Keep your accent

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently shared that he took elocution lessons for his now famous accent.

The surprising insight, though, was that he didn’t take these lessons for the purpose of losing his accent, but for the purpose of being understood. Arnie wisely knew that his accent – something others would undoubtedly see as a barrier to his acting career – was actually something that made him memorable and set him apart.

Today, it only takes one person to throw out lines like “Get to da cha-pa”, “Is naht a too-mah” and “Daaaaooown!” – and everyone knows who we’re talking about (& so starts a cascade of other Arnie one-liners)!

Brand Arnie continually racks up ever more free impressions precisely because of his accent.

Today, its common for Brands to take such ‘elocution lessons’ that they have lost their ‘accent’ – the very thing that made them unique and stand out in the first place.

Sure, don’t give us sloppy work, but don’t professionalise so much that you look and sound exactly the same as everyone else.

Make sure we understand you, but keep your accent.

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