Sound
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The Expo announcements
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VOICE OF EXPO 2020
Every visit to Expo 2020 Dubai began the same way: with a voice. Safia Al Shehi, an Emirati presenter and voiceover artist who had been recording since 2013, was chosen as the official voice of the world’s fair after taking part in an Expo marketing campaign in 2019. What followed was two years of preparation, and a voice library that had to carry a six month, 192 nation event without ever sounding like a machine.
THE CHALLENGE
Expo 2020 Dubai brought the world together for a landmark celebration of culture, innovation and possibility, watched by millions on site and around the globe. Giving an event of this magnitude a literal voice was the challenge: a sound and tone welcoming, human and unmistakably of the moment, carrying the optimism of Expo while speaking to every visitor as an individual. There was a second demand underneath it: clarity with character. The same voice had to carry information across a vast, busy site, turning everyday announcements into part of the experience rather than an interruption to it.
THE APPROACH
Casting was only the beginning. From 2019 Safia trained weekly with a vocal coach, hours at a time, shaping a delivery that had to work in two very different registers: a brighter, higher-set read that could carry across open ground and crowded plazas, and a calmer, closer read for films and campaign work. English is not her first language, and much of that preparation went into pronunciation and tone, so the same warmth survived in both languages.
The greeting itself became the anchor. “Hayyakum” is not the neutral welcome of airport signage. Safia describes it as “we embrace you with all our heart”, and everything else was tuned to sit beside it, so that wayfinding, timings and announcements read as hospitality rather than instruction.
THE RESULT
Expo 2020 Dubai ran for 182 days and recorded 24,102,967 visits from 192 nations. Every one of them was met by the same voice.
The work outlasted the event. Safia remains WithFeeling’s lead voice talent, and the Expo recordings set the standard we hold every brand voice project to: cast for warmth, train for consistency, and record for the room the words will actually be heard in.
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