Banjo the adorable Labradoodle loves his birthday hat, a little too much – and Lisa turns 21, one more time! You’ll love the antics in this family friendly caper! Don’t miss “The Adventures of Banjo & The Birthday Girl!” At select drive ins soon.
Thankfully, 2009 and 2010 are long past and we in the ad biz have seen some positive turnarounds. In the voiceover production and voice talent agent business we’ve experienced double digit growth within SunSpots Productions Studios in North Carolina and Florida. Many of the agencies with whom we collaborate are pushing along well too. Profits are down, but we’re all keeping busy. This story from Sageworks written by Mary Ellen Biery explains the details…
Ad, PR agencies grow despite slowing U.S. ad spending growth
Mary Ellen Biery, ContributorU.S. ad spending growth might be looking tepid this year and next, but private companies in the advertising services business are experiencing their second year of double-digit sales growth, according to an analysis of financial statements by Sageworks Inc.
Ad agencies, public relations agencies, media buyers and other businesses that work in that space between advertisers and media owners have seen an average sales increase of more than 11 percent in the last 12 months , Sageworks’ data shows. It’s the second year of a recovery for the industry after an average drop in sales of nearly 7 percent in 2009 as advertisers clamped down on spending during the recession.
Indeed, advertising and other service-sector industries were among the top sales performers when Sageworks recently looked at the state of all privately held companies for the last 12 months.
Strategic consulting firm Kantar Media has reported that ad spending in the first half of 2011 was up 3.2 percent, driven by Internet media and cable television ad expenditures. But the biggest advertisers’ spending stalled in the second quarter, putting ad markets more dependent on mid-sized advertisers, Kantar said. And fresh concerns about the economy have prompted some forecasters to cut estimates for 2012 ad spending despite expected boosts from political ads and the Summer Olympics in London.
Media services firm MagnaGlobal, a division of advertising and marketing giant Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), recently lowered its 2012 forecast for total ad spending growth to 2.9 percent from 4.8 percent, pointing to a slowdown in manufacturing, consumer spending and ongoing problems in the labor and housing markets. The firm maintained its forecast for 1.6 percent growth this year. Online advertising and digital direct media are expected to outperform local media, according to the firm.
Some smaller, independent firms, however, are planning for another solid year in 2012 despite the outlook for lackluster ad spending overall.
“We’re bullish, in particular with our clients and the opportunity for new clients,” said Steve Luquire, founder and CEO of Charlotte, North Carolina-based advertising, marketing, and PR firm Luquire George Andrews. (Just a couple hours away from SunSpots Productions studios near Asheville.)
He expects the roughly 50-person firm’s sales could be up about 10 percent this year, and he’s added seven new hires since July in anticipation that business will remain good.
By the way, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Wednesday said job cuts across all industries in the U.S. have already topped cuts in 2010, with one month left. But layoffs announced by advertising services companies have tapered off in recent months.
SunSpots Productions provides professional voice talent and creative audio production to agencies, web designers, networks, theme parks, radio, tv, film and wherever quality audio production is needed. If it makes a sound or needs a voiceover SunSpots makes it happen. Plus we offer our ISDN sound booths to voice talent who are visiting the Orlando or Asheville areas.
Yeah, we’re fools for dancing babies, but babies on roller skate with attitude are even better. That’s a tv commercial that sticks to the brain. Does the product stick the same way? I remember the roller skating babies, but not the bottle they’re selling. How about you? Does a memorable tv campaign sell the product well or just the commercial itself? I do like the voiceover. Go baby go!
Story from the New York Daily News online edition about Rachel Ray and her vocal issues. Tuesday, July 14th 2009, 4:00 AM Rachel Ray is planning to be “giving her voice a rest for the next week or two,” says the TV host’s rep. The vocal cord operation that omnipresent TV host Rachael Ray reportedly underwent last week has a very high success rate, which means the ebullient celebrity chef should be back in the kitchen before long. Ray underwent surgery, according to People magazine, in order to remove a benign cyst from her vocal cord, following months of failed vocal therapy. Her rep,Charlie Dougiello, said in People that the toughest part for the chef “is going to be giving her voice a rest for the next week or two.” Most at risk for developing vocal problems such as cysts, nodules and polyps are singers, teachers, sales people and others who talk a lot, says Dr. Clark Rosen, an otolaryngologist specializing in voice disorders at the University of Pittsburgh. “It is a result of overuse or misuse of the voice,” he says. “Rachael Ray speaks very loudly and she has what we call a percussive voice, not a soft voice. Vocal cords are designed to vibrate with each other, but they do need down time or recovery time.” (This is important for us to remember in the voiceover business. Some of us are very active with voicing all day or evenings. Here’s confirmation that we need to take breaks and care for our vocal cords the way a professional athlete would with their muscles. A raspy voice indicates that the vocal cords need a period of rest or have been damaged and need additional care.) Soft and pliable, vocal cords, or folds, vibrate extremely fast in order to give the voice its pitch, explains Dr. Michael Johns, an otolaryngologist specializing in voice disorders and director of the Emory Voice Center. “They vibrate 200 times per seconds for women, and for sopranos, they may vibrate 1,000 times a second,” he explains. “What happens with a cyst is that the delicate mucus membranes break down, and then the folds don’t vibrate in the same way.” The first course of treatment is voice therapy, which very often takes care of the problem. If it doesn’t, an operation to remove the cyst is recommended. Surgery is “generally safe,” Johns says, and it’s “almost always successful” when done by a competent specialist. The toughest part could be the recovery period following surgery. “You have to rest your voice for a week,” he says. “And that means no talking, no whispering, no throat clearing and no coughing.” In Ray’s case, her rep told People that “the minor, non-invasive procedure was a success and she is already resting at home.” Though overusing the voice is definitely a risk factor for vocal cord problems, it’s not known why some big talkers get them and others don’t, Rosen says. “Some guys can sell peanuts at the stadium for 2-0 years and never have a problem, and yet a 16-year-old girl can develop a vocal cord bump after just on The main symptom is persistent hoarseness. Says Rosen: “Anyone with persistent hoarseness for two weeks without an upper respiratory infection should see a doctor. (What do you do to keep your vocal cords healthy and strong? Are there exercises you perform to strengthen your voice?) (Here are some informative links about vocal cord nodules, polyps and cysts: American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Merck.com, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Rachael Ray undergoes vocal cord surgery to remove benign cyst
Napolitano/FilmMagic
e round of high singing demands in the spring musical,” he says.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
I wanted to mention that I placed some voice talent wanted ads on Craigslist this weekend. Here’s links to the ads that are currently running.
Seeking Orlando area Voice talent
Seeking Asheville area Voice Talent.
There’s others on the net too.
Here’s some important information to keep in mind when sending in your materials:
Remember that SunSpots is seeking working, professional voice talent. Sometimes beginners do “get it”, but, it’s rare.
Do not send any of your presentation materials (photos, audio files, resumes, etc.) via email unless requested.
Please use the address listed for the studio you are physically closest to if you do not have IDSN:
Good luck to everyone!
Zak Miller, our Studio Manager at SunSpots Orlando studios, just celebrated two milestones with us. He’s celebrating his 10th anniversary at SunSpots and he just completed his 7,000th session behind the console. WOW! We can hardly believe it’s been 10 years already. I remember sitting on the floor at SunSpots when we had just one studio going in Florida and dreaming about what things would be like a few years from then. We couldn’t believe then that we’d become a global leader in our industry. It’s been Zak’s hard work and extraordinary dedication that has helped us achieve that goal. I can’t thank him enough for being there during those late nights, weekend sessions and doing what he does every day to separate us from the herd. You can read more about Zak here. By the way, 7,000 sessions equates to 12 to 15,000 spots he’s recorded at SunSpots. We’re not kidding when we say we do “professional audio production”.
And let’s not forget Zak is a professional voice talent too! Listen to Zak Miller’s voiceover talent demo.
If you’d like to schedule Zak to do your audio production or to voice a spot or two for you please call us at 800-355-7768 or you can book your entire session the web way by using our voiceover session scheduling page.
Congrats amigo! Also, thanks to Jay Patrick, SunSpots very first engineer, for hearing Zak’s production work on the radio in Orlando and saying…”Hey, this guy’s got it! He’s really good.” Yep, we think he is and so are you Jay! (Jay’s been with us since the very start when we were simply “The Cassidy Company” and we’ll talk more about him soon.)
Peace-
Tom