Not long ago in an Australian radio forum, someone asked whether any of the broadcasters had a voice doppelganger? I do, and having transcribed thousands of hours of audio, I also know other voices where the computer gets very confused about who is speaking.

With a great many states and territories having elections this year you will be aware that audio political advertising will have a tag that says something like authorised by x person for y party and spoken by ‘John Smith’.

John Smith will likely have received a little extra payment for his voice work for aligning himself to that party, if only for the commercials.

Radio and voice actor veterans will also know that if you are the clearly defined voice for a certain brand, and as an example I’ll use John Laws and Oral B from the 80s, you will absolutely not get any voicework for a competing brand, like Colgate, as you are now attached to that brand. Unless of course you are someone like Dave Gibson and no one knows what voices are actually your as you can do so many varieties.

A while ago, while watching Masterchef catch up episodes on 10 play, I saw Tony Armstrong pop up in a commercial about three times before I realised, to paraphrase The Shawshank Redemption, ‘that ABC talent that has no earthly business in a 10 play Masterchef hayfield.’

The commercials were for the ABC News app (main picture) and the use of Armstrong showed just what a liked and relatable face he has become for the ABC across the four years since he first started doing sports updates for their TV Breakfast show. I choose the words ‘liked’ and ‘relatable’ judiciously as each year the Australian Talent Index measures such things with, in the March 2024 version, Fifi Box was voted most likeable radio personality and The KIIS Network‘s Mitch Churi the most relatable.

In this era where AI can replicate human voices and, without the aid of an image, I must say that until the Media Watch story I didn’t realise the NRMA ads played across the Olympics on radio and television were voiced by Tony Armstrong.

I would suggest that a lot of people were in the same boat, as it has taken some time for this story to come to light.

Media Watch’s exposé, about Armstrong’s responsibilities to have vetted the commercials with the ABC, from whom he departed from last week, benefits two parties.

Firstly, the advertiser NRMA. How much additional unpaid promotion have they received from the outing of Armstrong in their pivot to becoming a ‘HELP’ company?

For our broadcast and audio industries and talent, this is also something of a win for what I’ll dub “voice value”.

Armstrong is one of the most recognisable faces on Australian TV at the moment. Unlike the equally familiar Hamish and Andy, Armstrong hasn’t spent a couple of decades in radio so his voice isn’t (yet) his signature.

As a result it was a rather delayed response to the NRMA ads timed badly with the popular presenter leaving the network anyway. One response to Media Watch was:

“I wouldn’t have known until I saw this post. He wasn’t promoting himself or image.”

But via Media Watch giving air to Tony’s voice, they have added value to it.

There will be so many television, film, theatre, radio and podcast people with a similar small side hustle doing a commercial here or imaging there that no one blinks an eye at. They’re used to decent money in voice over work but with advances in audio technology not only can everything be done so much faster, sometimes, like Mamamia’s AI powered voice Sam, the personality you wish to promote your product doesn’t even need to be present at all.

Ralph Van Dijk told me last year that his creative agency Eardrum likes to employ voice actors so that anything they read is not just words but a story. I agree that this contributes to a much more natural sounding ad.

But there is financial benefit too for an organisation to align themselves with the voice of a person we know, like and trust, like Armstrong. While he isn’t endorsing NRMA with his name and brand overtly, we still subconsciously will add 1+1 together and create a mental solution equivalent to our feelings on charming ex-AFL players and insurance companies.

I think we are going to see more commercials (with proper agreements in place beforehand this time) voiced by recognised personalities in this way, without the blatant “Hi, I’m Fifi Box,” to introduce it.

How much more attention will you pay if that voice feels familiar and like someone you like?

For Tony though, there’ll be no more flying under the voice radar though again. Frankly though I fully expect him to appear on next year’s Australian Talent Index in various of its categories, across multiple networks and mediums now he is free to do so, and as part of NRMA ads for a very long time to come.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.