As reported in a recent post by DuetsBlog I learned that Gilbert Gottfried has been let go of his duties as the signature voice of the Aflac Duck. So, why is this important to you? Well, assume somehow you lost the original drawings for you company logo, what would you do?
Now, the question for Aflac is how will this change their brand? What are the legal issues that surround this audio brand since it is a trademark of the Aflac company? Can they just go and hire a sound alike? Similar problems like this can also occur when a voice actor moves on to other jobs or passes away as discussed in this voices.com article.
This blog post is not meant to put a damper on the benifits of audio branding. One key point I want to make is that the Gottfried sound, although memorable, is not flexible. It puts a lot of pressure on a company to use as is without change.
A few ways to avoid this type of problem:
- Select a voice profile instead of a single voice
This should be part of your brand planning efforts when choosing a signature voice - Own the rights to the master recording(s)
- Choose a melodic audio logo
McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ it” is a good example of this
Knowing that music and sound will outlive any single voice actor or brand manager it becomes vital that business mangers plan for the future. How are you planning the future of your brand?