The Voice – the fine line between narration and brand masturbation
Imagine a world where the level of persuasion a copywriter applies to a product corresponds directly to its value. Big ticket items such as cars and holidays are treated with our finest and fanciest words, whereas throwaway items, like chewing gum and hair gel merit no more than a languid prod of the keyboard. ‘Hair gel’, our ad would mutter, ‘an indifferent alternative to wearing a hat’. ‘Try our chewing gum’ we mumble, ‘it’s no worse than most things’.
Not surprisingly, a copywriter will look to position all kinds of everyday items as rare and beautiful treasures – transforming 30p worth of mints into something whose absence renders your life an incessant void. And yet, at the other end of the cost spectrum, some brands have devised a distinct way of talking about their produce.
Point your weary eyes in the direction of commercial television for any length of time and you’ll quickly encounter an advert for a high-end car. I’ll also wager the puffed up, semi-phallic images of shiny cars weaving throughout striking landscapes will be accompanied by a dramatic, narrative voiceover.
As with any established copywriting idea that continues to be plucked from the dusty shoebox of inspiration, the execution of these voiceovers is a mixed bag. Some – the likes of Honda spring instantly to mind – are charming, the expression of the idea every bit as enchanting as the composition of the words.
Others – many others, it has to be said – fall strangely flat. There’s a particular advert doing the televisual rounds right now that feels very much like an example of a poorly stirred batter.
The images on the screen are typically cinematic. The chosen voice is gruff and more than vaguely sexual. And yet the words themselves are torpid, a familiar, even rather tiresome, thought that is expressed in an unoriginal way – albeit in a voice that makes your pancreas quiver.
Simply put it’s an example of a brand embracing technique in the absence of an idea. All the boxes were ticked with the exception of a startling new thought, but let’s see if anyone notices.
It’s a failing not at all untypical of this sector (and others). Enthralled by the mechanic of a sexy voice and a moody sequence, it’s amazing how many brands forget that they need to actually write something compelling. The neglect is striking, not least because without that intriguing story the other components of the advert feel needlessly hammy.
It seems an almost impossibly simple equation. With a gripping and inventive script the ad feels beguiling and memorable. Without it, all you are left with is the disenfranchised indulgence of a faceless creative team. Not even award fodder, just an impotent exercise in commercial masturbation.
In fairness, the process is not as simple as ‘write something good’. But it could and should be a straightforward as putting an original and intriguing thought at the heart of the creative process. Too often it feels decidedly like the narrative is a blank which gets filled in once a location has been picked, a suitably gruff voice has been hired and the car has been vigorously waxed.
The Honda adverts have been so successful because of a unique model of messaging. Their voiceovers invariably contain a surprising thought, something that doesn’t feel like another heavily gnawed chestnut.
To expect oratory from an advert is a dubious ambition. The great rhetoric, the speeches that reverberate with eloquence, are rarely the ones that conclude with a price tag and a web address. And yet, if you resist the temptation to settle for an all-too-familiar shuffling of the alphabet, an advert can feel unexpectedly dramatic, stirring and poignant. With, or indeed without, the sexy voice.
Follow Andrew on Twitter, It’s no worse than most things.