Ted Williams Gets a ‘Golden-Voiced’ Social Media Gig

The former panhandler with the perfect radio voice is getting work with Kraft.

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Doral Chenoweth III / Columbus Dispatch / AP

Ted Williams, the man with the "golden voice," appears on the Morning Zoo program at WNCI (97.9 FM) in Columbus, Ohio on January 5, 2011.

Don’t know who Ted Williams is? Oh yes, you do. In a dusty corner of the pop-culture side of your brain, you remember the bittersweet 2011 story of the viral video that propelled a homeless man, who was panhandling by a freeway offramp in Ohio, to a series of high-profile voice-over gigs for his incredible (the term was “golden”) voice. Then came the drug and alcohol relapse and his slide back to obscurity, documented on daytime television and tabloids.

Now, it looks like he’s back. He’s promoting a new memoir, showing off his home on TV and is doing some commercial work for Kraft. This Valentine’s Day, the company will debut a social-media campaign utilizing Williams and his endlessly listenable voice. Called the “Golden Voice of Love” campaign, Twitter users who want to have their messages personalized by Williams voice need only to add the hashtag #VoiceOfLove on tweets during February 12-14.

Gimmicky? Sure. But it’s probably pretty lucrative work. In any case, Williams was also commissioned to do some more traditional voice-over work for Kraft TV spots, Ad Age reported yesterday. He’ll be the voice for the company’s “You know you love it” campaign timed for Academy Awards weekend later this month.

MORE: Whatever Happened to Ted Williams, the Golden-Voiced Homeless Man?