Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 19, 1992 TAG: 9203180290
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DONNA LARCEN THE HARTFORD COURANT
DATELINE: FARMINGTON. CONN. LENGTH: Medium
Then there's that voice. It's familiar. It's reassuring. It's authoritative.
"Our mechanics are picky, fussy, stubborn. But if you fly, they're the best friends you'll ever have."
Who is that?
The face of that oh-so-familiar speaker is never shown. You, the viewer-listener, have been attracted to the ad by the power of the music and the voice - the voice of trained-actor-turned-never-seen-pitchman Gene Hackman.
Oh yeah, right. It's Gene Hackman.
The use of the unseen celebrity voice is turning up more and more on television and radio.
"I use actors whenever I can," says Dick Haddad, creative director of Mintz & Hoke Inc., an advertising agency here. "Actors are trained, and it's particularly good when the voice is recognizable. It makes the viewer stop and think."
Haddad also likes actors "because they don't stop and cup their hand behind their ear and do that `This is my radio voice' routine."
Anything that breaks through the clutter is a plus for advertisers. And when the "talent" isn't shown on camera, the price is lower.
But what's less to the stars is probably more to us mere mortals. A four-commercial campaign can pay $250,000, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Haddad shot a commercial a few years ago with Katharine Hepburn doing a pitch to raise money for the Old State House.
"I was a bit intimidated by her," he says. "But she was quite gracious. After a take, she said, `Tell me what you think, young man. You're in charge here.' "
Haddad also has worked with comedian Steve Landesberg and Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin from the "The Bob Newhart Show.")
Most often the voice is delivering punch to copy. But sometimes it is an uncredited singing performance.
"All Aboard Amtrak" belongs to the distinctive, gravelly voice of Richie Havens.
Corporations learned not to use imitations of familiar voices in singing jingles. In 1989, a federal court ordered Young & Rubicam to pay $400,000 to singer Bette Midler for using a version of "Do You Want To Dance?" that sounded like the singer's 1971 recording. The imitative music was used in a Mercury Sable ad in 1985 after Midler turned down an offer to do the ad.
But if you can get Aretha Franklin pitching burgers for McDonald's or cabaret singer Susannah McCorkle touting Hanes hosiery, why get the imitator?
Dick Keiler of Keiler Advertising here has used Tom Poston (the handyman on "Newhart"), Lorenzo Music (the voice of Carlton the doorman from "Rhoda"), Judy Carne (one of the "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" regulars) and Bill Schallert (Patty Duke's television father).
"It's a good thing when people say, `Hey, I know that voice,' " Keiler says. "I think the recognition factor can spill over to good feelings about the product."
Sometimes it depends on what tone you're looking for.
The latest Volvo campaign emphasizes how safe the cars are, but it uses a historical approach shot in black-and-white at a children's hospital in Sweden. The narrator tells us that the wife of a Volvo engineer complained about children being hurt in car accidents. He took the advice to heart and designed a safer car.
"The authority of Donald Sutherland's voice certainly helps that campaign," Keiler says. "He really has a great sound, a distinctive sound."
The somewhat anonymous nature of voice-overs can be appealing to the celebrity. Some may not want to be up-front pitchmen, but if they just do the voice-over, they are not as identified with a particular product, and it's less of an endorsement.
"I understand that Woody Allen is doing some directing for a supermarket ad in Europe," Haddad of Mintz & Hoke says. "He probably doesn't want to do that here, but hey, why not make a little money over there?"
Other directors are taking the money and running here. Ridley Scott of "Thelma and Louise" fame works for Nissan.
Veteran film and Broadway actor Jason Robards is touting Xerox. Lauren Bacall hawks Spray & Wash.
The latest ad campaign for the McDonald's burger empire features another familiar voice and a nostalgia theme. "A good day wasn't determined by if you won or lost, but by where you went after the game."
The narrator? Actor Richard Dreyfuss.
"If the voice makes you stop and listen, then it's worth the cost," says Sandy Hamer of Sandra Hamer Associates in Farmington. "You want to pique interest with any ad, and if the famous voice does it, great."
Next time you're tuned into cable's CNN channel, listen to the break on the hour.
Who's that basso-voiced actor saying, "This is CNN"?
It's none other than James Earl Jones, best known by moviegoers for another great voice-over: the evil Darth Vader.
by CNB