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Best Voice Over: Spotlight on Health Care Ads

Voiceover Styles

Health care ads are a mainstay in advertising and the best voice over chosen to present medical messages is a critical part of creative choice. Healthcare commercials achieve their goals through a few specific avenues in terms of vocal tone and direction: sentimental – those that tug at heart strings, inspirational – through sharing success stories or great track records, and solution – matter of fact – as in, you’ve got a problem? We’ve got the solution. Which one do you think is at the heart of this health care ad I voiced for the Texas Children’s Health Plan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6HhSwtfyCQ

The hallmark of healthcare ads no matter the end-goal is motivating people to take action toward taking good care of themselves. Easier said than done. Consumers aren’t generally interested in healthcare messages and place their own health at the lower end of their list of priorities unless they or a loved one is embroiled in the middle of a health problem. Challenging people to make connections between behavior change and well-being is not easy. Done well, it’s presented through stories that resonate with target markets. But many healthcare ads have the added constriction of tight FDA controls over what can and cannot be said about procedures, methods and the places and people we turn to for ideas of where to go to and what to do when we want to improve or take care of our health.

Behind the Message in Voicing Health Care Ads

Voice actors can get clues on how to better deliver the messages behind health care ads by gaining insight into how consumers react to certain word choices that may be in the healthcare script. Becker’s Hospital Review had some interesting insights into power words to lean in to in terms of performance. Words like “knowledgeable” “trust-worthy” and “cost-effective” gained top marks in terms of inspiring customer loyalty. “Sincere,” “authentic,” and “safe” are other words that resonated well with the consumers surveyed in this report. For voice actors, keeping these ideal messaging words uppermost in our minds when we approach how to perform our voice over narrations for these ads, whether they appear in the copy or not, enhances our delivery.

Personal Approach in Voicing Health Care Ads

To break past the vast divide of anonymity and reams of red tape people may feel when thinking about hospitals and health insurance, the actor voicing health care ads needs to remember to take a personal approach. Health care is ultimately very personal. Our interactions whether on the giving or receiving end are one person to one person at a time. Remembering that and bringing our voice over delivery to the one-on-one level helps humanize the message. Health care ad agencies know the best way to reach their audience is through creating an emotional connection. One that garners trust. In order to vocalize that, we voice actors have to be as authentic and genuine as possible in delivering the copy. Our ability to be sincere on behalf of our clients (i.e. the hospitals, health insurance companies for which we speak) can mean the difference between their client making a decision in their favor or not.

Voice Over on Behalf of Doctors and Clinics

Smiling Doctor holding Healthcare Ads sign
Source: Koeppel Direct

Though smaller than hospitals and insurance companies, commercial voice over on behalf of doctors and health care clinics are another important part of the mix of health care commercials. Showcasing physicians may be a choice made by some hospitals, like how Mount Sinai made their docs (and themselves as a result) seem more interesting and accomplished in promoting their musical side. Whether the marketing venture has a bigger or smaller lens, the successful voice over for doctor and clinic ads will be one that’s compelling and relatable. We need to spark emotion and curiosity and not forget the most important tool in our voice actor’s toolkit: the ability to storytell.

DTC Pharmaceutical Ad Voice Overs

Now, I can hear you saying, Kim, this is all well and good for branding messages but how can a voice actor riff away at a DTC (direct-to-consumer) pharmaceutical ad in a conversational, storytelling voice over manner? Especially when most of them are chock full of medical and legal terminology longer than Apollo’s journey to the moon and back. In a word, finesse. You work those $50 words until they roll off your tongue as easily as your grocery list and you imagine you’re sharing that info with your best friend – who’s life could just happen to become a whole lot better by taking said medication. I once had a client ask me to read a product monograph in a conversational way. A product monograph! That’s the little insert full of clinical trials and p values inside the medication box. Yup, it took a lot of imagining and world building, but I’m happy to say, it can be done. Happily, in spite of all the legalise and FDA restrictions put upon pharma ads, they do help people solve problems. They invite consumers to start conversations with doctors. So the artful voice over artist must self-direct to spin the words in, you guessed it, a compelling, authentic and genuine manner by focusing on the people, the pain of the problem and the hope and joy of the solution.

The Huge Role of Emotion in Health Care Ads

Whether voice over or action on screen, the myriad of emotions played in a health care ad are what ultimately make them successful, because our health is inextricably linked with our emotional state. Unwell, we are unable to interact socially with friends, family and loved ones at the same level. The stress of ill health unleashes a storm of emotional burden, whether we or a member of our close circle are the ones affected. Docs, HCPs and other health care providers also bring in incredible emotion in their passion for healing and finding cures and compassion for patients and caregivers. How do we as actors and voice artists pay tribute to the huge role emotion plays in health care ads in an honest, engaging way? We do it by breaking the fourth wall. By interacting directly (in our artist mind’s eye) with the person who could most benefit from the message we deliver.

Where Health Care Ads are Going in the Future

Health care and related industries are highly competitive and to succeed must stay on top of marketing trends. This not only includes pre-roll ads, banners and social media spots, it includes updating websites with patient portals and other tools to make it easier for patients to connect with docs and their services online. Mobile marketing, digital marketing and social media advertising has seen massive growth and will continue to grow. However offline advertising such as TV, radio, cable and print will continue to hold its own for years to come.

Filed Under: Voiceover Styles Tagged With: advertising, commercial, conversational, genuine, health care ad voice over, health care ads, health insurance ads, hospital ad voice over, hospital ads, medical ad voice over, medical ads, message, natural, pharma ad voice over, pharmaceutical ads, storytelling, voice actor, voice over, voice over actor, voice over artist, voiceover

3 Ways Storytelling is King in Voiceover for Ads and Business

Voiceover Business

So…what’s your story? Or rather what is your relationship with story? Chances are it’s tight. We humans love story. We swim in it, soak in it, eat it up daily. Hourly, even. But have you stopped to consider your relationship with story as a voiceover artist?

actor LeVar Burton speaks Kim Handysides Voice over
Source:Craig Barritt/Getty Images for AOL Inc.)

Levar Burton, (Reading Rainbow guy, Geordie from Star Trek:Next Generation, Kunta Kinte in Roots) as the key note speaker at DevLearn 2017, stated that story telling is our super power as human beings. Intrinsic to that power is the ability to project ourselves in a moment outside this one. Speaking to a few thousand eLearning developers and creators, he recommended habituating  the gateway to story, using the ubiquitous chestnut “What if” to better engage their users and learners.

How voiceover artists use “What if”?

By bringing it to everything you read. If you’re trained in acting, you recognize this as incorporating Meisner technique or Practical Aesthetics. If your background is broadcasting, think of it as finding that personal angle to hook the 6 o’clock supper hour news story on. But make it personal to you. The copy is a retail radio spot for a weekly special about cheap chicken and toilet paper? Use “what if” to imagine those prices really making a difference in your life. Maybe you’re a millennial who’s just left home, you’ve got a new family and all your money is going toward diapers, or you’re on a fixed pension. If the copy doesn’t provide it, build your backstory to better present it. Your “what if” world-building will help your message connect on an emotional level.

Emotion Amps Up VoiceOver Storytelling

brightly lit scan of brain & head
Source: Fine Art America

Settled around the crackling fireplace, the smells of Sunday pot roast lingering in the air and your grandfather tap, tap, tapping the tobacco in his pipe as he launches into a story about his youth. How did you feel? Lit up like a Christmas tree?  Our brains are actually wired to process info best through storytelling. We have an eons old history of passing everything on aurally. Whether legend, cautionary tale or recipe on how to live life, we figured out over millennia the kids would get it faster, deeper, better if sewn together in story. In fact, three times more areas of our brains light up when we bake info in a story cake than if we just slice it up into naked factoids.

Persuasive Voiceover and Influencing Action

Your story (i.e. commercial ad, corporate narration, explainer video, etc.) if told well (i.e. with emotion, with enough world building and an appropriate “what if”) will prompt your listener to action (which is what your client wants) and fill out their time cards appropriately or sign up for the corporate baseball team or go and put that brand of frozen pizza in their shopping cart next time they need groceries. What we do is powerful stuff (when done well). Our clients entrust us to tell their stories to their clients. It’s a big responsibility. We are the Hermes of humanity. The messengers. To ply our trade well, we need to understand both the needs of the message maker and message receiver.

Morphing a Memorable Message

Matthew McConaughey in Lincoln ad Kim Handysides Voiceover
Source: MLive.com

A story told well stays with you. Romeo and Juliet. A Christmas Carol. Harry Potter. Yes, these are all written stories which we’ve read at one time or another, but the same holds true for stories told in spoken word. Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, Kate Winslet in Titanic. Great stories, but also, really great voiceover narrators. Those voices, telling those stories stick with you.  Same with ads. The Alka Selzter man from the 70’s moaning “I can’t believe I ate the whoooole thing,” the tiny grandma from the 80’s shouting “Where’s the beef?” or more recently, Matthew McConaughey rubbing his fingers and musing, “That’s a big bull” in the Lincoln ads. Story makes the message stick.

Tell Your Voiceover Story

drawing of a crown and word kingBack at the DevLearn conference, LeVar Burton wrapped up his speech on storytelling to the eLearning crowd by telling us what we imagine and what we create are inextricably linked. So true. Everything man has ever created existed first as an imagining, shared with another in, most probably, story. It begs the question, whether copywriter, voiceover artist, producer or “other” creative, what will your unique contribution be? What are your stories? And how will you tell them from your singular perspective?

Filed Under: Voiceover Business Tagged With: ads, backstory, commercial, commercial ad, copy, copywriter, corporate narration, DevLearn 2017, eLearning, explainer video, Meisner technique, messaeg connect on an emotional level, message, Practical Aesthetics, retail radio spot, speech on storytelling, spoken word, story, storytelling, storytelling is our superpower, voiceover artist, voiceover narrators, world building, your relationship with story

How to Make Spectacular Commercial Voice Overs

Voiceover Styles, Voiceovers Completed

So, it helps to have talent. Obvi, as my kid would say. (Insert age appropriate eye roll here) And a few technical things too, like training, practice and timing. But more than that, the secret sauce in how to make spectacular commercial voiceovers is a recipe of love, understanding and respect. Let me break this down.

 

Love the ad

Since I was a little girl, talking to myself in the mirror, telling myself about Scope or Crest or Johnson’s Baby Shampoo I have loved ads. I started out loving them more than cartoons Like the horrified text books used to predict, I couldn’t tell the difference between these mini-movies and regular programming. To me they seemed as entertaining as the cartoons (that I would also imitate). I don’t think you can do ads justice unless you do love them. If you don’t try to figure out why. Which brings me to the next insight.

 

Understand the ad

The voiceover often drives home the message of the ad. It shows who speaks for the brand and reflects the sound and image the company wants to portray. Few ads cling to an authority to present their info, more often the voiceover represents some cool new fact the average Jane or Joe is passing on to the average friend, namely, you. I think it’s also important not just to understand the ad you’re working on but seek understanding about ads in general. Why do we need them? Why are they important?

 

Respect the ad

Ads have incredible power. They stay with you, infiltrate your childhood, linger as jingles and catch phrases in your memory (“Got milk?” “Where’s the beef?”) And of course, they influence our buying behaviour, and our culture. Marshall McLuhan said advertising was the greatest art form of the 20th century. And while ads constantly change, morphing into something more palatable to millennials, who do not trust anything that smacks of sell not tell, they will survive. They will adapt. They will evolve. After all, they are the brainchildren of one of the most adaptable creatures on earth, right?

 

 

Want a sample of what I’m talking about?

Here’s an ad I find easy to love, respect and understand. In the middle, it features my voiceover for the product, a cold medicine. The production company is Molio, a kickin’ it creative company in the MidWest. These people turn ads on their elbows and create serious entertainment. And their client was cool enough to buy into their concept. This is what I call winning in advertising.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znXBpotSORI

Fun, with a capital F, right? It’s longer than a regularly formatted ad, but that’s ok. Fewer and fewer people are watching regularly formatted programming now anyway. It’s a mini-movie complete with a love triangle and bloopers at the end. It accomplishes what the best advertising sets out to do. It entertains, it makes you laugh, or smirk at the very least and it gets you to associate their product with the fun and the story. They’re not selling here. They’re telling. In a totally artful way.

Aren’t you lovin’ it?

I’m a veteran voice over artist who spits out spectacular commercial voice overs daily. Contact me if you’d like to work together. Or chat about anything aural.

Filed Under: Voiceover Styles, Voiceovers Completed Tagged With: actor, ads, advertising, commercial, creative, message, voice, voice actor, voice over, voice over artist, voiceover, voiceover narration, voiceover talent

Voice Over Insider’s View: Pt 3 Direct Yourself Like an Expert

Voiceover Coach

credit: blogacine

21st Century voice over means knowing how direct yourself in your own booth. Expertly. If the task seems daunting and you’re a bit shaky on how to deftly turn the tables to be both actor and director, these tips may help steady you on.

When you get a piece of text…

 

Orient Yourself Grasshopper

Who – are you: The boss? A peer, a dad, an ice princess? Your read for Nok, the sewer troll will be very different from the BFF over coffee.

Who – are you talking to: Again, answering this anchors your character and helps you settle on a tone and delivery.

Why open your mouth? (also dovetails into ‘what’ – which is the actual message or script) – what do you want to get out of the interchange? Are you helping a loved one deal with cancer, or directing an auditorium full of IT peeps to their seats for an Awards ceremony? Why is what you have to say important? And why should your audience care?

Where – will this be heard? This helps determine the adjustment you need to make. A radio voiceover is different from a documentary read is different from a gaming character is different from an audiobook narration. Like the adjustments between theater and stand-up comedy or between television and film, being aware of where your job will be heard, helps you find the right delivery.

 

Sift through your Script (Analyze This)

Commercial copy is different from a script for a game or an explainer. Each of these comes with its own standards of nuance. Let’s take ads for instance. People listening are only half listening at best. The ad is in between them and the content they want. So, make it content they DO want to hear. What in the copy is going to make a difference for them? Can you help them save money? Stay safe? Get ahead? Have more time with their family? The product is the conduit for them to do this. You help them realize this. If you do your best work, they will come away with a couple words and a feeling. i.e. McDonalds + lovin’. Apple + different.

A longer text is more of the same, but less urgent. And with more words. So, if you’re reading an eLearning text about compliance, in each line and paragraph look for the goodie. The key phrase that will make a difference for the sender and receiver of your message.

I hesitate to give a recipe on how to break-down your script. That’d be like cake. (chocolate, vanilla, pineapple upside down) Your read recipe is going to be different from mine. I tend to send more love to my verbs. Other people like to polish up the adjectives. More critical is to make sure you understand what is important to get across and then, keep it real, in an entertaining way.

 

Unleash the Creative – Dismiss the Judge.

Credit: First We Feast

Ever worked in a studio on a commercial? The client, the account exec and a minion or two are never (or extremely rarely) in the studio at the same time the talent is. The director does this on purpose. Too many cooks. Plus they don’t know how to ask for what they want. And actors are delicate creatures.

Same here. In your solitary two-hatted state, you need to separate your creative from your inner critic.

I don’t know about you, but my creative inner feels like a red licorice-loving five-year-old, who cartwheels over to the mic mugging, “Let me at the script!!”

To keep her from diving off the deep end without checking whether there’s water in the pool, (a.k.a. spend too much time on takes or go too far in freeing that freaky self) approach “takes” with the wisdom of Pat Fraley’s Series of Three. Let your first take be your primary interpretation of the script. For your second take, go in a different direction. Do a third take as a mix of two.

Credit: The Princess Bride

What I really like about this, other than it came from the GREAT PF (whom I love) is the #2. Going in that different direction is a licence for you to get out of your comfort zone. Ham or cheese it up. Go dark. Thay it with a lithp. Go out on a limb and then, come part way back.

Where should you go for read number two?

Again, I lean on my studio experience. I channel my inner Martin, Andrew or Kate. All great ad directors I’ve worked with in the past, who know how to nudge me where I need to go. Who are some of your fav directors? What would they say to get you to try it differently?

Another fav of mine is Mary Lynn Wissner and her amazing voiceover app. A wonderful LA casting director, Mary Lynn devised an app you can take in your booth to help you make strong choices. Her approach is broken down in 5 different kinds of reads and then she has a survey of emotions and triggers you select from to layer or flavor your performance with. This is especially good for auditioning. Using her app has helped me become a better self-director.

 

After you’ve got a few takes laid down, cage your creative creature and it’s bruisable ego and listen with your director’s ears.

Cosset the Critic

Credit: Law and Order

Once you’ve done all you can creatively, bring that inner judge back in your court. Separate yourself from what you’ve done. If you were a writer this would be the time you’d refer to Stephen King’s quote, “kill your darlings.” Listen with the ears of your client. Or better, your client’s audience.

And never with a capital N, ever go for “good enough.” Good enough doesn’t get you re-hired. Or hired in the first place.

This post is the third in a three part series on directing voice actors. The first reveals the different hats the voice director must wear in the sound studio. The second outlines what directors need to know to get the best performances from their talent. I’ve been doing VO and coaching since Blockbuster was still relevant. Contact me if you’d like to work together.

Filed Under: Voiceover Coach Tagged With: actor, booth, commercial, delivery, directing, director, eLearning, explainer, message, narration, script analysis, studio, talent, voice, voice actor, voice over, voiceover

Spotlight on a Retail Video Ad: My Voice Over Life

My Voiceovers, Voiceovers Completed

Ask anyone who knows me in my voice over life. I love video ads. In fact, if I had to choose only one form of voice work to do for the rest of my life, it would be commercial voice overs. The kind that sells things to the everyday Jane & Joe. Like this 15 second gem for Sears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAiZxf4QAOE

Creativity within a Constraint

I hanker for a good set of boundaries within which to play. I first realized this during a year long stint on a weather channel, where I had to spiel off weather report after weather report in 4 minute and 50 second chunks over and over again for hours on end. Hotter than Hades you say? I did succumb to initial tedium, for about a minute. Maybe two. But then, I realized there was a secret challenge locked in “sunny today with a cold front moving in.” Yes, the basic info was pretty much the same from set to set, hour to hour, but I could change the delivery. Experiment within it. Improv it up. Find ways to make it more natural, more serious, more conversational. Roll it around in some humor, find out how to make commercial voice over funny, get busy with it. Same thing applies for that 15 or 30 second mini-saga centered around advertising toilet paper. It’s a creative constraint I love to play in.

Helping Humanity

Seriously Kim? You’re going to say convincing people to load up on discounted toothpaste and deodorant is helping humanity? Yes. I am. Because I am genuine in my approach to retail ads. And health and cosmetic ads are not exception. What does that mean? It means knowing that for the pensioner or single mom, the money they save on those toiletries may mean the difference in being able to spend it on something nice for themselves, or in some cases, in just being able to make ends meet. So I do get excited about deodorant 3 for $5 because that is my way of helping people. Cynics may see it another way. That’s their view. This is mine.

rows of spices like voice actor choicesThe McLuhan Spice Blend

Marshall McLuhan, father of media theory, said “Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century.” I grew up believing this and hearing the greatest minds are not in the universities, hospitals or on Wall street – they’re on Madison Avenue churning out ads. Whether that’s true or not, as a voice over talent, I bathe in the notion that adding human sound to ads is my predominant art form. Some of them are arty ads. Some of them are family friendly ads. A lot of them are not. But they are all different. Like curry, cumin or chili powder, they all have their own flavor. They all reach out creatively to tap someone on the shoulder and send what could be a very impactful message.

Looking for a great voice to help you sell your message? I’d love to help.

Filed Under: My Voiceovers, Voiceovers Completed Tagged With: advertising, believable, commercial, commercial voice over, conversational, delivery, family friendly ads, genuine, health and cosmetic ads, message, natural, retail ads, voice actor, voice over artist, voiceover talent

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