Humor doesn't sell unless it's relevant to what you're marketing (e.g., a comedy club). Having a product that solves the potential customer's problem is what sells. That's what "guerilla marketing" guru Jay Conrad Levinson says. Everybody loves humor but if it distracts the viewer/listener from your message, then it's getting in your way. Your ad might win awards but still fail to make money for the company. Have you ever found this to be true? Do you need to entertain your audience with your ads or do you need to make money? Can you do both? Do people remember your ad but not the product you're trying to sell? According to a report on NPR's Marketplace Morning Report on 30 May 2007, "the Cockney Geico Gecko has helped vault Geico up the car insurance ranks and become an ad icon in the process" even though he has nothing to do with insurance. Is Levinson blowing hot air?
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MCM News
a few highlights

Announcing a new medical/healthcare demo at MCM Voices! A good amount of work has been coming into the studio lately for hospital advertising, to be voiced by "the voice that takes care of you" (that's me!). That very same voice is also a good choice for any product that soothes - from poison ivy relief to prescription medications. Drop me a line when you need help with your own health care advertising.

Freedom Radio in Iraq. I participated in a Memorial Day "best rock songs of all time" Countdown for a radio show put together by Air Force Sgt Chris Eder who is stationed in Baghdad. I announced a dozen or so of the songs and also voiced the numbers from 1 to 370 in British accent along with British voice talent Philip Banks. The show was an international effort with two dozen voice talent participating, and it was an honor to be able to support the troops even in this tiny way.

Don Ellis "Electric Heart" premiere a resounding success! The West Coast premiere of Electric Heart, a documentary I narrated for filmmaker John Vizzusi, played to a standing room-only crowd at the Four Points Sheraton in Los Angeles in May and to quote one viewer: "The finished film is magnificent and is worthy of a PBS telecast!" (Robert J. Robbins, Big Bands Magazine). More news about the film is available at its website.

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Avian bloopers of the month. Good news for Spidey 3 - no bloopers! I truly was not expecting to hear any birds at all in this movie, but there was one: a Warbling Vireo in the Central Park bridge scene between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Very likely the bird was actually there during filming.

I recently read Charles Winecoff's biography of Anthony Perkins and was interested to learn that Mel Ferrer, director of the unfortunate film Green Mansions, actually traveled along the Orinoco River in Venezuela to record animals for the movie's sound track. Do people do that any more? Belated kudos to Ferrer!

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That's all for this month.

Keep moving forward -

Mary C. McKitrick
Drop me a line!
413-320-1181

© Mary C. McKitrick, 2007. All rights reserved.