What Makes a Good Political Voice Over Talent?
As an experienced political voice over talent, I understand how important it is for political advertising to deliver the right message. When an ad misses the mark, it fails to connect with voters. Even worse, a bad ad can sink an entire political campaign.
But it’s not just the political script that matters. Every single component influences the effectiveness, especially for TV ads: the copy, the visuals, the music, and critically: the voice over.
Today, I want to share some of the most important factors that make a good political voice over talent.
Political voice over demo: behind the scenes
In the demo above, I’ve included a showcase of political advertising examples with my professional voice over.
To understand what makes these ads effective, you first need to understand the background.
These are left-leaning ads that are aligned more with the Democratic party. As such, the client sought a progressive voice actor with a voice that could resonate with the target audience. More precisely, they wanted an African American sound to fit the urban demographics where the ad would run.
But let’s dig into what that actually means and the reasoning behind it.
Authenticity is everything
The political voice over demo was for an urban audience. It represents low-income people. Underserved people. People who are often left out of the political process.
As such, the political voice over talent needed to sound relatable – like a neighbor, a friend or a relative from the same community.
Think about it … If the voice had sounded like a completely different demographic, it wouldn’t be authentic at all. It would be a disconnect. It would come across like so much other political advertising today: detached, cold, disingenuous.
This is why authenticity is one of the most crucial factors for political voice overs. It has to be real.
Representation matters
Beyond just relatability, political advertising has to represent its constituents.
Remember, the goal of most political ads is to remind voters that THEIR voice matters. THEIR vote counts. Whether the ad is for a politician or a policy issue, the goal is to engage constituents and bring them into the political process.
How can that goal be achieved if the voice in the ad sounds nothing like the audience who hears it? It’s just not possible.
To be effective, a political voice over talent needs to represent the target audience. A voter should hear the ad and think, “Hey, that sounds like me” – even if that thought happens on a subconscious level. That is what representation is all about. The ad represents the constituent. And, in turn, the constituent VOTES to have their voice represented on issues that matter to them.
PRO TIP: The cadence and emotion of a political voice over MUST match the message of the ad. Political ads can have a wide range of emotions, from inspirational to fired-up. Finding the right tone of voice is critical for the ad to be effective.
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