FOR THE HELL OF IT VOL 6. NO . 4
BY JOHNNY HELLER

ON BRANDING

There has been quite a bit of discussion in the voiceover industry on “branding”. Let’s have a look at this phenomenon and see if we need to have a look at this phenomenon – which we’re going to do either way so let’s get on with it.
One of the serious questions asked of Mr. Answerman in my last blog was about this subject.

Here is that question:
Anonymous: Just as in film and acting I was dismayed about hearing “branding” mentioned at APAC – what’s your strength? What’s your brand as a narrator? I know I can’t do it all by any means but I’m an actor and just like in that biz, do we have to relegate ourselves to “types”? Is it wise to do this? If so, I’ll always have to be the Romance girl and I can do so much more (but that’s just an example).

It’s a fair question. If you brand your voice and your abilities are you shutting doors that may otherwise be open? And how do you determine what your brand is and how do you make others – specifically talent buyers – know that you are the go-to person for that given brand.

Let’s say there’s an actor that’s good at erotica titles and he tries to brand himself with a moniker that reflects that talent – something like “A Voice So Erotic – You’ll Be Ashamed of Yourself for Listening” So now audiences and talent buyers know that this actor can do the naughty audiobooks. But what if the same actor can also do YA titles very well? Wouldn’t branding himself as “Mr. Erotica” prevent producers from hiring him to do a children’s classic like Everybody Poops?

Let’s define our terms. A Brand is defined by the American Marketing Association as “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.”
Roxanne Hernandez Coyne, a Los Angeles based bilingual voice artist (English, Spanish, or maybe Southern Apache and Aztec …), posted her thoughts on branding in a narrators group on Facebook. She said: “I think there is a general misconception about what branding actually is. We can ‘package’ ourselves a certain way by making marketing materials with fancy logos and choosing certain colors and words to describe ourselves and that’s all good and useful. But in the end, your brand is not what you say about yourself, but what others say about YOU. And so our ‘branding’ is an always evolving and amorphous thing.”

Tom Dheere, a friend of mine who is widely regarded as an expert in this branding/marketing stuff, says “Branding is what people say about you when you’re not there. It’s more than just your logo, tagline and specialty; branding is your reputation.”
(I know for a fact that Tom has no idea what I say about him when he isn’t there because we are still friends!)
On a side note, I know that Tom Dheere knows about branding and marketing because he has successfully branded himself as the guy who knows that stuff. Since I don’t know that stuff, it’s entirely possible that he’s full of horse puckey but I tend to believe him because he speaks authoritatively about these things.

Our question, though, is do we voiceover actors need a brand? Do we hurt or help ourselves with a “brand”? Does it box us in?

The idea of branding as I understand it is to show your target market that you are the best answer to their problem. That you can provide the services they need and they needn’t use anyone else. That makes total sense to me when you are Sprint and you want people to choose you as your cell phone carrier. Of course why I would choose a carrier who uses the word “Frambly” and has a bunch of dimwits including a talking hamster in a plastic bubble and a Goth dipstick named GorDon is a mystery.
And what sort of brand idea am I supposed to get from Direct TV? Sure they want to be my entertainment carrier of choice but why are they attaching their brand to a dancing wooden marionette doll in lingerie gyrating for their spokesman while he lies back with a wicked smile on his face and leers at her. Gross! That’s just sick. And even if the guy and the scary wooden marionette did get it on – think of the splinter risk! No thanks…Bad branding.

Tom Dheere says that an actor “should build the brand and then worry about being typecast.” Branding shouldn’t be “static…it should evolve over time to encompass different genres, technologies and your development as a voice actor.”
Karen White, a truly wonderful human bean and a gifted narrator, says branding needs to be balanced to avoid typecasting. “Are you marketing to employers or listeners?” she asks. “Employers want to know you are reliable and efficient and any special skills you have (language, accents, etc).”

Karen opines that market research clearly shows that listeners tend to follow their favorite narrators. She advises that voice actors be active in social media and be careful what they say in public -interviews, FB posts, in crafting their bios and web sites. I believe that she is on the money in that and perhaps, that’s what branding needs to be for the voice actor.

It seems to me that who a voice actor is – in terms of getting work – isn’t a catchy slogan on your business card – although there’s nothing wrong with that. One needs to create a personality/business profile of a talent that gets the job done with skill and on time; that is pleasant to work with, efficient and professional as a voice actor, and firmly in touch with whom he/she is in terms of what jobs are the right jobs.

If you can’t do French accents well, don’t audition for The Diary of Yves Saint Laurent. If you can’t hide your deep disgust for vampire vs. werewolf sex tales, don’t do those books. There are plenty of vampire vs. zombie sex tales out there already.
Karen White thinks that her brand is: ” book lover, regular gal, mom, food & animal lover, sense of humor, connector.” For me, she says its “irreverent funny guy, passionate about acting chops, teacher, writer…”

If that’s the case, then brand clearly isn’t a slogan or a mission statement. It’s a general understanding of who you are as an actor and as a person and what you bring to the table. And I don’t really have a problem with that because if branding is the perception people have of me and my work than I am not being typecast – I am being known. And, to the extent that we post on social media and share reviews and interviews, we control that completely.
Tom Dheere and Karen White both think that branding – however you wish to define it is important for the new narrator as well as the experienced voice actor. According to these sage souls, the business changes constantly and we need to remain in the thick of it and our brand is something we can control.

It seems, then that we are branding ourselves with every public utterance and every new job. If that’s the case, we need to control our brand – create it, mold it, share it. Dheere says it’s critical for the actor to find/create his brand – “unless you really like going to cattle calls and being just another cow in the herd. You want to be the cow or the cowboy?”
Personally I think it depends on the quality of the cud and whether or not you enjoy wearing chaps.

IN THE NEWS….
New York, NY
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed off on a measure that would make New York the 23rd state to allow medical marijuana. However patients who get the pot will not be able to smoke it. The new law allows only for ingesting the drug via vaporization or pills.
The law will not go into effect for 18 months while the state seeks to license companies to grow and distribute the marijuana.
“18 months!” said Phil “Dude” Kawolskini, “I know a guy named Benny who will come right to your house with whatever you want in like 15 minutes! You don’t hafta smoke it! Benny’s got cookies, brownies, lollipops….Hell! Benny’s even got Bennies.”
“It’s about time this happened. People who smoke or who have smoked marijuana should not be looked down upon by the 9 or 10 people in the state who haven’t ever done it!” said everybody born in the last 50 years.

MEXICO…
Kim Kardashian made international headlines this week by jumping in a pool in a black bikini bottom and a see-thru t-shirt top.
“This proves what I have always said,” said an eye-witness, “Kim Kardashian has big boobs and a big butt.”

PHILADELPHIA, PA…
Christopher Pagano, 42, known locally as the Swiss Cheese Pervert pleaded guilty in a Philadelphia court to indecent exposure charges. Pagano was videotaped in his car asking women if they would like to earn some money by watching him apply Swiss cheese to his exposed genitalia.
“That is so weird,” said one area woman, “I was just thinking – you know what I could really go for right now? –watching a fat white guy put some Swiss cheese on his junk…man that would be great! But I’m sure I couldn’t afford it. Wonder how much he’d charge if we used havarti? “