Morrisons shoppers will hear a very familiar voice at the self-service tills this Christmas
Morrisons shoppers will be greeted with a familiar voice at the self-service tills this Christmas after the retailer enlisted Wallace and Gromit voice actor, Ben Whitehead, to inject some personality into the lifeless machines.
Whitehead’s cheery voice will begin playing form the self-checkouts at the end of November across all Morrisons supermarkets. The quirky changes will separate the retailer from its rivals and come at a time when it is trying to make up for a series of dismal sale results.
The approach will attempt to lighten the mood during the often stressful shopping period with ‘Festive Fred’ wishing customers a “Merry Christmas”. Rather than the irritating notices of “unexpected item in bagging area", Whitehead’s voice will attempt to calm shoppers by telling them not to get their “tinsel in a tangle”
Morrisons' retail director, Gary Mills, said: “We know the Christmas shop can be stressful and we want our customers to leave our stores feeling festive. We hope Fred, along with everything else we do, puts a smile on our shoppers’ faces.”
Whitehead was chosen after he met the criteria set by leading sound engineer, Shannon Harris, who wanted Festive Fred to evoke tones from some of the most famously pleasant voice such as Brian Blessed, Terry Wogan, Miranda Hart and Noddy Holder.
Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy, explained that a happy voice such as Whitehead’s make “the brain respond with an increased heart rate and the body releases dopamine, a feel-good chemical associated with pleasure.”
She added that by listening to a voice that is "animated with cheery qualities induces a general uplift in mood and therefore cheers people up.”