"G'day it's a great day for it, stick with me and we'll be there before the first snag's off the barbie"
Is this the "voice of Australia", as GPS maker TomTom describes it, or the most cringe-worthy piece of cliched Australiana since Tourism Australia's "Where the bloody hell are ya" campaign?
Either way, GPS-aided drivers around the world can now ditch the droning American voice for that unmistakeable Australian twang, complete with Aussie slang.
James Gauci, a 23-year-old psychological science graduate from Queensland's Griffith University, beat more than a thousand hopefuls in TomTom's competition to find an Australian voice for its GPS units. Owners of most models can now get it for free from TomTom Home.
"Mate turn around when you can, and if those backseat drivers don't keep it down we'll ditch them at the next servo," is another of the lines you can expect. There's also "hang a left" and "chuck a u-ey".
Gauci, who won $10,000 after receiving the most votes in the TomTom competition, said it took him just two hours in the studio to record the voiceovers.
He is a keen singer who has toured parts of Asia in 2006 and 2008 as a backup singer for famous Elvis Presley impersonator Max Pellicano and won the competition with his entry "Designated Dave goes to the Gabba".
"There's a couple of gags in there to keep people interested and make sure people are awake when they're driving around in their cars," Gauci said in a phone interview.
"It was one of the quicker recordings that TomTom has done - apparently Billy Connolly did his in about three hours so I've sort of got the unofficial record now."
There are a whole range of other TomTom voices that GPS users can download, including Connolly, Yoda, Darth Vader, Homer Simpson, Snoop Dogg, Mr T, Billy Connolly and John Cleese.
Gauci isn't the first Australian voice to feature on a GPS - Karen Jacobsen has been a fixture on GPS units for several years and there is also an Australian "Ken" accent available, which is subtler than Gauci's version.
TomTom's marketing communications manager for Asia Pacific, Nick Saisanas, said TomTom set out to capture "that authentic Aussie accent" with its "Be The Voice of Australia" competition.
"We believe that the modern day Australian-isms James uses in his directions will make him stand out from previous Australian GPS voices," he said.
Gauci said he had already spent most of his $10,000 prize on paying off credit card debt and fixing his car, and would soon finish the rest by taking his girlfriend on a trip to Thailand.
"It was a nice little earner especially because I just graduated university at the end of last year so it's made this transitional period a lot easier," he said.
"I was planning on having a bit of a celebration party but when the [Queensland] floods happened I thought people could use it better so I donated a few hundred dollars ... they need it more than my friends need beer."
No comments:
Post a Comment