Challenge: Every year, the best and brightest from the Belle Tire empire gather in Detroit’s famed Cobo Hall Huntington Place for what’s known inside the company as tire prom. Toasts are offered, speeches are made, WWF-style belts are won and lost. And at the end of the evening—just before the DJ drops the needle on Uptown Girl (this joke only works if you click the link)—a brand new hype video is revealed to rouse the gathered throng. But who would lend their voice to this latest work?
Solution: Unbeknownst to me, the answer was… me. There I was, minding my own business, when the creative leads on the Belle Tire account pulled me into a recording booth and handed me a script. “Read,” they said. And I did. Then I threw out my back. But I kept on reading, gesticulating towards nothing in particular to get through just the right intonation and degree of emotion. Only when the team was satisfied did I hobble across the street to my chiropractor.
Result: Voiceover work inspired in equal parts by Bud Light’s “Real Men of Genius” and hazy memories of Don Francisco on Sabado Gigante. And—if on-site reports are to believed—an inspiring call to achievement that everyone in attendance has yet to tire of.