Shoppers at Lidl stores across Scotland are set to be greeted by a new, distinctly local voice at the self-service tills, courtesy of Oban resident Alan Macdonald.
From 1 October, his “friendly” Oban accent will guide customers through their transactions in all Scottish branches.
Mr Macdonald, 46, emerged victorious from a competition fronted by Hollywood star Alan Cumming.
The contest attracted 5,000 voice samples via WhatsApp, with more than 20,000 public votes cast to choose the winner.
His journey to this role began after losing his eyesight in 2009 due to complications.
This led him to study sound engineering at the University of the Highlands and Islands, before going on to work with Oban FM.
Mr Macdonald said hearing his own voice coming from Lidl’s checkouts will be an “out of body experience”, adding: “I’m very proud to do it, very happy to do it, but it’ll be odd times 10.”
There is a branch of the German supermarket chain a few hundred feet from his home in the Argyll and Bute town.
He said: “I love doing wee recordings like this.
“I’ve done things like this in the past for my local radio station, Oban FM, which sadly is no longer on the go.”
Lidl was looking for a “bright and upbeat” voice, with Mr Macdonald recently completing his recordings at a studio near Glasgow.
He said: “They were looking for a predominantly Scottish accent obviously, but upbeat and friendly is the best way to do it.
“We’ve always been told the Oban accent is along those lines.
“You can hear a smile through the microphone, that’s something I learned on the radio.
“So I took that into account.”
The former radio presenter said it is important to have an authentic Scottish voice rather than an “generic” AI-generated voice.
He will use a “friendly, not authoritative” tone when informing shoppers items have not been scanned properly – avoiding sounding “bossy”.
Mr Cumming described Mr Macdonald’s audition as “firm, but sort of cheeky at the same time”.
Lidl has invested £3 million to install self-checkouts across all of its Scottish stores by November this year.
Marco Ivone, director of Lidl GB in Scotland, said: “We are incredibly thankful for the amazing response to our campaign from communities across the country.
“From the thousands of entrants who brought forward a variety of voices and personalities, to the 20,000 who cast their votes to help select our winner, this has been a brilliant celebration of the diversity, creativity, and spirit of the people we proudly serve.”
