Its National Financial Literacy Month, and we voice-over actors need to wake up and smell the derivatives… or is that residuals!? … Freelancetaxation.com – a site by financial planner, Susan Lee, which has a wealth of information on taxes for …
Admit it, the Aflac Duck campaign was a fun little diversion. Gilbert Gottfried blew it (hey, he’s an insult comic, it was bound to happen), and in a brilliant bit of PR, the company decided to throw the doors open in a nationwide search for the next voice of the Duck. And here he is: Dan McKeague, radio sales manager from Minneapolis.
From the CNBC Story:
McKeague beat out well-known celebrities like Jeff Foxworthy and Richard Lewis for the job which Gilbert Gottfried lost after making jokes about Japan post-quake. Gottfried had been the only voice the duck has known since being introduced 11 years ago, but Aflac gets most of its revenue from Japan, so Gottfried’s remarks turned out to be no joke. (Gottfried never did the voiceover work for Aflac’s Japanese ads.)
A nice bit of PR for the company that helps it recover from the damage done by Gottfried’s less than thoughtful remarks, a pretty cool opportunity, and a re-establishment of goodwill. A win win for everyone.
Well almost everyone. Not unlike the Ted Williams situation, I have seen members of the voiceover community/industry grousing about how someone who didn’t pay their dues or spend a ton of money on training and equipment, or maybe just wasn’t them, got a gig that perhaps they shouldn’t have. Specifically, one quote I heard was “Who invited this guy to the party?”
Who invited him to the party? The same people that invited you, me, and every other voice artist out there: THE CLIENT.
Now I am certain that this isn’t the majority of people out there. Most of us, I hope, have the perspective that this is a selection process that the only part of which you control is your performance. Most of us realize that your chances are slim in just about every audition process you have, unless it is targeted specifically for you. Most of us get the fact that there is another job around the corner that might be yours.
But for those who do not, here’s the rude awakening: you aren’t going to get everything you audition for. You aren’t going to get half of the things you audition for. You probably aren’t going to get one-quarter of the things you audition for. No one promised you a NatGeo documentary series, a national ad campaign, or a Pixar/Dreamworks film deal. Learn your craft, work your contacts, market yourself. Audition. And audition some more. And don’t obesess about the relative success of one-off situations like the Aflac campaign. You got into this because you wanted a career, not a job, right? Don’t lose that perspective: there is always another job.
Congratulations to Dan McKeague! That’s a sweet gig, and I hope it gives you much success. Everyone else? Let’s get back to work!
Voice actors who envy the new Aflac duck are missing the point…again. It’s not about you, but the client. And if you aren’t getting this work, there’s more work. Let it go.
VoiceOverXtra has a great two-part article on marketing by voice talent Alan Sklar. In both Part 1 and Part 2, he shares some of the little things he has done over the years to make himself accessible and memorable to clients, potential clients, and agents. his technique comes from having been a salesperson in the paint industry for 20 plus years, and he knew what to look for when talking to a potential client, how to make sure you are not forgotten, and being bold in your efforts to get them to take your information.
I think boldness is the key, at least for me. For all my on stage experience and sining in front of hundreds and thousands of people, the “boldness” it takes to make that step into selling my goods has always been daunting. I feel like I am making progress though, and I will definitely be looking at some of Alan’s tips and techniques to make it work. So often in the new, high tech world of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and the Internet itself, we lose sight of the need to be physically introduced to some people in order to “make the sale.”
Kat Keesling wrote about this with a different twist in her blog post a few weeks ago, “Are You Booking a First Class Flight to Say Hi to your Next Door Neighbor?” She points out the need to use tools proper to the task at hand, and that sometimes includes just going over and saying hello, telling them what you do.
Alan’s articles are must reads. So is Kat’s, even if I have mentioned hers before. Give them all a read, and let me know what you think.
VoiceOverXtra provides two great articles on marketing by longtime talent Alan Sklar. I also note that the message is similar to Kat Keesling’s earlier blogpost on working your own backyard. Check them all out!
Backing up is a must. There will come a day that you will regret not backing up your studio computer or the traveling laptop. If you are not backing things up right now and you are on Facebook, take a look at this opportunity to get Paragon Systems Backup 10 for windows for free. Free, I tell you.
The Cheapskate on CNET, Rich Broida, has found this opportunity to get a good backup tool, normally $29.99, for nothing. Not only that, you’ll get three licenses, so it will be able to back up more than one machine. The backups can be done to disk, to another hard drive, even to an FTP site. All you’ll have to do is “Like” Paragon on Facebook, and the software can be yours. All the details are on the CNET Cheapskate website. Yes, it’s for Windows, but it does work on all versions of the Microsoft OS. Definitely worth a click out.
Hey, I got a software blog post out before Dave Courviosier! Guess I just got lucky.
