The difference between trite and uplifting when it comes to “sayings” or “motivational words”, for me, boils down to mood.

Sometimes the words are what you “need” to hear and come at just right time.

Sometimes you’d rather just punch the messenger in the nose and simply stew in your own anger, bitterness and foul mood.

Maybe that’s just me…but I’m guessing my feelings are neither that unique nor special.

Neither are my daily or ongoing problems that I face as a family man or business owner. We all keep these awful problems to ourselves knowing in all practicality they are ours to solve and no one is coming.

All this was my consideration this Monday morning when I thought about this phrase my Father taught me. I hope it helps you to hear it:

“Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down.”

Groovy and thoughtful as motivation if you’re not dealing with any Bastards of direct consequence to your life.

Seemingly useless if you have Bastards surrounding you and directly impacting you in some combination of mental, physical, spiritual, emotional or financial hellishness.

But when you’re ready to hear it, when you find the strength to get out of your own way and really hear it (I respect from experience that’s not easy or simple) —- it is fantastic direction and simple at that.

While the choices to change or alter your circumstances for the better may not be easy and indeed maybe be risky, you do have choices and options and actions you can take that will *not* allow the Bastards to get you down.

Your life has meaning and value – but you have to dictate your direction to betterment. To happiness. Even when (maybe especially when) you feel powerless.

Said another way, wouldn’t rather fail because you tried rather than failing under the oppressive thumb of idiot bastards who don’t care about you anyway?

Changes in attitude and direction are often scary and our brains may focus on what could go wrong or what we could lose. Sure, actions need to be carefully considered for yourself and those who entrusted to your care. For me, I think of caution as a useful, thoughtful tool and less a way of life. You’re mileage may vary.

But if you are in a corner, and it’s a very bad corner, trust yourself (say a prayer) and take forward action. For yourself and for your family and away from the Bastards.

I hope this helps.

Tags: commentary, kick in the pants, voiceover advice // Add Comment »

By Peter K. O’Connell

The line between brilliant and stupid is often blurred when you own a small business.

It’s frequently crossed when you’re also responsible for the creative marketing for said business.

I am a creative guy and I have many good ideas. That’s not ego…I have cashed the checks that confirm that fact.

What you can also bank on is the fact that I have had some really bad ideas that I thought were swell. There is not one creative person who hasn’t lived this truth.

So whether the following is a swell idea or a stinker will have to be left up to history to decide.

We hold these truths to be self evident that this is the honest Abe story.

It’s coming up on the Midterm Elections and I have updated my political commercial demo for campaign managers and political advertising consultants to listen to as they hire voices for all the political ads.

Not quite as important as album cover art of my youth, but the art/look/branding that goes along with political demos can help keep the voice talent as memorable in the buyer’s mind as the voice demo does within the buyer’s ear.

In the past, photos involving the U.S. Capitol and American Flag have adorned my political demo branding — which looked about as bland as it now sounds.

But what could I come up with as a better idea?

Then I saw an old postage stamp with my pal Abe Lincoln on it. Then I thought ‘what if I created an image of that kind of old time presidential stamp but with picture of me looking kind of old timey.’ All red white and blue but with an 1800’s feel to it.

It had to have a little humor to it so everyone was in on the joke. So working off the Lincoln stamp, I grabbed an old picture of me, put “26” where the stamp cost was supposed to be (for 2026), I put “MIDTERM ELECTIONS” where it said U.S POSTAGE etc., and of course added a microphone to make it blatantly clear what this image was about.

SO this is either another gold standard in voiceover political branding or absolute egotistical crap that will haunt me to my deathbed.

Male Political Voiceover Talent Peter K. O’Connell has released a new Political Commercial Voiceover Demo

In either case, I promise the political voiceover demo is really good.

About Peter K. O’Connell
Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning male voice actor with more than 40 years of political commercial voiceover experience. He provides political voiceover for radio, television, digital and campaign advertising from his professional Source-Connect equipped studio.

[Listen to my Political Voiceover Demo]

Tags: branding, marketing, political advertising // Add Comment »

By Peter K. O’Connell

I’d like to tell you that my voiceover team of agents, managers and hangers-on (you know, family 😉 ) gather together in a modern, cool conference room where we all looked at all the analytics, reviewed the data and crunched the numbers to determine it was time, nay, the audience has demanded I craft a new political commercial voiceover demo.

No such thing happened.

Well I take that back, part of that happened in that I have a weekly meeting with some fellow marketing-focused voice talents. One of them has talked for weeks about crafting her new political voiceover demo. Well, after about the 3^rd time, I thought maybe I should review mine.

Male Political Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell has released a new Political Commercial Voiceover Demo

So I did. I made a new political commercial demo for the 2026 Midterm Elections.

The trick is in making a worthwhile political commercial demo that show my professional vocal versatility as well as the most popular styles of political commercial (so political advertising consultants and campaign managers hear the best work)

You have likely heard all about political attack ads — everyone hates them and decries them as the end of civilization. Except research shows the attack ads continue to sway voters. So it’s OK to not like attack ads but it’s also your fault we record them. J

But there are OTHER types of political commercials that I voice as well: candidate introduction and biography ads, positive/pro-candidate ads (sometimes called image ads), issue advertising, opposition ads (not quite an attack ad – it usually points out the opposite of the Pro or Con ads it is opposing),  contrast ads (“John Smith” believes this while “Mary Taylor” believes this), ballot initiatives, PAC advertising (aka political action committees, testimonials (this is where I have sound completely natural and NOT at all announcery),  GOTV ads (Get Out The Vote ads – reminding people to vote), patriotic/values-based spots (a lot of heart strings are pulled), political humor ads and then narration for political campaign videos.

Oh, and I have to get all that in within about :60 seconds!

Of course, I can’t get ALL that in…but I what I have shows a great deal of my range, abilities and personalities (yes, personality plural…often people say “wait, all those voices were YOU?!”)

The last question people not in voiceover ask me about my political commercial work is ‘are you red or blue?’

Simply put: while I am not aligned with any political party, I provide political campaign voiceover services solely for candidates who fully support the Pro-Life platform.

So if I can be of any help with the production of local, regional or national political commercials, please contact me. Thanks!

About Peter K. O’Connell
Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning male voice actor with more than 40 years of political commercial voiceover experience. He provides political voiceover for radio, television, digital and campaign advertising from his professional Source-Connect equipped studio.

[Listen to my Political Voiceover Demo]

Tags: commentary, political advertising // Add Comment »

By Peter K. O’Connell

There is no single “political voice.”

You say “Obviously, silly man, there cannot be a single political voice when there are thousands of political ads produced in each election cycle!”

A candidate biography spot shouldn’t necessarily sound like an attack ad. A ballot initiative may need a completely different approach from a patriotic campaign commercial. And sometimes the most effective political voiceover doesn’t sound like an announcer at all.

It sounds like a voter.

Political voiceover styles can include the friendly and conversational everyman, the reassuring voice of reason, a persuasive announcer, an incredulous voter, a subtle influencer or the harder-edged delivery required for an opposition or attack spot.

The important part isn’t simply sounding serious, concerned or angry.

It’s sounding believable.

Political Voiceover Has to Understand the Voter

Political commercials aren’t simply about candidates and issues. They’re also about how voters feel about them.

A campaign message may be speaking to voters who are hopeful, frustrated, angry, worried or simply looking for someone they can trust. Hot-button issues such as the economy, taxes, public safety, immigration, healthcare, education or abortion can bring very different emotions to a political commercial.

The voice talent has to understand that emotion without overplaying it.

A voter worried about the economy may call for a concerned, conversational read. A public safety spot might require greater urgency. A candidate biography may need warmth and optimism, while an attack ad could call for disbelief, frustration or controlled anger.

That’s where political voiceover becomes more than simply reading the words correctly. The voice has to serve the message, the issue and the voter the campaign is trying to reach.

Political advertising may include candidate introduction and biography spots, positive campaign ads, issue advertising, ballot initiatives, PAC advertising, testimonials, patriotic spots, political humor, opposition advertising and attack ads.

Each one has a different job to do.

For the voice talent, that means understanding the message, the intended audience and the emotion behind the words before deciding how to deliver them.

Sometimes the strongest political read isn’t the biggest one.

It’s the one voters believe.

About Peter K. O’Connell
Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning male voice actor with more than 40 years of political commercial voiceover experience. He provides political voiceover for radio, television, digital and campaign advertising from his professional Source-Connect equipped studio.

[Listen to my Political Voiceover Demo]

Tags: commentary, political advertising // Add Comment »

By Peter K. O’Connell

There aren’t many industries where deadlines move quite as quickly as political advertising.

Scripts change. Polling changes. An opponent says something. A new issue suddenly becomes important. And the political commercial that wasn’t needed yesterday may need to be recorded and in production today.

It is often a jolting moment when an especially urgent/vital/’defcon1′ call or email comes to me from a campaign, especially the calls. The tension of the situation in their voices makes you want to respond even quicker to hopefully relieve their greater than normal stress levels.

More than get the job done, you want to help, you want to pitch in to fix the problem.

After more than 40 years of providing political voiceover, I’ve learned that being able to deliver the read is only part of the job.

1. Be a good listener – HEAR what they’re asking for, ask clarifying questions etc.
2. Drop everything else and get focused on them

Political consultants need a voice talent who understands the clock and if you don’t, you won’t be their voice talent very long.

All together it means being available as much as possible, whenever possible, responding quickly, taking direction well and understanding that a script revision isn’t necessarily a creative crisis. Sometimes it’s simply another Tuesday during campaign season.

And sometimes it is a creative crisis they need me to solve for them.

The read itself can also change dramatically from one spot to another. A candidate introduction may call for warmth and credibility. An issue ad may need authority and urgency. An attack ad might require disbelief, frustration or a harder edge without becoming a caricature.

Whatever their approach, my objective is the same: understand what the script is trying to communicate and deliver a believable performance that helps tell the story. Even in pressure situations, maybe especially in pressure situations, I get ‘er done.

My studio offers fast turnaround and live directed political voiceover sessions through Source-Connect, Zoom, Teams or phone patch.

Because Election Day isn’t moving, so neither can the recording deadline.

About Peter K. O’Connell
Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning male voice actor with more than 40 years of political commercial voiceover experience. He provides political voiceover for radio, television, digital and campaign advertising from his professional Source-Connect equipped studio.

[Listen to my Political Voiceover Demo]

Tags: political advertising // Add Comment »

By Peter K. O’Connell

There is no single “political voice.”

While you may be saying “Obviously, silly man, there are thousands of political commercial produced every election cycle!” OK, I know that but hear me out.

Logic dictates that a candidate biography spot probably shouldn’t sound like an attack ad. A ballot initiative may need a completely different approach from a patriotic campaign commercial.

To me, the most effective political voiceover doesn’t sound like an announcer at all.

It sounds like a voter. In script and in voiceover. That’s the art of it.

Political voiceover styles can include the friendly and conversational everyman, the reassuring voice of reason, a persuasive announcer, an incredulous voter, a subtle influencer or the harder-edged delivery required for an opposition or attack spot.

The important part isn’t simply sounding serious, concerned or angry.

It’s sounding believable. Clearly, after 40+ years voicing political commercials, I’ve had some experience in this area. (Note I said experience, not expert).

Political Voiceover Has to Understand the Voter

Political commercials aren’t simply about candidates and issues. They’re also about how voters feel about them.

A campaign message may be speaking to voters who are hopeful, frustrated, angry, worried or simply looking for someone they can trust. Hot-button issues such as the economy, taxes, public safety, immigration, healthcare, education or abortion can bring very different emotions to a political commercial.

The voice talent has to understand that emotion without overplaying it. Hence why it’s called voice acting.

A voter worried about the economy may call for a concerned, conversational read. A public safety spot might require greater urgency. A candidate biography may need warmth and optimism, while an attack ad could call for disbelief, frustration or controlled anger.

That’s where political voiceover becomes more than simply reading the words correctly. The voice has to serve the message, the issue and the voter the campaign is trying to reach.

Political advertising may include candidate introduction and biography spots, positive campaign ads, issue advertising, ballot initiatives, PAC advertising, testimonials, patriotic spots, political humor, opposition advertising and attack ads.

Each one has a different job to do.

For the voice talent, that means understanding the message, the intended audience and the emotion behind the words before deciding how to deliver them.

Most times, the strongest political read isn’t the biggest one.

It’s the one voters believe.

[Listen to my Political Voiceover Demo]

About Peter K. O’Connell
Peter K. O’Connell is an award-winning male voice actor with more than 40 years of political commercial voiceover experience. He provides political voiceover for radio, television, digital and campaign advertising from his professional Source-Connect equipped studio.

[Listen to my Political Voiceover Demo]

Tags: commentary, political advertising // Add Comment »