If you watched any football this past weekend, chances are you saw a plethora of national car commercials. Car commercials voiced by some very familiar voices! The endless Hyundai spots voiced by the Big Lebowski himself, Jeff Bridges. Very undude like.
Honda, voiced by Kevin Spacey. The Rescue Me star, Dennis Leary, as the voice of the Ford F-150 (my opinion - perfect fit), James Spader, voicing Acura and of course John Boy, Richard Thomas, who I met in New York a few weeks back, voicing Mercedes-Benz.
Well, at least he is for now. How do I know this? Simply because like several other non-descript working voice actors out there, I received an audition with explicit direction from the current ad agency. Wow, how could they bitch slap John Boy, by sending out auditions behind his back?
Don't fret John Boy! It could simply be a ploy to convince the client that you, Richard Thomas a.k.a. John Boy is the perfect fit for the luxury line. They just need to be sure! It could be that the manufacturer thinks the buying public is bored with his voice.
It could be that no one really cares whether or not the voice of Mercedes is Richard Thomas or John Smith for that matter...And what with the economy and all, why not pay a regular voice over guy or gal, than the multi-million dollar contract they have with John Boy.
Some years ago, while I was employed with Young and Rubicam, the decision was made to hire a relatively unknown Gary Sinese - a.k.a. Lt. Dan, to be the spokesvoice of the brand.
Well, a multimillion dollar deal was cut and Sinese was on the hook to record maybe 9 spots for the entire year, plus there of course were clauses and addendums for him to voice over updates, etc. at a reduced rate of maybe $50K per session.
After all was said and done, the spots went into testing. The general consensus? No one cared.
Huh.
So the client was out a boatload of money and sales tanked.
Celebrity voices...do they sell cars, or are they just a waste of money? I guess we need to ask Hyundai.
The great Jeff Bridges - aka The Dude - hawking Hyundai ! So Un-Dude. Shameful.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't Bridges land an American Car commercial during these tough economic times ?
The Wal Mart car commercials should be left to Carrot Top or Joan Rivers.
HIE-YUN-DIE does NOT rhyme with Sunday in blue collar America.
Enough already Jeff !
...but 17.65 is a lot more appealing when you plus a mil...or even $50k compared to a grand or two. ;)
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