Have you heard the Home Depot’s TV commercials? The campaign is entitled, “Let’s Do This.” I hadn’t been aware of it until a couple of months ago because I guess they weren’t playing much in my local market.
Anyway, these ads immediately caught my attention. And the reason why is the voice-over. Turns out it’s Josh Lucas, the actor. Lucas isn’t a particularly big star, but he’s definitely a name. If you haven’t heard them, go online and see for yourself. You may or may not recognize his voice, but you will find it very appealing and charismatic.
Now, I come from the professional voice industry… used to do jingles and voice-overs myself… so I have an interest and ability to grasp the impact when I hear something good. And Lucas’ voice is really, really good. He makes the Home Depot sexy. Think about that for a minute – a sexy home improvement store.
(Here is a funny thing… the client clearly decided not to spend money on the radio version of this same campaign, so they found a voice-over artist whose voice is similar but not close enough and the difference is stark.)
This is the beauty of a great narration done by a great speaking voice with just the right pitch, inflection, and tone. Lucas’s tone is commanding, yet fun. Of course, the cool, original music underscore, a rock/blues vibe moves things along. The copywriting is also very good.
But it’s really all about the sound execution – first the voice, then the music that makes me want to run to Home Depot and buy something.
Imagine if your voice compelled people to buy something.
Seems surprising that Home Depot wouldn’t want to keep a consistent ‘voice’ and only hire an actor who would do both radio and TV. But you bring a great comparison about how a voice influences your message.
It was very expensive to hire Josh Lucas and probably exceeded their budget by a lot. They should’ve spent the money and, if the campaign is successful, maybe they will.
Love the new look, Ruth! So sophisticated and sexy!!! 🙂
My favorite takeaway from the vblog is the idea of using my voice as my business card! My voice is what my clients hear when I’m coaching & teaching, whether it is live, on a teleclass, webinar, or podcast! It is my most often used asset! Thanks for the meaningful and practical tips you always give us!
You’re very welcome, Gladys. Thank you for commenting.
Ruth
You are the trainer’s trainer. You see the subtleties,
the extras, that make us go from good to great.
Your new site is Magnificent.
What a nice compliment, Reesa. Thank you!
Hi Ruth,
Very true – I do not feel empowered at all when I use my ‘little girl’ voice – and yet it creeps in, much to my dismay.
I agree with you about the Home Depot commercials – made me want to do some yard work!
Best,
Laura
Me, too, Laura!
Love how you integrate the casual and the polished in your presentation. Very inspiring to see how I don’t need to control every aspect in order to make an effective video!
I got over the perfection thing, Kim. Thank you.
“You are being vetted every time you open your mouth.”
A great truth that we all need to be reminded of! Thanks Ruth.
😉
Hi Ruth,
First, may I say that your new website and look is GORGEOUS! I’m so glad I found you and thank you for all the wonderful information, insights and teachings that you offer. (And congratulations on your rebranding!)
I LOVE Josh Lucas and I think his voice is perfect for Home Depot! (Although I love Ed Harris too and miss his more laid-back, reassuring, “everyman, neighborly” voice.) But sexy Home Depot is good too! :~) I’m a voice actor myself so I understand clients changing their image, by changing a voice, and I just love that you posted a blog about this! Good stuff!
Hope all is wonderfully well with you, and thank you again for all that you do.
Maxine
Thanks, Maxine. You get it!
Great new image & launch Ruth -Love it!
Looking forward to read your book & loved your 3-day event “Charisma” – unparalleled! Congratulations, best wishes.
Barbara H, MA
Nice to hear from you, Barbara. Thanks!
Hi Ruth, As always, thank you very much for all your practical and often unusual tips, strategies and ideas. For example, I never really thought of every time we open our mouths it becomes our calling card. Obvious… but I never thought of it like that before.
Ruth, even though I am a man, I am known as “The Busy Woman’s Coach” and also as “The Coach for the Spiritually Disappointed”. It has also been on my heart to reach out to higher profile people (celebrities, political figures, etc). I would love to help prevent or be pro-active at helping people like Whitney Houston or Robin Williams, just for examples, before things get so difficult for them.
May I please ask if you have any suggestions? Would I need to have a greater “stage voice” to be attractive to them, like your comments about Josh Lucas? …sorry for the questions! I have been following you for awhile… keep up the great work. I LOVE how your HEART and your PASSION coming shining thru in each of your videos. Blessings… 🙂
I don’t know how you can reach them, Scott, but I know there are people who do. You have to associate with their handlers or be where they gather. Wish I could be more helpful. Thank you for following me. I appreciate your comments.
Another good video thanks Ruth. Personally my voice is still frozen and I am working on defrosting it. Again that takes effort, commitment and tons of risk. I will one day be doing videos like you, that’s my aspiration.
Ruth,
Congratulations on your book and your new branding – it’s awesome! Gotta love Josh Lucus and God knows those orange Home Depot aprons needed a boost! I’m very animated and your vlogs have reminded me to share my voice in a bigger way! Thanks!
I’m so glad, Corine, and you’re right about those orange aprons lol!
Ruth, I’ve been reading your blog all week long. And, I have to say, I love your new brand “look.” It is such a pleasure to visit your website. It’s professional, and calming. It just feels good to be on the site. Congratulations!
And, yes, I really like the sexy Home Depot spot with Josh Lucas. It makes me want to go to there, walk the aisles, and look for the sexy voice guy. 🙂
Me, too, Sylvia – that made me laugh!
Hi Ruth,
I wasn’t familiar with the Home Depot commercial prior to today but am familiar with Josh Lucas from his TV role in The Firm. I did watch the commercial on You Tube and I can see how this commercial could provide some inspiration to get busy around the house. Its all in the voice.
Yes, exactly. The music also helps a lot. Thanks, Sandra.
Great video Ruth! I have seen the Home Depot commercials you’re talking about and never really looked at it as being “sexy” but now I can’t wait to see one again! As for the radio plug for Home Depot, I don’t recall hearing one. But then again, maybe it does have to do with the voice, meaning I paid more attention when it was on TV and not so much attention via radio.
I’m just starting to get comfortable with doing videos (still need a lot of work, but at least I started – right?).
In regard to your new brand and look — very attractive site and I like the colors you selected – top notch for a top notch woman – nice work! I look forward to watching more of you and taking away from your “teaching videos” thanks and have a blessed weekend! 🙂
PS: Congrats on the book too!!
Thank you, Maria!
I haven’t paid any attention to the Home Depot ads to be honest. Now I will!
Congrats Ruth on a great new look, your launch week and your book! I’ll be ordering it next week, and can’t wait to read it. I know it will be filled with great advice!
Thank you for all you do!
Anyone can get up and speak but only a few people have charisma. I was attracted to your techniques from the very beginning. You stand out in the crowd as having something special. You also state anyone can develop charisma. There is hope for all of us.
Josh Lucas teaches how powerful sex appeal really is. He has it.
You can totally learn it, Wendy. They’re concrete skills. Thank you!
Thanks for posting this Ruth! I’ve done lots of voice overs myself and know how important your voice is in selling.
I love Josh Lucas’ voice! You are so right that it makes me want to go to Home Depot & buy something. I just hear HD’s radio ad (02-25-17) and I think they got someone new. It no longer sounds like Josh & this is very disappointing to me. If this is the case, I am afraid I will be losing my love affair with HD. It’s just not the same.
Is your music done by artists or just a jingle? I would like to know if there is more to the song I could listen to or not.
Hi Emery, Sorry for the super delayed response. Not sure what you’re referring to re “your music” but back in the day I was a jingle singer in NYC for big advertisers. I did not write the music, only performed it in the studio for subsequent broadcast. Regarding more to the song, if you can be more specific, I can answer.
Thanks,
Ruth
Frankly, he sounds very lispy and gay! “More Sssavivgsz, More Deuuewing”. I had to look up who it was because they run a commercial every 20 minutes and they are sickening to a heterosexual male. Mr. Lucus says he is not gay and I’ve seen him in shows and he doesn’t talk like that…so does Home Depot want the gay accent? Anyway, makes me want to go to Lowe’s!
Total bullshit, Curt.
No you’re wrong Ruth, Josh Lucas has a very gay, lispy sounding voice. Very annoying. I don’t understand why some women would find this attractive.
I stand by my assessment. Thanks for your comment.
Ruth, you’re wrong. I went out of my way tonight to find anyone else talking about my perception of a homosexual voice actor for The Home Depot. I was curious about who this voice actor is. To my surprise and dismay I saw that it was Josh Lucas. He’s straight, but clearly putting on a effeminate voice for some bizarre reason. I don’t know why he’s doing this. His normal voice isn’t like that and it’s very clearly for the voice work for Home Depot. It’s insulting to the gay community as that voice symbolizes gay men and is only spoken by gay men. Why put on a fake gay voice? In every single one of his movies and interviews he never uses an effeminate voice.
Yeah, we disagree. This is the way he sounds all the time. I really don’t understand why this is such a big deal for so many. Surprising.
Ugh he’s awful. Love JL as an actor. Super talented and underrated in my opinion. But he’s dreadful in these ads. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if the dude is gay (pretty sure he’s not), but this is some real amateur stuff. Sounds like a local small town business ad that used a precocious high school kid who was in the school play. I can’t believe the producers don’t redirect him. Must be some junior assistant who has a crush on him, and is afraid of ruffling his feathers.. because for the life of me, I can’t imagine that this is going over well with the senior executives at HD.
Is he even still doing this? It’s a pretty old post. Anyway, thanks for weighing in. I still really like his work on that campaign.
While you may think it’s not culturally appropriate currently, it still doesn’t make sense for a gay-sounding actor to do voiceovers for Home Depot. Logically, using a voice that represents ‘x’ percent of the population to appeal to the ‘100-x’ percent of the population makes no sense at all. You don’t have to like it, that’s just what it is.
He sounds like gay designer Michael Maloney, from Extreme Home Makeover.
Disagree.
I’m watching Palm Royale, new series on Apple+ (April 2024. I wasn’t familiar with Josh Lucas, but noted that the guy playing Kristen Wiig’s husband is SO gay. He can’t talk without whistling his S’s, prissiness his lips. Simply totally gay. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t been more famous as an actor…if your a man who sounds totally gay, can’t do a lot of roles, no matter how good-looking. When young he was SO attractive, should have gotten famous. But his prissy way of talking totally collides with manly good looks.
I don’t think he’s struggling for work, actually. And, based on what I know of his background, if he were, I don’t think he’d care.
Totally agree. Just from listening to his voice, I’d immediately assume he’s gay. I much preferred Ed Harris in these commercials, better voice, bigger name, and better actor.
I agree with Curt, I thought they were using the voice of the gay designer on Extreme Home Makeover, Michael Maloney. Maybe that is who the announcer is trying to sound like.
Disagree.
I agree with Curt from Sep 5, 2019… I can’t stand Josh Lucas’ voice in the HD commercials. He definitely puts on an effeminate manner of speech, which is odd, because he doesn’t normally talk like that.
For a while I wondered why HD went with an obviously gay announcer (since it’s a right-wing, anti-worker, anti-union company), until I found out he isn’t actually gay. He’s just playing gay.
As soon as a HD commercial begins, the channel gets changed, be it radio or TV. I dislike their commercials (and their anti-American agenda) so much, I go to Lowe’s before I even think about going to HD.
Yeah, I just don’t hear that. Not even a little. In any case, isn’t Lowes a non-union shop? P.S. I’m all for unions (card-carrying member, in fact) and think their decline is a significant reason we are in our current economic straits.
Who is the voice over actor who does the radio spots?
I cannot find his name anywhere.
Josh Lucas is a big actor and another big voice for home depot was Ed Harris.
No it’s not. They definitely gave gum a gay lisp. I can’t stand ir either!
Disagree.