So, I was fiddling with the radio in the garage the other day, trying to find something decent, and bam! There it was. The Shane Co. commercial. You know the one. That distinctive voice, talking about diamonds, rubies, sapphires, being your “friend in the diamond business.” Felt like a blast from the past, even though I know they still run those ads pretty often in some places.
It got me thinking back. Seriously, that commercial used to be everywhere when I lived out west. Couldn’t turn on the radio for an hour without hearing it. It became like background noise, almost comforting in a weird way. Like the jingle for a local pizza place you’ve heard a million times.
My Own Little Project
Hearing it again sparked a memory. A few years back, I was helping a buddy with his small online shop. He sold handcrafted wood stuff, nothing fancy. We were brainstorming ways to get the word out, real low budget stuff. And I actually thought about those Shane Co. ads.
Not the diamonds part, obviously. But the style. The whole idea of just talking directly, telling a simple story, being repetitive. Sounding like a real person, not some slick announcer. We kicked around trying to record something similar for his website or maybe a local podcast spot.
- First, I tried writing a little script. Kept it simple, just talking about the wood, where it came from, the care he put into it.
- Then, I tried recording it myself using a basic mic I had. Man, that was harder than I thought. Sounded awful. Stiff. Not like that Shane Co. guy at all.
- We even tried getting my buddy, the actual craftsman, to record it. He hated it. Said he felt stupid talking into a microphone about his own work.
We spent maybe an afternoon messing with it. Listening back to my terrible recordings, laughing about how unnatural we sounded. It’s funny, you hear those Shane Co. ads, and they sound so straightforward, almost amateurish sometimes. But trying to capture that same simple, trustworthy vibe? Way harder than it sounds.
In the end, we just gave up on the audio ad idea. Stuck to taking better pictures for his online shop instead. It really made me appreciate how much goes into even a simple-sounding commercial like that. Making something sound genuine and stick in people’s heads isn’t easy. That Shane Co. guy, whatever you think of the ads, he definitely figured out a formula that worked.
