Advertisers are damaging their brands with voice overs that are an “afterthought and badly done”, according to this year’s Cannes Radio Lions jury president.
Ralph van Dijk (pictured), founder of audio advertising agency Eardrum, said there is a discrepancy between the amount of time advertisers invest in their visual brand and how their brand sounds.
His comments come as Eardrum launches a specialist voice casting service, Earcasting.
“Most brands will have extensive guidelines dictating how their visual brand is to be used, but most haven’t given any thought to how their brand sounds,” van Dijk said.
“Agencies spend tens of thousands of dollars and many hours working on the visual aspect of making an ad, but they will spend half an hour in the studio recording the voice track that took them 20 minutes to cast.
“At the very least they’re missing a tick and potentially damaging the brand.”
Earcasting will scout both locally and internationally for “fresh and distinctive voices” and advise clients and agencies on what will work for their brand.
Brands also need to have one consistent voice across all their audio touch points including in-store and recorded telephone messages, according to van Dijk.
