- Brandon Beville
Ad Infinitum is the award-winning podcast solely focused on audio ads, the creatives who make them, and or the latest thinking that informs them, how the space is evolving, and my favorite part, a roundup of recent audio ads with analysis by yours truly, Stu Redwine, and each episode's guest. This is season three, episode 14 of Ad Infinitum titled, This Is My Real Voice. Today, we're going inside the booth with Morning Wire producer, Brandon Bevel of The Daily Wire to explore what authentic really sounds like in a medium built on authenticity, where conviction, tone, and truth. You can't handle the truth. Let's call it honesty. Drive trust. We'll also grade the latest top movers and shakers in Magellan AI, ParkWiz, Google, Wells Fargo, and LG Electronics, using the Audiolytics framework, and of course, Brandon's grade on those as well. And be sure to get a free demo of Magellan at Magellan.ai slash ad infinitum. Brandon, thank you so much for joining the show. Hey, thanks for having me.
- Stew Redwine
So you've shaved hundreds of reeds. I know I've enjoyed them myself. In fact, it was an Ollie reed that I'd heard a couple of months back.
- Brandon Beville
Your dog's excitement says it all. That full body tail wag, those happy little hops, that goofy little grin that means dinner's here.
- Stew Redwine
That prompted me to reach out because I was like, this is really good. And it's interesting to me because... You're a producer on the show. So before we get into the rest of it, actually, can you tell the chief audio officers who are listening what exactly it is, everything you do over there at The Daily Wire?
- Brandon Beville
Yeah. So I'm a producer on Morning Wire. There's a lot that goes into that other than, you know, reading the ads. That was kind of something that I just stumbled into upon getting the job here. And it was cool because I have a background in TV. And so it's been cool to kind of still do that. I was on camera for a short time, but now I mainly focus on, you know, the content we're putting out. and just kind of making sure the production pipeline runs smoothly on Morning Wire. And then, of course, making sure these ads sound great. That's part of it, too. But, you know, like today I looked at maybe we're putting out like four interview type episodes this weekend. So I've been kind of watching those several times, making sure they're ready for air and things like that.
- Stew Redwine
That's interesting you say watching them because it's like that is the world that we live in in podcast. And you guys switched over to video somewhat recently, right?
- Brandon Beville
Right. Yeah. Shameless plug here. We are now on video for a long time. When I was on the show, we were audio only. But we recently, I think in April, we added the video element to it. And it's been great. It certainly adds a whole new side to doing this show, adding visuals, things like that, making sure, you know, we're not just sitting on some, you know, John and Georgia just and the reporters sitting there talking. But we also throw up visuals. We do sound bites. It's really just it's added a whole new can of worms to our production.
- Stew Redwine
That's why I do say it was April because I'm like that was just recently that's like just shows you time flies That was six months. Yeah,
- Brandon Beville
for real
- Stew Redwine
Yeah, because in my mind i'm like, oh this recent change No, I remember talking with some of your team at our chief audio officer summit over the summer now that I think back on it I was like, I think I said the same thing like you recently switched to video But well, it's funny because I I listened to it Nice every morning on my dog walk with my main man my wingman maverick And you know every once in a while there will be something that is like inherently visual or that I'll want to see the visual for. But most of the time I'm solely listening to it. That's just such a fascinating aspect of how podcasting is evolving that you have to keep in mind that there are folks that are only listening and then there's folks that are viewing. And it's kind of a side quest, but I do want to go down this because you are a producer on the show.
- Brandon Beville
Right.
- Stew Redwine
When you, how do you think about that? You know, you're creating for a dual audience. You know, you're creating for guys like me that are
- Brandon Beville
primarily listening and you know you're also creating for people that are watching like how do you guys approach that yeah it's certainly now something we need to keep in mind that there are people that are still only listening a very good amount i might add and so it's something we've tried to keep in mind where if there is something that is very visual we've started throwing in you know lines such as you know hey if you're only listening you know there's this great thing we'll describe it to them, things like that. We'll also kind of, you know, tease it to people too. It's just like, hey, you know, if you want to see John and Georgia's smiling faces, we are on video now. We've started putting that at the end of our show just to kind of drive people towards, you know, coming to watch it and seeing that side of it because it really has turned out to be a great product that we're putting out visually. And so we're really kind of trying to drive people to watch that, but also maintain that balance that, you know, hey, this is an audio show. It was an audio show for several years before. And so it is definitely a balancing act.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah, I have noticed that at the end of the episode. So well done with that, where you're saying, hey, if you. You want to see everybody, you know, you can also watch it. And like I said, what I'm noticing is I am watching a little bit more and more. So that is definitely the space that everybody's in. And there's a special episode of Ad Infinitum that's going to be coming out where we're comparing the history of radio with kind of the present and the future of podcasting. That was something that all the network, you know, all the networks had to navigate this. All the networks were radio networks.
- Brandon Beville
Right.
- Stew Redwine
Because there was no television. Totally. So this has been done before. So good luck with that as you guys continue to do that. And I think it's interesting. So you had a background in TV and...
- Brandon Beville
Yeah, and actually audio too. You mentioned audio. Like I went to college for like music and audio production. I ended up in TV, but like, you know, my background is in audio and I mean TV for sure. But yeah, I started out at a small little, you know, TV station in Northern Maine. I could see Canada from my apartment at one point. But yeah, I went to school for audio production. And so that's kind of one sort of avenue that kind of. goes into this with doing these ads and such, I would do a lot of them in school for projects and such. And then when I got to that small little TV station in Northern Maine, there were a lot of, you know, overlap as to the roles that I would do. I was on camera for a time. I was a reporter, I was a producer, and there were times where I would, I would voice things as well. So that was certainly a big part of where my roots in this, you know, voiceover stuff comes from is that and college and things like that.
- Stew Redwine
So let's talk about the before we get into how you approach doing those reads which you do a great job and i'm actually going to uh i want to grade one of your reads later with audiolytics we'll do that we're going to do it live do it live i can i'll write it and we'll do it live before we get into that piece so with the morning wire being a news show like we have talked about you know the hosts are more neutral it's just the the communication of the facts so then you're brought in the producer voice is brought in where you can voice the ads and give the endorsements. That's currently the way you guys have it set up, right?
- Brandon Beville
Yeah, correct. It's something we might be looking at in the future, where John and Georgia may read some certain ads, but only things that they truly like and will endorse because they enjoy it so much. But that's kind of why they have the producer reads for Morning Wire, is that so John and Georgia can remain relatively neutral because it is more a straight news show as compared to other shows here at The Daily Wire.
- Stew Redwine
Right. And I mean, you do a great job.
- Brandon Beville
Thank you.
- Stew Redwine
Like I said, it was the Ollie spot. that got my attention. Of course, I'm also walking my dog. So there you go. You know, right audience at the right time. And you know, the real question is, did I sign up for Ollie, which I did not, I'm sorry, but I can still, as a professional say that you did a good job with your background and your experience. How do you approach doing those endorsements?
- Brandon Beville
Yeah. I mean, so for ones like Ollie, I have two dogs at home. I have Huskies. I was telling somebody earlier, it's kind of like I have a sled dog team in my living room. And so One thing with huskies, you know, they're very, very vocal. Mine, maybe not so much, but they can be. And so I had a lot of fun with this one in particular, Ollie, because, you know, I'm like thinking like, man, what do my dogs do when they're hungry? Well, they whine and make all sorts of, you know, husky type screaming noises sometimes and growl and howl at me. And so I was like, how can I kind of use that where it's like it is still me endorsing it, but it's more like, you know. this is for dogs. We need like a dog endorsement of some sort. And so I try to have like a lot of fun with these types of ads where I like using natural sound or it goes back to my like news roots. You know, like I love using sound bites from people to help tell the story and natural sounds, explosions, whatever. And so I'm thinking, you know, what would be, you know, something I could use for this particularly? And when it was just like kind of a light bulb moment, when like my dog growled at me at home for dinner time anyway. And so I was kind of like, Like, oh man, this would be great. Those are not actually my dogs in the recording, I should note. But that was kind of where the inspiration came from was my dog, you know, me getting food, scooping it for him. And then like one of them kind of doing that like, ooh, thing at me. And so I was like, I can totally like make this still my endorsement, but like also my dogs. And so that was kind of where that whole premise of this Ollie ad came from. And there's a few other ones that I've done where I try to incorporate some sound effects. of sorts too. It depends on the ad, of course, but this was definitely one I had a lot of fun with.
- Stew Redwine
And what do you look for when you're getting copy points? Like, do you prefer that it's really stripped back and, you know, it's like a five bullet points and then you've got maximum latitude or does actually more information give you more latitude? Like what's ideal for you?
- Brandon Beville
You know, I like having kind of a, at least a rough script that I can kind of tweak myself and add some of my own flavor to, I guess, rewrite it. So it sounds a little bit more like me saying it. And I try to keep those, you know, very authentic because I was telling somebody earlier, like, you know, we live in a world where there are now AI ads and there are also people that sound very stiff. And one thing I try to do with both my copy and my performance is just kind of remain authentic so people can relate to it. You know, like I'm just an everyday dude telling you about this. It's like. I was talking about this with somebody just with writing scripts for news in general. One of the things that like in my earlier career that really like struck me as far as how to write a news script is one of my executive producers was just like, okay, well, how would you like tell your friends about this over drinks at a bar? And so I, that was kind of a light bulb moment for me because I was writing these really like big, you know, Latinate words in scripts that just weren't necessary. And it's just like, no, no, I got to strip it down a little bit and make it like it's very conversational. And so I feel like that's something that... That kind of reflects in my ad reads as well and in my copy that I kind of fix up to get the best performance. And so, yeah, I think that's really where my process comes from is I try to just make it very authentic, very layman's terms, something very conversational. Just like as if I was telling my friends about Ollie or some other product over drinks at a bar.
- Stew Redwine
That's funny. A guru that I actually ended up hiring to help with some copywriting early on in my career for some ad writing for this product that I was working on. He would have me read the copy. So I'd read the copy to him. He'd be like, okay, yeah, that's good. That's good. So what were you trying to say with that? And then I would explain what I was saying in the ad, right? And then he would go, okay, write that instead. Because when I explained it, it's like what you're talking about. It's like, well, now I'm just explaining it and I'm no longer reading the ad, I'm like, well, let me just explain it to a guy. And it's a different way of communicating that you're just like, this is the way I just talk to somebody.
- Brandon Beville
Totally.
- Stew Redwine
You know, and that's what I hear you saying. It's like you figured that out early in your career.
- Brandon Beville
Absolutely. And I mean, a lot of the tone that I bring to, I was, you know, I talk about this all the time where I got this comment one time about my ad reads, just like in like the Twitter when we post the episode or wherever it was. Maybe it was on Spotify. I don't remember. But it was kind of just like, you know, they described my voice as kind of like a frat guy from Boston. And so. I don't take that as an insult. I was like, that's kind of, you know, what I sound like. But that's something that I feel like a lot of people relate to is the authenticity in somebody's voice. And there's another thing too, like I was in school studying music. And I remember I did this class that was kind of very, we would do like kind of real projects for real clients. And it was usually an animation with a full audio production behind it too. And I was assigned the music track and I didn't want the music track. I wanted the sound design track, but I got the music. and I had to do two different music pieces that goes along with this animation. And the one that was almost the winner, I got second place, but it was the one that like had voices in it. The whole thing was about this like transportation system in Oakland, California. I can't remember the name of the company, but it was about this new bus rapid transit. And basically it goes through several different communities in that area. And the thing that really got the company's attention was that I used vocal part in it. There was like a vocal harmony and like what I guess I would call the chorus. And so I think that that if you use your authentic voice in something, it does tend to resonate and hit people a little differently.
- Stew Redwine
It's so funny because it's like I was coming up with titles for this episode and what I landed on was this is my real voice. And I didn't even fully appreciate how perfect it was going to be for our conversation because it's everything you're talking about. It's like there's the voice, there's the sound of our voice. You know, maybe we sound like a you Boston frat guy or whatever. And then there's the spirit of it. Totally. Right. The what we call authenticity, the honesty, I think is what it is. It's honesty.
- Brandon Beville
Exactly. Yeah, totally.
- Stew Redwine
And not in the sense of telling a lie or not telling a lie, just coming from the heart, being, you know, it's from Othello, you know, all men should be what they seem.
- Brandon Beville
Right.
- Stew Redwine
And when someone's being real and they're being honest, you can feel it. You can feel it. And, you know, you bring up a good point with the AI voices. That's also kind of like, this is my real voice. Like, I'll be honest, I'm currently, I've got, I don't know how much total time, but like basically every episode of this podcast, like the last, you know, whatever, it's like 40, 50 episodes. Right. I got just my solo tracks and then I'm editing all those down to upload to 11 Labs where they've got like their pro version of a clone voice, which now, I mean, it's funny when you go back just two years or, you know, like, oh yeah, we need eight hours of audio. Right. Not 11 Labs, but other folks. But anyway, with 11 labs to do their best clone voice, it's something I think it's two hours, two hours of your voice, which is a lot.
- Brandon Beville
Totally.
- Stew Redwine
I think I've got two hours of me, you know, to make like the most robust clone of myself, which is interesting. You know, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, that was one of the voices that was talked about a whole bunch, I guess, this year or last year, you know, that his podcast, I believe is his podcast. Maybe it was his audio book is like, you know, clone Arnold. And it's just. Man, I'd like to hear more what you think about that. I struggle with it because I'm like, you know, there was a point in time in history when people saw photographs and the whole thing about like, oh, it sucks your spirit out or that's not the real person. But now, like when you and I see a you and I see a photograph or a television commercial with Kevin Hart endorsing one of the 7000 products he endorses, we don't have any. Any resistance to that? And yet, to me, there's this heavy resistance to clone voices that's different than photographs. Maybe we're seeing a correlate, you know, something with AI generated video. Like, what do you think that's all about?
- Brandon Beville
I mean, it's pretty insane. I've seen a few times now where, you know, it'll be a really realistic sounding AI voice. And the only way that I know that it's not real is that it's just saying something completely outrageous, like the Arnold Schwarzenegger thing. I think there's that show. When I was a kid reading Rainbow that was on TV, they have like a whole AI Arnold Schwarzenegger singing that that I've seen online, which is just, it's hilarious. But you know, I know that it's AI because there's no way Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to go into a studio and record reading Rainbow theme song. But it sounds pretty real. And like, I might be getting to a point here where I'm like kind of telling, you know, I'm hearing some sort of artifacts maybe in it. Kind of like, I guess I can compare this to like, you know, I used to not be able to tell when a vocalist, a singer would be using autotune. But now after like kind of using it for a number of years, I definitely can tell. And I just know I can hear those artifacts that it's like, ah, this is they're using pitch correction, you know, especially if it's really obvious, like share. Do you believe in love kind of thing? But there's also the ones that it's not so obvious. Like, I don't know. It's super interesting. And it's something that I'm watching with great interest because, you know, I think they've even like we've got 11 labs.
- Stew Redwine
here i've never played around with it with my own voice though i guess i'm too scared yeah like i said like if you've got there's like their pro level clone so you could do a clone but the whole point of this episode it's your real voice right so i don't know what are we talking about yeah i haven't quite articulated it but there's something about like i was saying like a photograph or video but now i guess now that the clone video you know the ai video stuff is so sophisticated as well it's just you know like how do you know that something is really real totally anyway to be real you got to be real okay so let's really grade one of your ads cool we're going to listen to this this is ollie by brandon bevel on morning wire your dog's excitement says it all
- Brandon Beville
That full-body tail wag, those happy little hops, that goofy little grin that means dinner's here. That's what happens when dogs taste Ollie. Made fresh in U.S. kitchens with human-grade ingredients, Ollie delivers clean nutrition without any fillers or preservatives. Just real food that leads to real results, more energy, shinier coats, better digestion, and genuine mealtime excitement. With five protein-packed recipes like fresh beef with sweet potatoes and fresh turkey with blueberries, even picky eaters dive right in. Don't just take my word for it. Here's how my kitchen sounded around mealtime before Ollie. And here's what it sounds like now. Dogs deserve the best, and that means fresh, healthy food. Head to Ollie.com slash wire, tell them all about your dog, and use code wire to get 60% off your welcome kit when you subscribe today. Plus, they offer a happiness guarantee on the first box, so if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get your money back. That's O-L-L-I-E dot com slash wire and enter code wire to get 60% off your first box.
- Stew Redwine
Bada boom. All right. So I took the transcript and I ran it through Audiolytics Score, which is the framework that we use to measure audio ads for performance. We've developed it here over the years at Oxford Road. It's a 71 point checklist of 71 different defined subcomponents that roll up into nine key components in specific order of what is going to make something the most persuasive and like, our target score for all in market creative is a 90% and let it be known that Gettysburg Address is audiolytics approved. It's a persuasive bet. We did an episode of the Media Roundtable. Our founder, Dan Granger, did an episode of the Media Roundtable, our other podcast with T-Pain. And he shared that information with T-Pain and then he went on to grade T-Pain's lyrics with audiolytics as well. Speaking of autotune. And that's a guy that's... He's using auto-tune. He's coming right out with it, baby.
- Brandon Beville
He certainly.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah, yeah. So anyway, your Oli ad scored a 90% on the money. So it is audiolytics approved straight out of the gate. And I knew it when I was listening to it. And I knew I was like, I got to talk to this guy. But like structure and content wise, everything is there. I'm looking at it. I'm like, this is probably why I wanted to talk to you. And you did send some other ads as well. Helix Sleep, Identity Guard, Jeremy's Razors, like all of them. you take the same approach and we've talked about the approach that you take. So it's like, yeah, this is one of those rare occasions where, you know, I listened to this rare on ad infinitum that there are, is an ad that's already in market. That's at 90% or greater. So yeah, well done on that.
- Brandon Beville
Thank you.
- Stew Redwine
With that said, I do have a note.
- Brandon Beville
Okay.
- Stew Redwine
You ready for my notes?
- Brandon Beville
I'm ready.
- Stew Redwine
From the sound design standpoint, the crickets, what I was thinking of, what I was expecting was
- Brandon Beville
Yes.
- Stew Redwine
Did that thought cross your mind?
- Brandon Beville
It did like after it aired. And I was just like, ah, maybe that would have been a good idea.
- Stew Redwine
Okay.
- Brandon Beville
Something like that, you know, or like maybe distant crunching of dog food or something with like the, you know, reverberant kitchen.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah. Because I just thinking of my dog, like when he, when Maverick goes after it, you know, but I remember, I can't remember if it was Ollie or is Ollie human grade food?
- Brandon Beville
I think it is. human grade ingredients, if I'm not mistaken.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah. Okay. So yeah, we were onboarding Dan Bongino and I can't remember now if it was for Ollie or another one that was like Ollie. I feel like the dog foods things kind of went through the same thing the meal kits did where there was all of a sudden two dozen of them. And then, you know, in the end of the day, only HelloFresh and Blue Apron remain. Now it's like Ollie and Farmer's Dog. I bet you it was Farmer's Dog.
- Brandon Beville
Farmer's Dog. I've seen commercials. Yeah.
- Stew Redwine
I bet it was Farmer's Dog. And he was like, this stuff is great. I mean, I would eat this stuff. I would totally eat this stuff. I was like, do it. I was like, Dan Bongino, eat that on a live read.
- Brandon Beville
He just starts eating it.
- Stew Redwine
And I was challenging Dan Bongino. I'm like, do it, dude. Do it. You have to do it. He's like, oh, I don't know. I don't know. I can't. I can't. So anyway, that's the thing to outer space, bro. Eat the Oli food on the next ad read.
- Brandon Beville
Man. I mean, if they ever make me go on camera, you know what I'm doing first.
- Stew Redwine
Excellent. Yes. Okay. So this is interesting. Like truly this is noteworthy and i hear why i hear your approach where like you clearly understand persuasion and you have a honest approach to communication what i'm curious about like okay so i just told you this scored 90 percent in audiolytics that's all well and good are you aware did they close the loop these advertisers jeremy's razors identity guard ollie helix sleep i mean i imagine the answer is going to be yes on jeremy's razors with performance. Like, do you ever get to hear how these perform?
- Brandon Beville
I guess I don't. I guess I don't have great analytics as far as that goes. I usually kind of just, you know, put it out there in the episode and that's that. I guess I don't ever get specific information on how the ads in particular perform, but I would be interested.
- Stew Redwine
I'm sure. I'm sure. I mean, the way I guess you'd keep an eye on it is like who stays as a sponsor and who goes, right?
- Brandon Beville
Okay. I guess that's a good point. Uh, yeah. So I guess a fair amount of people are hanging around. That's for sure.
- Stew Redwine
Well... You do a great job. I'm sure these ads are performing.
- Brandon Beville
Thank you.
- Stew Redwine
Oh, yeah, I'm confident. OK, so now let's hear how all those regular folks out there are performing. And you know what? I want to say one other thing. I think it's interesting, too, like your approach, your honesty. I like that word better than authenticity. Your approach, your honesty. Oh, and that you're making the decision, right? Like you're crafting the copy. You're delivering the copy. There aren't a lot of people in the middle. It's not designed by committee. It's designed by brand. Or am I wrong? Is that not the case?
- Brandon Beville
Well, okay, so I'm usually given like a rough copy from our folks in marketing. And then from there is where I'll take it, make tweaks and then record it. Sometimes I'll ad lib a little bit on the words. There was this whole thing when I was on camera where I would read, you know, the same stories in a news show, like maybe three times a day. And then I would get to the point by like the third time where I'm inputting the same information, but I'm outputting something different as far as what I'm saying, how I'm delivering this story. And so there's a few times, of course, I'll read through these like a few times to get the best take. But usually by like the, you know, whatever number time, I'm kind of ad-libbing a little bit as well. Whereas it's just like, yeah, I'm reading the script, but something different's coming out. Just saying exactly that thing, but in my own ad-libbed words.
- Stew Redwine
So you're kind of a fan of the Stanley Kubrick approach, like you're going to do 72 takes. And by the time you get to that 72nd take, it's finally, that's the real deal. hopefully like four four or five days hopefully not 72 if it is this honesty thing this honesty kick i'm on it's like you finally get beaten into a state of reasonableness where you're just like i'm just gonna say i'm just gonna say it i'm just gonna i'm just gonna say it like it is exactly so that's interesting when it comes to these so you do multiple all your it's not like you do one, lock it in and it's done. Like you're going to do the all you read multiple times. Is that what I'm hearing you say?
- Brandon Beville
I do. I try to get like, and that goes back to kind of like my, you know, honest approach to it as I try to get it in one go as best I can. There are some times where I might pick up an excerpt and get that in like, oh, I got it up to this point. Or maybe I got it after this point really good. Let's get before that again. But usually I'm just like, I'll just run through it again. And usually I try to just get one solid take where I may only stumble once or twice. And usually I can get that in roughly three to five takes.
- Stew Redwine
Okay. And you're saying the magic happens on the last take?
- Brandon Beville
Usually, yeah. Or, you know, there's every once in a while, it'll just be like, I really liked the second take. Honestly, like there's some copy that I'll get that, you know, has kind of the similar parts as it did before. Maybe we're running a new Helix Sleep copy that's a little bit similar, different CTA or something like that. Sometimes I'll change them up. Other times it'll be like, okay, I know this part, let's do it. And I will kind of ad-lib it a little bit, add some of my own flavor to it.
- Stew Redwine
I think that sounds right. I think three or four, that seems like the sweet spot. And like you said, sometimes the magic happens on one or two.
- Brandon Beville
Yeah, definitely.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah, it's funny. I met a guy recently. I live up here in Santa Clarita and there's a lot of like studio guys. And this guy that he's retired now, but it's the first movie he worked on was E.T. So if that gives you an idea.
- Brandon Beville
E.T.
- Stew Redwine
phone. Wow. Yeah. And he was like a rigging gaffer. And so he worked in the industry something like 40 years. And I was like, hey, how many takes do most directors do? I was kind of on this same idea, you know, because this is all I do is make things and try to make them better. And he was like, three to four. It's like, oh, that's interesting. That's also what you're saying. And it's like, I think about even like making pancakes, right? Like the first pancake you throw out, sometimes then the second pancake is like, dang, I nailed it. All right, girls, you know, breakfast is served.
- Brandon Beville
Great analogy. You know,
- Stew Redwine
but sometimes the second one, you're still kind of like, oh man, griddles too hot or whatever. And then, you know, God forbid you screw up the third one. You're definitely going to finally get there on the fourth. You know, I mean, it's like three to four times at it. You're either going to have it or you're not at that point in time.
- Brandon Beville
Right.
- Stew Redwine
you know totally all right we solved it thanks for listening to ad infinitum all right so there's a pro tip chief audio officers if you're doing a vo session three to four takes is probably you know and what i've also found brandon is like doing like commercials like tv commercials or not necessarily like host reads or whatever like doing stuff that is more where the perception of more control where it's like performance with actors where you're like doing voice actors. I think, and you know, even establishing here, like this idea of three to four takes, it's like, it's diminishing returns after that. Like you're not going to get anything better. Like you'll go to nine, 10, 11, 12. And then what I've found is I will discipline myself. We don't do as many of those like highly produced spots anymore, but I'll just stop. Like I'll stop it at five or six. Like, I'll be like, you're done. Like, you know, like students, I am cutting you off.
- Brandon Beville
Totally.
- Stew Redwine
And then what happens, I notice is you go into post and it's there. You just couldn't you like lost perception in the moment. You know what I'm saying?
- Brandon Beville
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. That totally that happens to me too. And there is a certain point that I get to where I'll just be like, well, as good as it's going to get. And then I will kind of find it in post, you know, when we're going through it. And yeah, it's there. Usually it's just you kind of lose sight of that where, you know, maybe some days I just won't be as in the zone and I will like get frustrated and I'm just like, well.
- Stew Redwine
because it's going to get and then i go to post and it's like ah this is actually good we just kind of do this that and the other thing we have it we have it there yeah because we'll have people you know we did a bunch of founder spots early on i we did like 50 plus founder spots when we were building the agency and it was like people get nervous and stuff and you know sometimes you know i'd give them the direction like you're not nervous you're excited like all that energy you're feeling you're excited then one time i struck on this idea of like you know how when you're drunk if you've been drunk you know have you been drinking i've been there okay you know how when you're drunk and you feel really sexy and cool, but how you look really stupid. I go like the reverse of that is happening right now. You feel really nervous and awful, but all of us looking at you, you look confident and in command. And they're like, oh, well, I just go, whoa, you know, and maybe that's not totally true. Maybe they did look nervous. But a lot of times I find that people's interior state does not match at all what everybody else is perceiving. Right.
- Brandon Beville
Right. Totally.
- Stew Redwine
So... Yeah, I like that. That's another good one. Chief audio officers is fix it in post. No, I'm kidding. No, you know what it does make me think of though. I do think that that's a great example. Like, let's say you did that. Let's say Brandon's doing an ad read. He gets to take four or five and he goes, this is as good as it's going to get. And then you do get into posts and there's like one phrase that you, you actually didn't get it. I'm like, that is the perfect place to use a clone Brandon. You know, but I mean, I'm being genuine. Like, let's say there was just like, I'm looking at the next line in my script. Now let's look at the top spenders driving momentum in September. Like, let's say you just, you know, now let's look at the stop spenders driving momentum in September. And it's like a flub. And you didn't notice that it was a flub.
- Brandon Beville
Oh, I see what you're saying.
- Stew Redwine
You get like, that would be a great application. You get what I'm saying? Does that make sense?
- Brandon Beville
I think that we do have that ability in one of the programs we use to assemble our ad reads. It's called the script.
- Stew Redwine
Yes.
- Brandon Beville
And I think we have that ability in there. I just don't know that it's something we've ever bothered to figure out or if we're even allowed to do it, honestly. But that is interesting. And I know that I have heard of people doing that. I don't think I've ever done it myself, but I've definitely heard of people making quick fixes like that where you can just kind of you're talking about you can like replace a word or a couple words or something like that.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah. Or like an advertiser like Quince that we have at Oxford Road, like folks will say Keen Say like they just. They just don't, you know, or Boland branch, you know, an advertiser, people will Boland branch. Like, so it's like, oh, you want it to be Boland branch. You know, it's like little things like that. You know, it's like photoshopping a cold sore off of somebody's lip, you know, sonically. So, okay. All right. Let's get back to business.
- Brandon Beville
One more thing. It's like that music discussion we were just having where it's like, you know, our singer hit a bad note, but we can correct it a little bit with pitch correction.
- Stew Redwine
Yes, exactly. It doesn't mean we have to use pitch correction all... the time. But if you are going to use it all the time, do it like tea paint. Okay.
- Brandon Beville
Exactly.
- Stew Redwine
All right. So now let's listen to the top or movers and shakers from September. This is according to Magellan AI, and you can get a free demo of Magellan at Magellan.ai slash ad infinitum. Brandon, are you ready to grade some ads? Let's do it. All right. First one is Park Wiz on Unafraid Show with George Reitster from September 23rd. Here we go.
- ParkWhiz Ad
Parking shouldn't slow you down. ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut. Book ahead, save up to 50% and skip the hassle of circling the block. Park smarter, park faster. ParkWiz. Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park.
- Stew Redwine
All right, Brandon, short and sweet and hard to beat. Let's get this party started. What do you rate that ad for persuasiveness and why?
- Brandon Beville
Well, I would rate it a 8.7 out of 10. I think it's very persuasive. It makes me want to at least look into what it is. And I think I understand the gist of what they are trying to persuade us to do and communicate. And yeah, 8.7.
- Stew Redwine
8.7. Okay. All right. Yeah. And it had that funky music track.
- Brandon Beville
I do like the music. That's a good point.
- Stew Redwine
And that always, you know, that can help make us feel better. What I'm going to do is I'm going to hold back on the audiolytic scores until we get all the way through. I've been doing that recently because I want to get your unadulterated grades. So let's go to Google. I actually think this is for YouTube, which is owned by Google. Everybody, spoiler alert. All right. So this next one is from Google. Here we go.
- YouTube NFL Ad
As a scientist, I can tell you that Sundays are only 24 hours long. But with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game every Sunday all in one place. That's upwards of 30 hours of NFL in one day. How can there be 30 hours in 24 hours, you ask? I have a theory. Magic. New users get NFL Sunday Ticket for 8 payments of $34.50 per month. Sign up at NFLSundayTicket.com. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games. Excludes digital-only games and commercial use. Terms and embargoes apply. Availability varies.
- Stew Redwine
Okay, Brandon, before you give your grade on that one, I want to start.
- Brandon Beville
Do go ahead.
- Stew Redwine
Mike Cesario of Liquid Death has remarked about their advertising that he didn't set out to be... advertising awesome, but awesome, awesome. Or he didn't, it's something like that. Or it's like, he didn't set out to be like advertising funny, but like funny, funny. Yeah. Like actually like, like SNL level when SNL is good or when South Park is good, like funny, like legitimately awesome. This line that, how can there be 30 hours and 24 hours? You ask? I have a theory. Magic. That to me is like advertising funny or advertising. And like, what? Like. I've been in the rooms, I've put stuff out there like this, but it's like, come on guys, you can do better than that. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, nobody would, to me, it like erodes the credibility. But now that I've said my little, thrown my little stone at it, what is your unbiased grade of this ad for persuasiveness?
- Brandon Beville
Well, this one, I really like their use of sound and kind of ambiance and, you know, like they had the ding, the bell in there. I think it definitely, you know, I'm not necessarily a football guy. I watch sometimes, but it makes me interested slightly more than I think it normally would. And so I think that it definitely, considering like the kind of ambience, music and the sound that it provides, it catches my attention. It does what it's supposed to set out to do as far as, you know, letting me know that this is available. So I think I'd give it a 9.3.
- Stew Redwine
Wow, dude, you what a generous man. Okay. Wow.
- Brandon Beville
I liked it. It wasn't bad.
- Stew Redwine
All right. All right. This is interesting. Let's keep going. Okay. All right. This next one is from Wells Fargo. Here we go.
- Wells Fargo Ad
The name of this product is the Active Cash Credit Card from Wells Fargo. That's a lot of name, but it's also a lot of card. It earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. Whether it's buying tickets to the game with your mom or grabbing coffee with your dog, purchases big and small earn unlimited 2% cash rewards. No limits, no categories to track, just straightforward rewards that keep adding up. So, you might stumble a bit while saying it, but paying with it will make you stumble upon so much more. Shopping, dining, cooking, gardening, you get the idea. Let's say it together, the Active Cash Credit Card from Wells Fargo earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases. You know what? It does have a ring to it. No, seriously, try saying it out loud. The Active Cash Credit Card from Wells Fargo. Oh, that sounds nice. Learn more at wellsfargo.com forward slash active cash terms apply.
- Stew Redwine
Okay.
- Brandon Beville
Wells Fargo.
- Stew Redwine
What say you, Brandon?
- Brandon Beville
Okay, so I think that one doesn't quite, you know, he's got a good read. It definitely tells me what I need to know. I bank with Wells Fargo. So, you know, definitely listening with great interest on that one. But I think that there could be, like I said, I like, you know. the use of other sounds to kind of illustrate you know what they're trying to communicate and so i think that there's some opportunities i feel like for some like sound design type things in there the fact that it doesn't have music or anything doesn't necessarily bother me but i feel like there could be some more use of sound design sound effects to help kind of communicate what they're trying to advertise there so i think i'm going to give it an 8.4 yeah
- Stew Redwine
Okay. Okay. It's coming in in third place. You know, he did, I thought something cool he did that's in the land of like leaning into the medium, like sound effects would be where he goes, no, seriously, try saying it out loud. The act of cash credit card. I thought that was kind of like, I was like, oh, that's interesting. Like that's an interesting in the listening medium to go true.
- Brandon Beville
Yeah.
- Stew Redwine
You call, you know, so it was like, there was an attempt there. So that one's in third place. Let's see if the last one comes in in fourth place or maybe... replaces one of these other ones on the podium. So here we go. This is from LG Electronics.
- LGX Boom Ad
Having a great day. Yeah. Hope you're enjoying some tacos on this Tuesday. I did, in fact. Hope you enjoyed your Monday night foosball the way the Lions did yesterday. Right now, Covino and Rich are live from the Fox Sports Radio studio, and the LG X-Bone Grab is the portable speaker that powers your hustle from morning coffee runs to midnight rooftop hangs. Enjoy vibrant sound with up to 20 hours of playback. That's a party, man. 20-hour party. And now save 25% at LG.com with code FALL25. F-A-L-L-2-5. So bring the boom. X-boom. LG. And have a great fall like Humpty Dumpty. Life's good. Yeah, I hope you do have a Humpty Dumpty type of fall. You saw him wearing a flannel shirt, apple picking, having a latte. He's really living it up. Man, have a great fall, Humpty Dumpty.
- Stew Redwine
All right. They, uh... I think I remember Humpty Dumpty better than I remember LGS Boom. What do you give that one stacked up against the others?
- Brandon Beville
Let's see. I like the kind of more conversational nature of it. I think that's, you know, cool. It's probably very fitting for the show. But I think you also made a point, you know, that you remember, what was it, the bada bing?
- Stew Redwine
Yeah,
- Brandon Beville
the boom!
- Stew Redwine
Oh, no, no, Humpty Dumpty. Yes, yes, Humpty Dumpty.
- Brandon Beville
You remember Humpty Dumpty better than actually LG. So let me, considering that, I think I'd probably give it...
- Stew Redwine
and eight on the dot okay eight on the dot so it comes in in last place all right drum roll please yeah so first of all brandon your scores number one is google or the nfl ticket at 9.3 out of 10 then we've got park whiz at 8.7 out of 10 wells fargo at 8.4 out of 10 and lgx boom at 8 out of 10 you kept them all up there in the eights and the nines which is very generous of you audiolytics agrees on your first two as far as rank order goes so google got an 86 percent it was wow our target is 90 which your ollie ad beat that the youtube ad well it's argo got an 84 and then audiolytics has these tied at the bottom at a 70 on park wiz and lgx boom and it's interesting to me both of those oh wow both of those are shorter which is often the case of you're just not as able to get as much substance in there. And, you know, the thing that I noticed with these is it does sound like you said, these two from the Dan Patrick show, you know, LGX Boom had the nice conversational nature to it, but they didn't self-identify like producer Brandon does. Producer Brandon always self-identifies. Also with the Wells Fargo ad, that was obviously being read by like a producer or talent, you know, but he didn't self-identify, you know, and even in the stories that he told, like you and Ollie, you took the story, you made it personal. your dogs, like grabbing... you know, game with your mom or grabbing a coffee with your dog. That's from the Wells Fargo script. It's like that individual could have personalized that more. Like when I take my mom to a game or grab coffee with your dog, I don't know who grabs coffee with their dog, but he grabs coffee with his dog. You know, he could personalize it more, which is something that you did well. And then I think, you know, with ParkWiz, though, you gave it a higher score. I want to dig into that one. Like what did Audiolytics say about that? Why did it?
- Brandon Beville
What was the Audiolytics score of that one again?
- Stew Redwine
70%. So it's saying...
- Brandon Beville
I didn't give it color.
- Stew Redwine
Provide data research to substantiate, substantiate the gap between offering the current offering and the status quo. Create an event or deadline to justify urgency of action. include a unique discount. So that's sort of some basic like rules of the road that you can do to pump up the persuasiveness.
- Brandon Beville
Gotcha.
- Stew Redwine
I think also it lacks some specificity. Parking shouldn't slow you down. ParkWiz gives every driver a shortcut book ahead, save up to 50%. You got to think that this is a geo-targeted one, you know, because it's not going to necessarily apply to everybody. I'm not sure. Download the ParkWiz app today and save every time you park.
- Brandon Beville
Yeah, maybe you're right.
- Stew Redwine
But I will say on the top. upranked ads here for both Audiolytics and for producer Brandon. You've got a lot of good information. It explains exactly what it is and how to transact and paints more of a picture in the listener's mind. After listening to these ads, what recommendations do you have for the chief audio officers that are listening?
- Brandon Beville
Yeah, I think that one thing I really try to do, and I guess I struggled to say this as good as I'm about to now earlier, but just really try to make a connection with the listener. And that delves into the authenticity, the honesty of the ad, really trying to make an impression. And I feel like the best way to do that is to just kind of, you know, make it as much you as you can, as much of your authentic self as you can. That's what I'm trying to say. And so it goes back to what I was saying about like kind of the best way that resonates with a lot of people is talking to them like you would talk to your friends, tell them if you were telling your friends about this product, this thing, how would you say it? And, you know, I think that that really kind of resonates with people. As far as, you know, other ways to kind of do it, I know that we don't do this for MorningWire, but I saw kind of just a really innovative way to kind of not necessarily do an ad, but to advertise something. I think on the Ben Shapiro show, they use perplexity, not necessarily always in an ad, but it's like, actually, let's check this fact with perplexity, which is, you know, the AI kind of. Chad GPT competitor. And I think that that's a really cool way to do that. So there's a lot of ways that you can innovate as far as advertising, I feel. And I feel like those are two ways right there. One, where you really kind of connect with your audience just like you would your friends, and also find a way to work something in the way that Ben showed us.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah, I think I've heard that on Rogan recently as well, that they're using Perplexity. So kudos to the Perplexity team. Aristotle figured it out a long time ago as he did many things. He said a person is not fully persuaded until they consider a thing demonstrated. Right. And I think that's a part of what I'm hearing come out of this as well. Right. Like.
- Brandon Beville
Absolutely.
- Stew Redwine
When you're honest and authentic about your experience with the product, you're demonstrating it in a way. And then if you think about it, the other choice that these advertisers took and you take as well, you're able to do both with your reads, is they're using the medium itself, like sound effects and music. to communicate as well. So, you know, either do, or if you can do both, use a real honest human telling the truth about their experience with the product. And then also use the tools that are at your disposal to paint a picture in the theater of the mind. And all of that works together to demonstrate the product in a non-visual medium to the listener.
- Brandon Beville
Yeah, totally. Absolutely. I love what you said about demonstrating because in a way, you are kind of like painting a picture of a demonstration for folks in a way that they can relate to. And I think that that really speaks volumes when you can do that. And it really draws people in.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah. Like I said, you know, it's sometimes I'm like Aristotle, this rhetoric or whatever. It's like he figured all this stuff out and then we just, we keep repackaging it. It's like, let's just go back to the source. So Brandon, thank you so much for coming on ad infinitum. And also thank you very much for taking your craft seriously and putting great work out there. It is so easy in audio to phone it in. It really is. Definitely. I think that even is inherent to the power of audio because audio is, you know, it's our sense that is always on. It supersedes all other senses. It's directly linked to the creation of memory and emotion. It's our quickest sense, right? If you touch your own arm, your feeling of that touch is slower than if you heard a sound. Right? So that's why they use a starting gun in the Olympics. So I say all this to say, because it is so powerful. one could not try very hard and still get all that power. But man, it's so much more powerful when someone does try hard and get all of that power. And that's what you're doing with your work on the Morning Wire. So thank you for respecting the craft and putting great work out there. And thanks again so much for joining Ad Infinitum.
- Brandon Beville
Of course, love doing it. And thank you so much for having me. Reminder, Morning Wire on video now. Check us out. We are rated very neutral on Ad Fontes. So please watch our show. Thanks a lot, Stu.
- Stew Redwine
Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, video is the new audio. Okay, that's a wrap on another episode of Ad Infinitum. For you chief audio officers listening, remember authenticity isn't about sounding perfect. It's about sounding honest. The real voice that converts is the one that connects and cuts through. Remember to go to Magellan.ai slash Ad Infinitum to sign up for a free demo. And thank you for listening and have fun making the ads work.
