someone who should be run off.

Statistics are what they are – accurate numbers are not emotional or loyal, they simply are what they are.

I bring this up because looking at my Instagram account, statistics showed  VERY clear that my followers love our family dog and my #studiobeast – Bucky The Voiceover Super Dog.

Everyone one of the IG (or any social media) posts that includes a picture of Bucky ALWAYS gets more likes that anything else I post.

You people are almost as obsessed with our happy, lovey dog as we are.

As he is my company’s #studiobeast – it occurred to me this week that I’ve not given my dog his due on the audio’connell Voiceover Talent website.

So….

Bucky now has his own web page on audioconnell.com

It’s a simple page that tell Bucky’s story and how much he means to us.

I created it because of how much he obviously means to all of you.

And that is a great feeling. Thank you.

Tags: audio'connell voice over talent, audio'connell's social & web links, blogs, commentary by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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