HEIDI REW

HEIDI@HEIDIREW.COM
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2021 Commercial Trends

Voiceover

For this years, VO Atlanta, I hosted two breakout sessions. The first was titled, “2021 Commercial Trends.” The second one was “What 4 Years of Not Booking Taught Me About Resilience.” I thought I’d share some of the insights about Commercial Trends.

We started off actually going back to the start of Covid.

HOW 2020 DISRUPTED ADVERTISING

It’s so interesting to see the different shifts in messaging and tone. I was actually really surprised I didn’t book more jobs at the start of Covid. I thought I’d be a good fit because my voice has a natural warmth & empathy to it. But companies needed authority with that warmth. They needed their customers to get a sense that they would figure out solutions to their problems. I leaned way too far into the warmth and empathy to exhibit any authority.

I saw 3 different waves throughout the initial stages of Covid in advertising –

1| ADDRESS CUSTOMER’S CONCERN

2| OFFER SOLUTIONS

3| IN THIS TOGETHER

Going forward through the rest of 2021, regarding messaging, we’re going to see more

FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY

Increasingly, sustainability is becoming more important to customers, so brands will make sure they let their customers know it’s important to them too.

CONTINUED EMPHASIS ON STORYTELLING

A great way to leave a memorable impression without being salesy? Tell a story.

HOW COMPANIES CAN PROVIDE – ESCAPE, ADVENTURE, TOGETHERNESS & COMMUNITY

As we’re able to finally gather again, companies want to be there to help create these opportunities, support the gatherings and solve the need.

LIGHT-HEARTED, GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR

It’s been a rough year. We all need a laugh!

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Messages and visuals will continue to include and showcase everyone!

1| NATURAL, REAL READ – Carli Silver, of Sound & Fury Casting, says 90% of the voice castings they send out are for the natural, real read.

2| SPOKEN WORD/SLAM POETRY – Amanda Gorman impacted us all during the 2021 inauguration. And that style continues to impact the advertising/commercial world too.

3| EMBRACING ACCENTS/UNIQUE VOCAL QUALITIES – The polished, smooth voice is out for national commercial spots. Everyone is asking for something unique…maybe even a little quirky.

4| LESS PULLED BACK VO (as in almost whispering in someone’s ear) and MORE KITCHEN TABLE proximity – This is still more intimate than in years past, but less hushed and more like you’re having a conversation with someone at your kitchen table.

Commercial trends are changing all the time – between the messaging and the tone. As a voice talent, it’s our job to keep up with how it’s changing so we can be informed while auditioning. It’s another piece to the puzzle that helps me give a client/casting director a great read.

If you’re a voice talent and would love to learn more about how to get to these reads, check out one of our many classes, workshops or private coaching at Atlanta Voiceover Studio and ProVoiceoverTraining.com.

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THE VOICE OF TWIST

Voiceover

2021 has been a great year so far! I’m excited to announce I’m the voice of Twist, a brand new network!

Twist is a new network from Tegna, Inc. It is a woman-oriented channel featuring lifestyle and reality programming. Some of my favorite reality shows will be on it – Top Chef Masters, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Tiny House Nation, Flipping Out and more.

Wanna teaser? Check this out:

Not only will it feature hundreds of hours of home, food, and reality content with exciting reveals – or twists – at the end of each show but they’ll be asking for the audience’s real-life “twists.” In a segment called Share Your Twist viewers submit their own videos of twists they’ve been thrown in life and how they persevered through them.

Tegna already has two other very successful networks – True Crime Network and Quest. Twist will add even more great content.

Where can you see it?

“In addition to 41 TEGNA markets, Twist will be carried in 11 Univision local television markets including the top four markets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. Twist will also be carried in 31 HC2 Broadcasting local markets and reach DMAs covering 70 percent of U.S. television households. Additional distribution agreements are expected to be announced by summer.” Business Wire 

This opportunity was one of those things I auditioned for awhile ago and honestly had forgotten about it because that’s what voice talent do…we do it and forget it…move on to the next audition. So when I got the call that I’d be the voice, I was so elated and a little shocked.

So grateful to Matt Clement that reached out with opportunity to be the voice of Twist and producer Gregory Osbourne who has been making the promos sound so good.

Wanna see if you can get Twist? Check out WatchTwist.com. 

2020 may have been quite a Twist for all of us but hopefully 2021 will bring us all GOOD twists.

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WELCOME TO MY VOICEOVER BOOTH

Voiceover

Hey friend! Welcome, come take a tour of my voiceover booth!

I thought it’d be fun to share a little bit about my “home away from home” or maybe I should say my “home inside my home?”Even though we have an actual home studio we built out, my voiceover booth is actually within my office at Atlanta Voiceover Studio, since that’s where I spend most of my time. It was kind of fun to know I could decorate my office and booth how I wanted to. At our house, Mike and I share the studio, so floral wallpaper and a pink neon sign were a no-go.

You may or may not be a voice talent…but if you’re working during COVID chances are you’re working from home. So, I wanted to share some tips I’ve found helpful when creating an inspiring work space.

 

 

1| CHOOSE A VIBE

Come up with 2-3 sentences or words of how you want a space to feel for you. Mine are: INSPIRING (or Motivating), HAPPY COLORS and ORGANIZED. Now under each of those VIBE headings, list some items that would support that. For instance, under INSPIRING I put “motivational neon sign.” The sign is hot pink too, so HAPPY COLORS is checked off as well.

2| CHOOSE 2-3 MAIN COLORS

This is from a design aspect. I try to choose 3 main colors to decorate my space with. It gives me a guide and creates cohesion.

3| PLAN FOR EFFICIENCY

Whatever or wherever your set-up, always think about if something can help you do your job with more ease. This may mean you change things around a bit or it evolves as the year goes on. That’s okay but the more efficient your space, the easy your job will be.

Now for the technical “tour” if you will. Here’s what I use tech-wise for my voiceover booth – (all of these items can be found HERE)

           FOR VOICEOVER

 

WHISPER ROOM (the actual booth)

Neumann TLM 103

Samsung Monitor

Mac Mini

Apollo Twin Preamp

Mogami Mic Cords

‘

FOR PODCASTING

RODEcaster Pro

Shure SM7B Mics

Ring Light

 

 

Thanks so much for coming along for the tour! You can see more of my studio capabilites here. Have a great week!

Heidi

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ATLANTA VOICEOVER STUDIO (Training for Voice Talent)

Atlanta Voiceover Studio, Voiceover

Mike, my husband, and I are full-time voice talent and we never set out to create what is Atlanta Voiceover Studio (or at least what it has grown to be).

HOW IT STARTED

Four and a half years ago, I complained to Mike that I hated not seeing people on a regular basis. The “con” of being a voice talent for an extrovert. He suggested renting a small 100sq ft office from a friend of ours that was opening a sound stage studio.

Mike thought we could build a small VO booth in that office, use it for our VOs and let other talent that didn’t have a home studio book appointments for auditions. At the time, a lot of our on-camera actor friends would get VO auditions from their agents but it wasn’t a super regular thing so they didn’t want to spend the money to set up a home studio. Offering our space for them to audition would allow them to not miss out on VO opportunities, maybe cover our rent for the space and I’d get to see people!

That’s how AtlantaVoiceoverStudio.com was born. We started it in July 2016.

HOW IT GREW

Once we officially “opened the doors,” auditions started coming in. It wasn’t a ton, which was perfect. We never set out for it to be a revenue stream.

But within the first few months, as people were coming in to audition, they constantly asked us “Do you do classes or workshops? Do you do demos?” And we started getting calls from studios and companies in other cities asking if they could book their talent in our studio to record. They just Googled “Atlanta Voiceover Studio” and we were the first that popped up.

We were trying to refer voice talent to other voiceover training facilities in Atlanta but with the closing of a long time place, we realized what a need there was for this! The fall after we opened up, our friend Brian Bremer reached out to us and said, “I’m teaching an Intro to VO Workshop already, would you guys be interested in me teaching at your studio?” We thought, “Yeah! This is great. We’d be giving the people what they want & need!”

FROM RECORDING VOICE TALENT TO TRAINING

Our first Intro to VO workshop was in January of 2017, led by Brian Bremer. If you remember, we were in a 100sq ft space. Obviously that couldn’t hold a workshop, so we used the sound stage space since it wasn’t used on the weekend. From that came more questions and needs to meet.

We decided to just try and do our best to meet the needs of the Atlanta voice talent and those trying to pursue a VO career.That 100sq ft space was quickly becoming way too small, so we moved across the hallway to a 400sq ft space.

This was a year after we initially started Atlanta Voiceover Studio.

 

 

 

Adding more classes, workshops, bookings from ad agencies, TV shows and even a little Disney work, quickly made that space also too small. We started looking for another space about a year and a half in.

NEW SPACE

It took us forever to find a new space. Our lease was coming up and we had nothing.

On top of that, they decided to sell the building we were in so we had no backup options or pleas to stay a little longer. It was so stressful. I started thinking maybe I should call some local hotels to see how much it’d be to rent a room for classes, so they could continue.

We had less than a month to move and no new space. Mike took a tour of an office while I was out of town and sent me the video. It looked “good enough.” We couldn’t be too picky at this point.

Video WalkThrough of New Atlanta Voiceover Studio Space

We decided on that office with me only seeing a video walk through. Paperwork and insurance stuff took so long that the day we were supposed to be OUT, we still didn’t have the key for the new space.

We ended up getting the key past 4pm the day we were supposed to be out…but we had a class at 7pm that night! We asked our landlords if we could finish getting the rest of our stuff out the next morning and they agreed. Whew. It was CRAZY! Mike kept asking, “Where do you want to put X,Y,Z?” I said, “I have no idea, I’ve only walked through the space once in addition to the video you sent.”

MOVING IN

Thankfully, no classes had to stop. The summer of 2019 was non-stop, stressful and exhausting but we got it all done. So, currently, we’re in a 3200sq ft space that we share with Get Taped (taping service for on-camera actors). We have an awesome “MAIN TEAM” consisting of Hunter Bradley (Administrator), Rochelle Waxton (Engineer) and James Younger (video content creator + Adobe & Audacity instructor), in addition to 12 instructors (Jill Perry, Trevor Johns, Steve Henderson, Aaron Goodson, Sally Neal, Julie Shaer, Dan Fishman, Smith Harrison, Brian Bremer, Thessaly Lerner, Donovan Corneetz, Chloe Dolandis). Our main studio has been booked for video games, Food Network, Atlanta Homicide TV Show, Bentley and more. Due to COVID, our classes and workshops are ALL now offered virtually (some also in person). And we’ve created ProVoiceoverTraining.com that we keep building out.

Our heart has always been and continues to be to provide the resources people need to create the voiceover career they want. It’s been incredible to see some of the great bookings and victories of voice talent that come through Atlanta Voiceover Studio.

HOW IT’S REALLY BEEN OWNING A STUDIO

Real talk though – it’s hard. Mike and I have thought it may destroy our marriage, we’ve struggled to know how to be the best leaders, the best business people, have a balance between giving and making sure there’s a profit so we can take really good care of our employees and keep the studio serving students and there are always new problems that we don’t feel equipped to face. We’ve made mistakes, I’ve broken down on my desk many times, we’ve not dealt with things in the right way. And…all of that…without taking a paycheck. We make our income from our own voiceover careers. At the end of 2020, we did take a stipend to satisfy our accountant and the IRS.

It’s long hours and sometimes I feel like I can’t give anymore to the student that emailed me or the employee I know needs me to be a support to them.

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from voiceover, it’s the pushing through the hard stuff that gets you to the good stuff.

So we keep trying to make decisions based on the studios values:

STUDIO VALUES

FREEDOM

This is more like an open hand approach to the business/direction. I knew I’d sometimes get in my head about competition or something not turning out the way I hoped. I wanted us to have a word as a reminder that this business is not our own or in our complete control. We have responsibility, yes! But there are instructors that will go somewhere else, employees that will leave, competitors saying negative things, etc. Having an open hand approach, reminding us to make decisions based on freedom and not fear, helps us stay healthy and focused on the steps in a positive direction.

STEWARDSHIP

We wanted this word as accountability and a boundary. With every class or workshop that goes on here, we think, “What value is this bringing students?” When we set a class price, we think, “Is this being a good steward of the students money?” This also goes for our instructors. We think about their time. The only part of this we’re not good with is stewarding our own time. This studio is like a newborn baby to us…our weekends and weekdays are filled with it morning to night. We’re trying to be better about that.

GRACE

Mike and I defined this as, “Meet people where they are.” It’s a good reminder when you’re teaching a group of people that everyone will walk in at different places. Our job as teachers is to find out where someone is, meet them there and help them move a step further. This was an especially helpful reminder during COVID. We had to remember that everyone that stepped through our door had a different perspective, comfortability factor, need for reassurance, etc. We had to meet them where they were and make sure we were doing everything we needed to do to ensure everyone was safe and we had the healthiest environment.

As challenging as it has been, running Atlanta Voiceover Studio with Mike has been one of greatest times of growth.

I’m still moved to tears when I get an email from a voice talent saying they booked their first gig, had an ah-ha moment or just the look of someone really enjoying doing the work. Worth it!

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BEST HOLIDAY COMMERCIALS 2020

Advertising, Voiceover

Holiday commercials to me are like Hallmark Christmas movies to others. I know we’re just at the beginning of the season, but I thought I’d share some of the Best Holiday Commercials of 2020…at least in my opinion. 

Cover holiday photo on Christmas tree

Besides a funny Capital One commercial starring John Travolta as Santa and Samuel L Jackson as his “promo coupon guide,” I think most of the 2020 Holiday ads will be heartfelt. With COVID cases on the rise, the holidays will be lonelier than ever to some. I think that’s why this Kohl’s commercial brought me to tears…

Kohl’s “Give with all your Heart” spot | Yard NYC Agency

Need a tissue nearby for that one, huh? 

 

This next one will just fill your heart with warm fuzzies. Seeing someone meet someone else where they’re at is what community and unity is all about.

Hallmark | Leo Burnett Agency 

Way to go Hallmark…give us a commercial that speaks to our hearts just like your cards do. Beautiful. 

 

And this next one will make you laugh and then make you cry. So sweet…

Paypal | Agency Unknown 

 

And this next one is so relatable to so many…

Etsy |  72andSunny Agency 

 

Candle light in christmas decorations

Do you have a name that was hard to find? My husband’s name is Mike and I’m like…I bet you could buy a license plate keychain in whatever state you went to with your name on it, you lucky duck. ;p 

The holidays look different for us all this year in the midst of a global pandemic. My hope is that we can all find a little joy in the midst of it…even if it’s for a moment. 

Holiday Christmas tree

Great job to these voiceover actors, ad agencies and brands! 

Heidi Rew

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LIVE ANNOUNCER for VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Acting & Hosting, Voiceover

One of the major industries affected by COVID is the live event industry. But thanks to technology…live events can still take place. And Atlanta North Studios has the technology to do just that! Which is why Todd Duncan, who hosts Sales Mastery, flew from California to Atlanta to take his conference virtual.

Innovation with Live VO

This is where I come in. Todd and the Sales Mastery team needed a live VO announcer to help tease upcoming sessions, shoutout brand sponsors, encourage participation and give other important details. The live VO announcements also gave a transition time between special guests and interviews.

script for live announcer gigThey reached out for my avails. I honestly was a little shocked and wanted them to listen to my demos first to make sure they wanted my voice. I don’t have that attention-grabbing, announcer-type voice. Because this wasn’t going to be in a large crowded room but a screen in people’s homes/offices, it made more sense to have a voice that could connect rather than project.

Getting the Job Done

The most challenging part of the live announcing is that there can be no mistakes. In the words of Eminem, “You only get one shot.” But it went great. Selfishly, I learned so much from Todd Duncan, his guest speakers John Maxwell, James Clear, Joel Manby and other great leaders. Todd Duncan himself is so inspiring. I shared his story on my Encourage Minute podcast. There was also a plumber named Roger Wakefield whose success on YouTube has been incredible. Love the way he thought outside the box! If you want to hear Todd or Roger’s story on my podcast, click HERE. They’re episodes 40 and 41.

live vo announcer set

The team at Atlanta North Studios created this little booth just for me, so I felt very at home.

live vo booth for Heidi for virtual conference

If you or your company are planning a virtual conference and need a live announcer, someone who can connect with the person on the other side of the screen and make it more personal, I’d love to help. Even if you’re not in Atlanta, I could do it from my booth.

Super thankful to Todd, his team and Atlanta North Studios for letting me part of such a cool event!

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Being On-Set During COVID

Acting & Hosting, Travel, Voiceover

Things are starting to pick up with on-camera work and in August, I had my first audition and booking during COVID. Then in September, I was the live VO announcer for a virtual conference. Here’s what it was like being on-set during COVID…

text on image about sanitation

My first experience was with the agency Ferebee and Momentive. Ferebee is in Greenville, South Carolina and to say I was excited just to get out of town was an understatement. I stayed in a hotel that felt like a ghost town. The sweet woman at the front desk said she was doing the job of several people because they were short staffed. I ended up sending her flowers afterwards because she was so wonderful and through our conversation knew that COVID had taken a toll on her spirit. Hope she ended up getting them. 

On-Set Sanitation:

Since the Ferebee staff are working remotely, they set up a small set in their office. This allowed them to control the sanitation, people in and out and social distance. There were only 3 Ferebee people present, plus a makeup artist, Latia Curtis along with myself and another actor (Brian LaFontaine). Latia was awesome! Not only was she a great makeup artist but she took all the necessary precautions. She had a mask plus a face shield on and was on top of sanitizing every single thing she touched. 

Heidi Rew and a Make up artist being sanitary during COVID

Changing “Normal”:

Brian and I were hosts for a Momentive informational video presentation. Normally, as is the case with many companies, they typically have a yearly company conference. Because of COVID, they’ve had to change to more virtual and digital means of communication. 

Overall, it was a wonderful shoot and I felt very safe and SO grateful to just see people and get out of town. I did lose my sunglasses somewhere along the way, so I stopped by the gas station on the way home for a cheap pair. Didn’t think about the fact I had no scissors and couldn’t for the life of me get off the sunglass tag, so I rode the whole way back with a sunglass tag hanging over my nose. I apologized to the woman in the Starbucks drive-thru and she said, “I wish that was the weirdest thing I’ve seen today.”

Change Brings Innovation:

My second experience being “outside my booth and home” was for a Virtual Live VO announce job. It was such a cool experience to be a part of something so innovative. I’ll share more about that next month!

Heidi Rew in a VO Booth by herself for LIVE VO gigI do hope things begin to start feeling more “normal” soon but it’s also been so cool to see how (yes…I’m about to throw the dreaded word out…) companies have pivoted during this global pandemic. Despite the weird things that have happened this year and the hard stuff, I’m grateful to still be able to work and to see how people are so resilient and creative.

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RADIO IMAGING DEMO

Acting & Hosting, Advertising, Voiceover

I was on air in radio for 8 years, plus additional weekend and fill-in work for 2 years after I went full-time into voiceover and acting. Never in a million years did I think I’d do radio imaging but I just wrapped up recording my radio imaging demo.

Heidi Rew Radio Imaging Demo

The Radio Voice

When I was in radio, you still had the booming, commanding voices doing radio imaging. That was NOT me. I actually kind of stumbled into a radio imaging job. A fellow VO friend said she knew someone that was looking for a female radio imaging voice talent and passed the audition to me. I ended up booking it.

Heidi Rew next to an B 98.5 mic for radio

Post Grad Goals

The even funnier part is that it’s for the radio group I first interviewed for after college. I even tried to get a job as a receptionist – anything to get my foot in the door but they never hired me.

That imaging job led me to being the imaging voice for the same radio company’s positive hip hop channel (LF Radio) and the voice for The JR Show on the Joy FM network.

Heidi Rew and a cute baby with some sound headphones

My radio career spanned from J103 in Chattanooga, 104.7 The Fish and B98.5 in Atlanta. I was on air and did traffic throughout my time there. Oh…AND worked in marketing in Chattanooga. In radio, you wear a lot of different hats.

Heidi Rew Posing with Cheerleaders at a 104.7 the Fish tent

 

My whole goal out of college was to be a morning show host. When I left radio in 2012, I was crushed. I didn’t really want to leave radio but a lot of different things led to that decision. A part of me felt like a failure for not reaching my goal and I felt directionless. I started on the path of being a full-time voice talent and actor but that was (is) such an uncertain industry.

Black and White photo of Heidi at B98.5

Best of Both Worlds

Fast forward to 2020 and I’m SO grateful for that change in direction. Not to mention, I’m still able to get a little taste of radio with radio imaging.

I worked with Eric Romanowski on coaching and prepping for the radio imaging demo. He’s wonderful! Very knowledgeable and I learned a lot.

Here’s the finished product…

 

I’m definitely not the commanding, booming female radio imaging voice but Eric helped me find my voice as the relatable, friendly, sexy, smooth, joyful, millennial, real, fun and sassy female radio imaging voice.

To hear more of the genres of voiceover I can do, CLICK HERE.

And what a great reminder that sometimes a redirection can bring you right back to your first love.

 

Heidi Rew

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ONLY MOVIE

Acting & Hosting, Atlanta Voiceover Studio, Voiceover

Two years ago, I auditioned for a VO-only part in an indie film called Only. 

 

Only stars Frieda Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr. It’s about a mysterious virus that just kills women. It’s more than a pandemic movie (I mean, we’re all basically LIVING that movie) but a love story which draws deep parallels about the intricacies of relationships and also asks the question – do you take no risks and feel imprisoned or do you risk it all to live freely, if just for a moment more? 

ONLY Movie Poster

Auditioning

At the time I auditioned, I didn’t really know much about it. In fact, right after I auditioned I decided to take a little hiatus from on-camera acting. With running Atlanta Voiceover Studio with my husband Mike Stoudt and maintaining my own VO career, my days were just slammed. It was hard to really be able to focus on doing well with my on-camera auditions. 

 

The Callback and Booking

After making that decision, I received a callback for Only with director Takashi Doscher, producer Gabrielle Pickle, casting director Jordan Blair Brown and Craig Miller. After I auditioned for the VO part, Takashi asked me to read for an on-camera role of a news reporter as well. I did and they ended up booking me. But not for the role of a news reporter. This was for a brand new role of a talk show host (or Anchor #3 as it says on IMDB).

The Shoot

The shoot was really fun and Takashi was a great director. Everyone on the crew was lovely to work with and it made for an easy shoot. My part was shot in a sound studio (ironically the same sound studio we originally had Atlanta Voiceover Studio in) on a green screen. 

 

The movie first made its rounds at film festivals. Then I heard rumors that it would be released in certain theaters at the beginning of 2020 but then COVID hit. In July, it ended up coming out on Netflix and for a couple weeks was in the top 10 movies. 

 

The reviews have been pretty good too. Here’s one from Variety. 

 

My part goes by fast, so don’t get up to get popcorn but I was so grateful to be part of this movie. Takashi was a wonderful writer and director and the rest of the team were a delight to work with.  

 

 

If nothing else, watching the movie, you may get some great quarantine tips during COVID?

Heidi Rew
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A SWEET VOICEOVER

Advertising, Food & Drink, Voiceover

It’s always exciting when you get to do a voiceover for a company you personally use…especially when you’re talking about a sweet treat! I call that one sweet voiceover. That was the case when I booked Edible Arrangements. I love getting and sending Edible Arrangements. 

Edible arrangements mixed fruits and voiceover

When I booked it, it happened to fall right at the beginning of COVID19 and they were offering FREE delivery. I wanted to figure out a way to send my friends some joy during this time and with free delivery, Edible Arrangements was the perfect solution. My friends all loved them and it was such a great way to feel connected, despite being quarantined.

Here are a few of the commercials I’ve done for them: 

Mother’s Day

Free Delivery

TV Spot

Edible always wants my upbeat, peppy, smiley reads for these commercials. I guess if you’re saying “Joy” you need to sound JOY-ful! 

Edible arrangements and sweet treats

I’m partial to the classic chocolate-dipped strawberries but you can’t go wrong with anything from Edible. They even offer fresh produce, cookies, popcorn and a ton of other goodies. With so many more sweet treats to choose from, think about sending an Edible Arrangement to a friend or family member! 

To hear more of my commercial voiceover reads, go HERE.

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