More than 30 years of experience support the talent and trajectory of mario filiocommercial announcer who accompanied three generations of Mexicans in their daily lives, announcing the most popular products of the moment on radio and television, and playing iconic characters in the film industry.
At home, in the car, on the way to work or on the way to school, the communication and advertising expert accompanied the population and became a benchmark for commercial voice in Mexico, thanks to his collaboration with brands such as Coca-Cola, La Comercial Mexicana, Nestlé, Bimbo, Fabuloso, Gillette, Papalote Museo del Niño, General Motors, 7-Eleven, Chester Cheetos, Reino Aventura and many more.
“I started recording La Comer a long time ago, I recorded from the pelicano, but when I already took the brand as an institution, someone very involved in advertising told me: ‘that is not going to benefit Mario, he has too much exposure,’ and It not only benefited me, it was the best time of my career”, explains the professional.
And although it seems that in 20 years marketing has been drastically transformed, the reality is different. Of course, the channels changed, everything was digitized and the recording processes were limited, but talent remains vulnerable in the industry, where large companies sell prestige and “positioning” to new public figures, but with whom they do not commit. not even to pay them what is fair for hours of recording and effort.
“That has not changed much, we have always been unprotected. With commercial brands you sign as their voice and you agree not to work with the competition, but they do not commit to anything with you. You sign the exclusivity to them, sometimes you give them your royalties, and then, if they decide to change you, you find out until you see the same commercial on the air, but with a different voice”, says Mario Filio.
Added to this is the fact that there is no formal union or union in the country in which voice actors and announcers can secure their rights before the owners and managers of large campaigns, which gives power to the large companies to devalue the work they do.
“In Mexico it is very common that you start claiming your rights a little bit and then you disappear, they change you immediately. Training young people here in the workshops, there have been times when the producers spoke to me and told me: ‘send me some kids because we don’t have a budget,’ and what I tell them is: ‘I’m going to make you look bad, because the first thing I What we teach here is to charge well, what is owed’”.
“I myself have had to tell very important brands: ‘I can no longer continue with you, because you pay me less and less and want more,'” says the announcer.
However, immediacy has forced commercial broadcasters to diversify and adapt to new technologies and formats, since competition is greater and is spreading more and more with the birth of influencers on social networks, who may not have the preparation and expertise in voice, but with their number of followers they manage to monopolize the big contracts.
“The industry is not excluding them, it is forcing them to adapt and diversify. Brands are changing their voices as the trend changes and today the trend tells you that everything has to be more real… If before a voice was associated with a product and you said: ‘it’s the voice of…’, not anymore, now the same product can have 10 different voices for each channel or moment”.
However, although the change is good and encourages new talent, Mario Filio points out that creatives cannot ignore the need to hire true professionals, because in their attempt to “sound natural” and not use “associated voices”, they end up choosing young people with many followers who then have to be trained and invest more time and money in a studio with commercial announcers.
“Advertising caught that wave. If it becomes too produced, too perfect, it becomes fake and loses credibility. So they have gone because of the trend of: ‘we want an announcer who doesn’t sound like an announcer’, but it’s like talking to the pizzeria and saying: ‘can you bring me a pizza that doesn’t look like pizza’, it doesn’t make sense, ”he explains.
For this reason, his recommendation for the new generation of voices is to professionalize and diversify their style, without falling into the arrogance of believing that the maximum has already been reached. Learn new things at all times and change the chip of the known, because nothing will remain static and now with the arrival of the metataverse, with followers or not, they will be replaced in the industry if they do not become obsessive and follow the three key concepts of innovation : creativity, spontaneity and originality.