Not for a moment do I claim to truly understand the analytics of any social media platform. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et al with their likes and followers are about as deep as I get into it. Whether it’s a science or a sham, I don’t understand most of it, I don’t pretend to nor do I lose sleep over it.

Yet again this morning, however, I was putzing around my Facebook business page in another futile attempt to figure out if I was passing or failing my on-going social media exams. I do this occassionally as some sort of weird self-torture.

When what did my wonder eyes did I see but the number 400 next to ‘business page likes’ (or followers or zombies or something), none of that matters. What matters is that there were 400 of…something interested in what I was saying on my Facebook business page, Peter K. O’Connell – Male Voiceover Talent.

I assume (without any real research, of course) that there are voiceover talents who also have Facebook Business Pages who may have 10 times as many page likes as my 400 that they may have obtained organically or via purchase — and good on them.

Just from a personal stand point, 400 likes seems like A LOT. Call it egotistical or even naive, but it seemed like a nice number and I was weirdly pleased with it.

I know enough about social media analytics to understand that likes and followers don’t tell much of the social media effectiveness story unless these followers are ” actively engaged” in the content they are following and that there is indeed quality content to actually follow.

But since starting my  Facebook Business Page back in 841 B.C., I’ve evidently said enough stuff that 400 people enjoyed it enough to like the page. That to me is stunning. It is also worthy of a very humble thank you if you liked my Facebook business page or followed my Twitter page.

Thanks.

Tags: commentary, facebook, linkedin, social media, twitter // Comments Off on now 400 facebook business page likes

As you know, with me, there’s always a voiceover story.

Even at a Little League baseball game.

It was last weekend at one of my children’s games…but this was more than a regular game. This was part of a kind of baseball festival at this really nice baseball facility in Cary, NC.

I am not a coach of my son’s team but just one of many Dad helpers there to support the Manager (mostly during practices). This day, the Assistant Coach asked if I would take the team lineup to the facility’s pressroom because as a special part of this big baseball event, the players are introduced over the PA for each game. For the young players, this is a really special treat that does not happen at regular games.

As instructed, I went up to the press room which is on the second floor of this kind of hub structure at this multi-field park that looks a bit like an airport control tower – from the 2^nd floor deck you can see all the surrounding fields. I walked in and handed a person our lineup sheet, told them which team it was for and the field we would be playing on so they could do the introductions.

“No, no,” the person said. “You have to come up just before the game starts so you can do the announcing. We have someone from each team do the intros,” the person said.

I took a second to make sure I understood what they just said, as it was a surprise to me.

“Someone from our team does the actual team intros on the PA?” I asked? He confirmed I had heard correctly.

I thought the town would just have an employee do it or hire a radio guy for the weekend. Nope. A parent.

As there were four parents including me helping out on my son’s team and three of them (not me) had jobs on the field during the game, I knew how this story was likely going to end.

I went down to my son’s coaches and I said, “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is they want someone from our team to do the team intros on the PA. The good news is I do live announcing for a living, so if you want, I can do the intros.”

They thought that was a swell idea.

So back up I went to the airport control tower/baseball complex HQ to await my instructions from the Town of Cary employees (all very nice folks).

Things happened pretty quickly once I got back inside.

The audio setup was very, um, practical. The speakers outside were pretty good. The microphone, inside the fairly large, mostly glass walled room, was a very low end desk mic with a push-to-talk switch….kinda like I used to have on my CB radios in the 70’s.

But it all worked.

My son’s team was the home team, so the parent from the away team did the intro’s for the away team first. I was instructed that, because I went last, my job after I read the coach’s name on our roster, I was to say “Play Ball”.

It was very hard to hear anything going on outside which led me to believe this must have been much more than single-paned glass I was surrounded by. I knew I was going to be louder than the previous parent (or probably most parents announcing during the event). I knew I’d have to back off the mic a bit so I would not sound distorted.

Make it exciting, I thought. Make it memorable, I told myself. Make it sportstacular!

On second thought, I may have been just solely focused on name pronunciations.

In any case, at the last minute I had the good sense to grab my phone to record it. The camera work wasn’t pretty (nor was/is the subject) but the announce went just fine and the kids (and coaches) were thrilled.

Tags: announcers, commentary, live announcing // 4 Comments »

I’ve have produced voiceovers for a fair number of TV car commercials over my many years. Some of the spots in both script and pictures were frighteningly bad.

And sometimes maybe the voiceover wasn’t perfect either 😉

But some of these TV spots for auto dealers were good, really good.

Local TV spots for car dealers can be challenging because often times the dealer / owner wants to be in the commercial and…and, well, let’s just say they shouldn’t be.

On the other hand, some folks are great on TV and it helps them sell lots of cars. I went to high school with a friend of mine whose family owns a number of dealerships in Western New York. He runs the dealership now, he’s the TV spokesperson and the camera loves this guy!

He’s never asked me to voice his spots. That sonofa… 😉

So producing car spots can be tricky and there really is an art to a spot that isn’t just screaming price and promo (but make no mistake – those screaming spots sell lots of cars!)

A spot I recently voiced for a dealership in the Albany, NY area did a really creative thing with their dealership’s TV commercial.

They used mostly graphics and some video to underscore the selling point of the script. The most unique thing is…almost no cars in the entire spot, yet it is very clearly a car commercial!

I’m not saying this because I voiced the spot, truly I am not.

This spot hits all the right points of difference and branding elements to create an effective car commercial.

Watch this.

Tags: commentary, commercials, video, youtube // Comments Off on creative local tv car commercials

RALEIGH, NC, April 3, 2018 – – Raleigh, North Carolina-based male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell, who has recorded voiceovers for a variety of Fortune 500 companies in his career, has completed a voiceover project for yet another member of that famous list.

IBM, the widely respected global technology and innovation company, selected O’Connell as the corporate narrator on a new marketing media project.

About IBM

IBM is a global technology and innovation company headquartered in Armonk, NY. It is the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 375,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries.

About Peter K. O’Connell

From Fortune 500 companies to companies that think $500 is a fortune, multi-award winning male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell has shared his voiceover skills with a wide variety of global companies. In addition to his narration work for IBM, some of Peter’s clients include Duracell Batteries, General Electric, Kraft Foods, Western Union, PBS Television Network, Shell Oil, Deloitte Canada, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield and SunSetter Awnings.

Originally from Buffalo, NY and now living in Raleigh, NC, Peter owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent, a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. Peter can be reached via audioconnell.com or peterkoconnell.com.

– 30 –

NOTES FOR EDITORS

CONTACT

Peter K. O’Connell

Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

audio’connell Voiceover Talent

P.O. Box 5493 | Raleigh, NC 27512-5493

PH. +01 716-572-1800

EM. peter@audioconnell.com W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER

http://www.audioconnell.com/media

PETER K. O’CONNELL VO CREDITS

http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/pdf/PDF%202018/

audioconnell_press_release180315.pdf

COMPANY NAME SPELLING

Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voiceover Talent

COMPANY NAME PRONUNCIATION

au·dio·o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-oh-kah-nel) or au·di-o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-kah-nel

Tags: media releases // Comments Off on MEDIA RELEASE – O’Connell Narrates for IBM

Getting acclimated to any new city is not always easy.

Moving to Raleigh in August of 2016 was certainly an adventure.

But while we miss our friends and family in Buffalo, NY, we have family and new friends here in Raleigh and Cary. People here are generally very nice.

And while my voiceover business has continued to expand, I haven’t had all that much voiceover business in the Raleigh Durham area since moving here.

I think that is to be expected as local producers and recording studios aren’t nearly as excited that a new voice talent has moved into the area as the voice talent is to now be the new kid on the block.

But remember how I said people here are generally very nice? Well I have found that to be exceptionally true in the voiceover community. When I floated the idea of a new RDU voiceover meet-up group, I wasn’t sure how that would go over.

But local folks I’ve known for years like Rowell Gormon, Debbie Stamp and Wendy Zier introduced me to other Raleigh voice talents like Mike Urben, Bill Jordan, and Kevin Silva among many others. The meet-up has gone well (but I have to schedule the next one, thanks for the reminder).

These fellow voiceover talents also introduced me to some great recording studio producers including Tom Guild and Becket McGough (who are also great voice talents) over at Soundtrax Recording Studios in Raleigh. The studio is generous enough to play host to our voiceover meet-ups.

Becket especially has been working to get me into record.

This week I was hired for my first major local project. At Soundtrax!

The work, while terrific, isn’t nearly as impressive to me as the kindness Tom and Becket have offered this “new” voiceover kid.

Thank you very much.

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover // Comments Off on welcoming the new kid to the neighborhood

CHICAGO, IL, March 15, 2018 – – Most American families know about the “Culligan Man” from Culligan International’s famous ad campaigns, dating back to the 1950’s. In their most recent series of radio commercials, male voice talent Peter K. O’Connell was retained to support Culligan’s current consumer audio branding.

About Culligan International

Founded in 1936, Culligan International is a world leader in delivering water solutions that will improve the lives of their customers. The company offers some of the most technologically advanced, state-of-the-art water filtration products. Culligan’s products include water softeners, drinking water systems, whole-house systems and solutions for business. Culligan’s network of franchise dealers is the largest in the world, with over 800 dealers in 90 countries.

About Peter K. O’Connell

From Fortune 500 companies to companies that think $500 is a fortune, multi-award winning male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell has shared his voiceover skills with a wide variety of global companies. In addition to his radio work for Culligan, some of Peter’s clients include Duracell Batteries, General Electric, Kraft Foods, Western Union, PBS Television Network, Shell Oil, Deloitte Canada, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield and SunSetter Awnings.

Known as America’s Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent, Peter is a natural born storyteller whose voice-over work has been featured in radio and TV commercials, corporate narrations, political commercial voice-overs, TV network promos, e-learning narration projects and other media productions. Originally from Buffalo, NY and now living in Raleigh, NC, Peter owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent, a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. Peter can be reached via audioconnell.com or peterkoconnell.com.

– 30 –

NOTES FOR EDITORS

CONTACT

Peter K. O’Connell

Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

audio’connell Voiceover Talent

P.O. Box 5493 | Raleigh, NC 27512-5493

PH. +01 716-572-1800

EM. peter@audioconnell.com W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER

http://www.audioconnell.com/media

PETER K. O’CONNELL VO CREDITS

http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/pdf/PDF%202018/

audioconnell_press_release180315.pdf

COMPANY NAME SPELLING

Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voiceover Talent

COMPANY NAME PRONUNCIATION

au·dio·o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-oh-kah-nel) or au·di-o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-kah-nel

Tags: media releases // Comments Off on MEDIA RELEASE – Culligan Secures O’Connell for Radio Spots