What is it like to cast a voice actor for Albert Heijn? It’s the biggest supermarket in the Netherlands, famous for its significant blue logo, and the exceptional discounts, the “Bonus”. For a voice actor, this is the holy grail, as it is a beautiful brand and guaranteed to be a lot of work. Honoured to be asked to make a voice casting for this, this also proved to be quite the challenge. Not only should the ideal candidate be available on a regular basis with weekly sessions, but he should also be free of other voice over work, as Albert Heijn requested an exclusive voice, especially designed to work for this great account.
Casting a voice actor – shortlist
After several rounds with general demo’s, we received a shortlist. The shortlist was asked to record in our high-end studio, working together with one of our senior sound designers, looking for the perfect tone of voice for Albert Heijn. Who matches best, who can bring most life to the specifics needs for such an account as Albert Heijn?
The shortlist was finally brought back to two candidates, where finally the ‘white smoke from Zaandam’ (home of AH Headquarters) was there. They have chosen their voice actor.
Robbert van den Bergh is the proud voice actor for Albert Heijn, since September 2019.
His raspy and smoky voice is very distinctive, standing out during the commercial break.
Also, with a slight Rotterdam accent, very approachable and friendly. A crowd pleaser.
The whole voice casting process for Albert Heijn took over 3 months, with several rounds of selection and sessions in the studio, with the creative team from advertising agency TBWA\Neboko present, to see how much variety can be achieved with various voice actors. Who is the best match?
This voice casting process is once-in-a-lifetime. Generally, we don’t have as much time to look for a new voice-actor. Deadlines are pending and mostly, voice actors are the last piece of the puzzle, the cherry on top. Therefore, most of the time we get a voice over briefing very last minute.
It was a breath of fresh air to have been given the time to accomplish this and deliver the ideal candidate.
Be sure to check out our voice casting page for more.