Sound Ad Vice

More fun in a recording studio.

For the second time in the last few months, I had the opportunity to record some radio commercials for Old Style beer. The gig came through a fellow improvisor who knew someone at the agency handling the campaign. Several pals auditioned and were selected to read for different two-person spots.

The ads are based on Old Style's "krausening" (pronounced CROI-zen-ning) process which, up until recently, I thought was just a clever marketing word. When I moved back to Chicago nearly ten years ago, our favorite hangout was a local dive bar whose outdoor signage said simply "Packaged Goods" beneath an Old Style logo. So when friends and I were making plans to meet there, we'd ask "Shall we go get fully Krausened?" in reference to the beer's slogan.

Well, it turns out krausening is a legitimate step in the beer brewing process. On the premesis that krausening beer improves it, the script for our radio ads apply the concept to other situations in life. So after a decade of goofing on the term, I found myself in a professional recording studio repeating take after take of lines like "So if I krausened this block party, I'd win the bag toss!" and "If I krausened this cooler, it would always be full of ice cold Old Style!".

I don't listen to the radio much, but I've been told by friends that my first two ads (titled "Pool Table" and "Local Porch") have been airing all over popular stations for several weeks. I included them in a YouTube video you can check out here. The new spots ("Softball" and "Block Party") should start popping up on the airwaves soon.

I hope this post krausened everyone's day.