Ad Reads: a Professional Voice or Owner of Company?

When should the President, CEO or Founder of the company be used in an ad-campaign? Often, if he/she is ad-libbing and talking from the heart. Throw out his/her script in 99 percent of the cases, I beg...

I have been at the forefront and behind the senses of countless ad campaigns. The formula that seems to work best is where the professional voice gives the advertiser the dignified and classical image AND the ad campaign is peppered with ad-libbed bites from the President, CEO or Founder of the business. I have noticed that when the President, CEO or Founder ad-lib, with no constraints of time or prepared texts, that his/her passion for the business is infectious; the opposite is true when he/she delivers lines from prepared texts. In fact, some of the executives, I have worked with quite a few, come off sounding better and more sincere than any actor.

So why do ad-agencies and the advertisers themselves often insist on reading from prepared texts? They believe that controlled, well thought out content trumps a wonderful passionate statement that may miss a key element. But the key elements are best handled by a professional voice. The President, CEO or Founder comes off far better and far cooler by providing "the color," and allowing the professional voice to deliver the controlled content, that is those key elements such as the who, what, where, when, why and key sell point. It's actually the same formula of newscasts. Bites (again, "the color," "the adjectives") are extracted from the expert and the professional voice wraps the ad. Thus, the viewer or listener gets a highly professional package, yet the ad contains the human, personal touch, as well as the executive's "name on the door" credibility. In fact, I always recommend, when asked, that the President, CEO and Founder have his/her presence in ad campaigns.

Frankly, I have had nothing to do with The Ultimate Electronics campaign, but those ads are a great example of my point. I am not privy to the results of sales driven in from the broadcast campaign, but I will bet that campaign is working well. The ads sure sound persuasive, human and professional.
www.brucehorlick.com and www.radiostorybooks.com