The Power of TV Commercials – ‘Its Simples’

I love commercials. I love voicing them and I love watching them too. I recently had a conversation with my mum where she mentioned the iconic Milk Tray Man and it got me thinking about the commercials that have stuck with me throughout my own life. I realised that there are countless ads I can recite line for line. Some with wonderful voice actors who have inspired my own entry into the world of VO and others with such powerful stories I couldn’t help but laugh, cry or smile when I first saw them!

Here are my personal top 5 favourite British TV commercials.

- Compare the Market – ‘Compare the Meerkat’ – Who didn’t fall in love with Sergei and Orlov? I remember making my parents change every insurance policy we had so my brother and I could collect each cuddly meerkat toy.

- PG Tips – ‘Monkey’ – Another advert that resulted in my parents purchasing stuffed animals. Shock horror, I’m actually not a massive tea drinker but I suddenly became one in order to collect the promotional stuffed monkey toys.

- John Lewis –'Bear and Hare' – I played the song on repeat, I bought the cuddly toy (a pattern is emerging here) and I got goosebumps whenever the ad appeared on my telly. It was such a beautiful story about friendship, love and all things Christmas,

- Iceland –‘Rang-Tan’ – This ad made me cry. I’m a huge animal lover and Emma Thompson’s wonderful storytelling abilities brought home the plight of the Orangutan. It serves as a brilliant reminder of how important VO is, in creating memorable and powerful advertising campaigns. I signed up to sponsor an Orangutan in record speed after watching the heart breaking ad.

- Cadbury - 'Gorilla' – One word is needed to describe this ad – Iconic.

Honourable mentions go to the to the 118 men (who inspired many a moustachioed Halloween costume) and the award winning ad by T-Mobile that introduced us all to the Flash Mob.

Do you have a favourite commercial, let me know!

Hi, I'm Marilena! I'm a young British Voice Actor with my own broadcast quality home studio based in London. If you'd like to check out some of my previous work and see where you might have heard my voice before, click here to visit my portfolio.