Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we look at candy bar advertising. Millions are spent marketing candy bars every year. We’ll talk about how the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was owned by a candy company. And we’ll reveal whether it really was Phil Collins inside that gorilla costume in that famous Cadbury Dairy Milk...

We are very excited to welcome Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe to the Apostrophe Podcast Network. Each episode will feature two Dave and Morley stories as told by Stuart McLean.  And for the first time ever, his longtime producer, Jess Milton, will tell you the backstories behind those stories. I have a story, too. The first time I met Stuart. Enjoy.  We know you want to listen to...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. To kick off our 2023 season, we look at how the Queen’s death affects the marketing world. Over 600 companies had been granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Elizabeth, giving them prestige and enviable marketing power. But with the monarch’s death – all Royal Warrants become null and void. It’s now up to King Cha...

Happy New Year. We have a fun 2023 season planned for you. Here's a sneak peek at what's in store... We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we feature our annual look at Five Remarkable Brands: A certain scientist who is such a powerful brand that he has displaced other great thinkers, a company that makes our world a little more colourful, a comic book that has enthralled teenagers for over 70 years, a honey of a product that was born in the back of a pick-up truck, and the most Emmy-nominated TV show in broadcast history....

This week, we look at the Great Women of Advertising. The Hall Of Famers who broke the rules, kicked open the doors and created some of the most famous advertising of our times. We’ll meet the first advertising woman ever, the woman who created the first images of wives as Happy Homemakers, the woman who revolutionized the retail business, the female creative director who inspired the “I Love New...

This week, it's Part Two of "Marketing Rock and Roll." As the 1980s unfold, technology changes rock and roll marketing forever, with the arrival of MTV. The launch of MTV is one of the great marketing stories of all time, and it almost went under before it began – but was saved by Mick Jagger and a one dollar bill. We’ll analyze how MTV changed the music business, and how Michael Jackson’s video&n...

This episode looks at the concept of “Risk.” We tell the stories of the marketers who took the biggest risks, and reaped the greatest rewards – including how one of the best loved movies of all time only survived because the producer risked his career on it, a board game that dared break the conventions of the category, a watch company that risked all and saved the Swiss watch making industry in t...

This episode is about how the advertising industry covets the 18 to 49 year-old consumer. Almost all advertising is aimed at that demographic, because the conventional wisdom is they have the most disposable income and are most willing to try new brands. But the big surprise is people 55+ are the ones with the most disposable income and spend the most in almost all categories - yet the advertising...

One our favourite episodes from our sister podcast,  We Regret To Inform You: The Rejection Podcast  is the inspiring story of Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and how he overcame unbelievable rejection. It’s hard to imagine that he was rejected over 1,000 times (!) and still continued to persevere. This week, we wanted to bring you this bonus epi...

This week, we talk to baby boomers and take a look at the commercials they grew up with. From the toy and game commercials that inspired your lists to Santa, to the soft drink ads you can still sing along to 40 years later, to the ad for your first underarm deodorant, to the commercial for your first perfume, to the ads aimed at Mom but still got burned into your memory bank. So put on your pajama...

In part one of a two-part series, we’ll trace the marketing of rock all the way back to its origins with Elvis Presley and his wily manager Colonel Tom Parker. We’ll tell the story of how the Beatles lost millions by  not  following Elvis’s blueprint, and how the Rolling Stones borrowed a page right out of the books of Madison Avenue to compete against the Fab Four. Plus, what show on ma...

This week, Age of Persuasion Goes To The Movies. Just in time for the Oscars, we look at great movie marketing, and talk about the landmark movies that completely altered the way Hollywood sells its films (Yes, one of them involves a shark, but the movie that made the shark possible has a little karate in it). We’ll also feature some of the most inventive movie ads ever done, and trace the hi...

In this episode, we look at the  Marketing Pioneers  who created products that created industries. We talk about the first company to link diamond rings to engagements, how alcohol inspired the very first travel agent, how a brainstorm while ice-fishing ignited a $97 billion dollar industry, how a traveling salesman and his date led to the first car rental, and how an embarrassing moment...

The advertising industry has a long history of using real people in advertising. It may be a testimonial, a hidden camera, a man-on-the-street interview, a prank phone call or a blind taste test. The results are often hilarious and memorable.  We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co...

This week, Terry O'Reilly looks at the ever-changing world of Green Marketing. He'll look back at how the green movement started, how it's evolved, how marketers navigate the shoals of green marketing today - and what it all means to everyday consumers. One thing for sure... it's not easy being green. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t , ...

Luxury Marketing is a category that is completely different from traditional brand marketing – because it is in the business of selling fantasy. We’ll look at the top 10 most powerful luxury brands in the world and we’ll delve deep into our collective psyches to examine why we all desire expensive products in our lives -and what that really says about our inner selves. We know you want to listen t...

We're re-releasing all the episodes from the last season of Age of Persuasion in 2011. All episodes have been remastered to fit our Under The Influence format. Episodes drop every two weeks from now until November. Enjoy. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

This week, it’s our annual Ask Terry episode – where I answer listener questions. This year, someone wants to know which advertising category does the worst advertising, which celebrities were the most fun to work with and why the roads in car commercials are always so darn wet. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you&n...

This week, we look at some of the biggest arch rivalries in the marketing business. We’ll tell a story about how Burger King figured out a way to offer Whoppers at McDonald’s, how Wendy’s threw a mixtape at their rivals and how the CEO of a pizza company set fire to a cease & desist letter. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscr...

This week it’s our annual Bookmarks episode – where we tell the great stories that didn’t fit into our  regular  episodes. Including a story about Frankenstein, one about the waffle iron that inspired Nike and a very funny story about a presidential campaign billboard that mistakenly featured the wrong candidate. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance y...

This week, I tell the stories of four of my favourite brands. One holds the record for the most Oscar wins, one was a kid’s animated show produced by a church, another became one of the best-selling toys of all time and one found a way to cut through late-night TV. And all lasted for decades. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscrib...

This week, the topic is rule breakers. It takes a courageous advertiser to flout the rules. The results can either be a goldmine or a landmine. We’ll talk about a burger chain that dared show moldy food in its advertising and a rule-breaking stunt involving the NRA that you won’t soon forget. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscrib...

This week, we look at boring products. There is a truism in the marketing world - boring sells. And in some of the biggest categories, boring products are the runaway best-sellers. Why do we overwhelmingly choose white cars, gray wall paint and beige carpets? And what does that say about us? We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe...

In case you missed it, the team behind Under The Influence started a podcast network. We wanted to bring you a bonus episode this week from one of our other podcasts titled, "We Regret To Inform You: The Rejection Podcast. " This episode is about how the Rubik's Cube faced endless rejection as a toy - before finally finding success. Now over 450 million Rubik's Cubes have been sold. It's a story f...