The Most Highly-Sought After Celebrity Voices and the Vocal Archetypes they Represent
Sometimes it can feel like celebrity voices are everywhere – from car commercials to animated feature films. But when it comes to the average advertiser’s needs, just how sought-after are famous voices? And what are most marketers hoping to achieve with a celebrity sound?
In this article
- The Most Highly-Sought After Celebrity Voices and the Vocal Archetypes they Represent
- Read the full report on the Most Popular Famous Voices of 2018.
- Top 10 Famous Voices
- Why Advertisers Hire Famous Voices
- Famous Voices Versus Soundalikes
- How to Find a Voice Over That’s Similar to a Famous Voice: Vocal Archetypes
- What Do You Think About Celebrity Voice Overs?
- Hire That Next Great Voice for Your Campaign Today!
As part of an annual Voices Trends Report survey, Voices polled close to 1,000 respondents from industries such as advertising, marketing and more, to better understand their overall voice over needs.
One of the survey sections specifically focused on respondents’ perception of the value of celebrity voices.
Results showed that 22 percent had hired a celebrity voice in the past and 10 percent said that they’d be looking to hire more celebrity-style voices throughout the year.
Read the full report on the Most Popular Famous Voices of 2018.
Top 10 Famous Voices
We asked, “If you could hire a celebrity voice talent, which one would it be?”
Here are the top 10, most popular famous voices (in order of preference), as selected by survey respondents:
Why Advertisers Hire Famous Voices
The top three reasons that survey respondents gave for considering a celebrity voice over were:
- They believe the target audience is influenced by the celebrity’s professional brand and values
- They believe the celebrity’s voice will perform better because people will recognize the voice and remember hearing the message
- Want to align their brand/client’s brand with the celebrity’s professional brand
Famous Voices Versus Soundalikes
Many advertisers desire a famous or iconic sound, but not everyone has the budget to hire a celebrity or famous voice actor. However, the Voices survey revealed that marketers and advertisers have found a way to achieve a similar result. In fact, 63% of respondents said that they believe that ‘A similar voice can achieve the same result as a celebrity voice.’
It’s important to note the distinction between a ‘similar’ voice over, which has similar vocal qualities to famous voices, and a celebrity soundalike, which is an imitation of one person’s voice.
Hiring soundalikes is not a very common practice, but hiring a voice that fits the same tone and feel as a celebrity’s, is.
How to Find a Voice Over That’s Similar to a Famous Voice: Vocal Archetypes
When posting a job on Voices, many clients will refer to a celebrity voice (e.g. ‘like a Morgan Freeman-type voice’), to help auditioning voice actors understand what vocal qualities they should hone in on.
Famous voices make good reference points because their qualities are distinct but also readily available in many other voice actors.
Essentially, famous voices help to describe the vocal archetype you’re seeking.
Here are three of the top vocal archetypes, complete with examples of celebrity voices, so you can imagine exactly what they sound like, and get the whole picture.
What Do You Think About Celebrity Voice Overs?
Have you ever thought about hiring a celebrity voice? If so, who would you select and what vocal archetype do they fit under?
If you’re a voice actor, do you describe your sound as being similar to any particular celebrity? Do you think that doing so would help or hinder your business?
Hire That Next Great Voice for Your Campaign Today!
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