Who is that cheerful singer in the Lidl advertising? Despite her striking role, she is not yet such a familiar face as her supermarket colleagues Frank Lammers from Jumbo, Jeroen van Koningsbrugge of Albert Heijn and Lidl colleague Boy Jansen from Budel. Yet she has an important agreement with all these actors: she is a purebred Brabantse. Her name? Marnel de Rooij from Rucphen.
“Funny now that you say so. I already felt the comparison with those men coming,” laughs Marnel (27). She has been shown for a few weeks in the national advertising campaign of the supermarket chain. In advertising she starts to sing spontaneously when she sees that she gets a discount. “Are you in that commercial now?”, Someone recently asked me at the gym. I am regularly recognized and I really only get nice reactions. “
The role of singing customer in the commercial is made for her. In daily life, Marnel is also a singer and actress but especially a musician. “That was pretty funny because I really just had to be myself. I sincerely have been doing my groceries at this store for years. So I didn’t have to walk on eggs.”
She continues: “Yet such a commercial is very different from the theater. It all has to be performed very precisely with the camera close to your face. Fortunately there was a very relaxed atmosphere on the set and we had a super nice team. You see that I have fun and that shines from it.
“I think we just have the good appearance of people from Brabant.”
Marnel was approached for the role by a casting agency. “I had to replay the advertisement and record it myself at home. I had never heard of the song ‘What a Feeling’ before. In the end they chose me from all the videos. I think we Brabanders just have the good appearance. They are a fan of us in the Randstad, otherwise I wouldn’t know it either.”
The Rucphense followed the conservatory in Rotterdam with a great preference for music theater. During her internship she already played in ‘Kruimeltje’ and ‘Titanic de Musical’. And recently she sparkled in the theater performance ‘Harmonie’ where she had the opportunity to play on her horn. The same instrument with which she rehearses every week with her first great love: Harmonie Nederland and Oranje in Rucphen.
“As soon as I am in Rucphen, the soft ‘g’ automatically returns.”
“Music was poured with a spoon. My parents, brother and uncle also play with the harmony. I play Hoorn and Accordion. I wanted to play the piano, but my parents were not allowed to play in the living room. My aunt is an accordionist and so I could easily teach her. Later when I was about fourteen, Marnel has been stuck in Rotterdam.
“But I can still just talk Brabants. As soon as I am in Rucphen, the soft ‘g’ comes back automatically. That also applies to carnival. Then I will go free four days with ‘De Blatbloazers’. We will perform with our mop orchestra every year in Breda, Tilburg, Etten-Leur and Prinsenbeek.”
Marnel now has her hands full of her role as princess in the hotel of Efteling. In addition, she is active as a drama teacher at a youth theater training and at a school community in Roosendaal.
“I also like to make things myself. For the 145th anniversary of our harmony association I have written a complete performance. I would like to do that more. At Muziektheater I find the combination of music and game a very nice form. No show of dance but more room for depth.”
“I got a nice pocket money that you normally have to work hard for.”
Marnel enjoys all the attention around the commercial. The fat gages that colleagues get Frank and Jeroen? They are not the case for her for the time being, but that is not awake. “I got a nice pocket money that you normally have to work hard for,” she says with a smile.
“But honestly? It’s not about the money for me. I just think it’s great that I can work on my visibility. Whether there is a sequel? No idea, but they can definitely call me!”
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