Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly

We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free here. This week, we look at how Madison Avenue invented… the housewife. Over 100 years ago, the advertising industry realized they had thousands of household products to sell. All they needed was a customer. So they invented the Happy Homemaker, and for the&n...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. It’s our final episode of the season already. And as always, we throw the show open to our listeners. And answer your questions. We’ll explore why jingles have disappeared, how old jingles are being used to help Alzheimer’s patients, we’ll talk about Eddie Shack and his Pop Shoppe commercials, why the bigges...

 So many things in our world are influenced by marketing.   This week, we look at various aspects of our lives influenced by marketing. – but you wouldn’t know it.   It’s marketing hiding in plain sight.   Like the concept of jaywalking – born of marketing.   How marketing created the 10,000-steps-a-day health goal.   And how marketing was the inspiration for one of t...

This week it’s our annual Bookmarks episode. I read a lot of books to research Under The Influence.  But every season, there isn’t enough room to include all the great stories I find. So this episode is dedicated to those stories that didn’t fit into our  regular  episodes. But are so good, they are worth telling. We’ll tell an amazing story about the book Goodnight Moon. We’ll tell...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here.  20th century movies and TV shows were dominated by the traditional “hero.”  With high morals and an ethical code of honour.  The 21st century has a different take.  Today, we cheer the antihero. Like the Sopranos, Dexter and Breaking Bad.  Antiheroes are liberated from tha...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. For over 100 years, “free” has been one of the most powerful words in the marketing world. And believe it or not, companies love freebies as much as their customers do. Because giving away free products generates a lot of goodwill. And goodwill generates free press. We’ll talk about a ketchup company who gav...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. Marketing contests can be tricky business. On one hand, contests can be designed to help companies achieve certain business goals. On the other hand, companies can lose control over them pretty quickly. This week, we look at some of the most interesting – and hilarious – marketing contests. Including one abo...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. Jesse Brown, founder of Canadaland Podcast Network, and Terry O'Reilly have a fun conversation about the business of podcasting, the line between journalism and advertising and how Terry had to get used to being touched by strangers. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance y...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. Billboards are one of the biggest creative challenges in the marketing world. They need to be seven words or less. They need to contain an idea. And they need to communicate quickly as people speed by.   This week on Under The Influence, we look at the most creative billboards from around the world. We’...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we take a look at four brands that have found a way to survive for decades. One company has been entertaining crowds with wax for 200 years. One restaurant has been topping their ice cream cones with a unique swirl for over 80 years. Another company teamed up with a certain debonaire spy 60 years...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. You’ve probably seen those Red Bull Mini Coopers driving around town with the giant Red Bull can on their roofs. This week on Under The Influence, we look at the wild and wacky world of marketing mobiles. They’ve actually been around for over 100 years. We’ll crack open the story behind the Planters Peanut N...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. There are some very interesting loopholes in the world of marketing. Because businesses are always looking for an upper hand in a competitive category, loopholes can offer legal advantages. A loophole can help a company overcome barriers in the marketplace.  Sometimes, the way a product is marketed can...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. Even though brand names are often protected by trademarks and copyrights, it’s remarkable how many times companies end up with the same names. And they either get along – or they sue each other into oblivion. This week, we look at “Brand Twins.” We’ll talk about when Guns N’ Roses sued Guns and Rosé. We’ll e...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we look at the ways libraries market themselves. If you think libraries are quiet, you’ve got another thing coming. We’ll talk about a library video series that played like a TV cop show - and - we’ll look at library wars - when libraries battle each other on social media. We know you want to list...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. “What player has won the most Wimbledon singles titles,” Google will tell you it’s Roger Federer with 8 wins. But that’s incorrect. Martina Navratilova has 9. This week, we look at remarkable ideas that promote gender equality. Including an idea called Correct the Internet.com. And one that challenged m...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we talk about hotel marketing.  Specifically, how some hotels attract guests by advertising specific  rooms . Some of those rooms are decorated like TV shows, some are inspired by movies, and some hotels advertise the fact something famous – or infamous – happened in their rooms. We know...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. Today we’re sharing an episode of Marketing Against The Grain — a show that leads you down the rabbit hole of marketing trends, growth tactics, and innovation. In this episode, co-hosts Kipp Bodnar (CMO of HubSpot) and Kieran Flanagan (CMO of Zapier), dive into a leaked memo from Yahoo that explains why big...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we’re talking about the creative ways Hollywood markets films. We’ll talk about how a low-budget horror movie got a ton of press just by asking people to smile. And we’ll examine the marketing of Top Gun: Maverick – the Tom Cruise sequel that Steven Spielberg says single-handedly saved the theatri...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week we look at horror in advertising. We’ll talk about why the Red Cross produced a horror commercial for blood donations. How Nike had a horror commercial yanked off the air. And a water company that actually cast its product as the villain in a 45-minute horror film. We know you want to listen to all...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. In this episode, we talk about one of the legends of the advertising business – George Lois. Out-spoken and fearless, he launched Xerox, helped elect Robert F. Kennedy, designed famous Esquire magazine covers and even once climbed out onto a window ledge to convince a client to buy an idea.  We know you...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, I ask my advertising colleagues for their most outrageous ad stories. The advertising business is a big money, high stress industry. And so much can go sideways. Sometimes film shoots go horribly wrong, sometimes clients make the most ridiculous demands, sometimes celebrities refuse to say their l...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. With multiple ways to skip commercials at our fingertips, advertisers have found a new way to reach the public. They’re jumping out of commercial breaks and into the storylines of television shows. This week, we look at a list of popular TV shows that aren’t just entertainment. They’re big marketing vehicles...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we take a look at the most creative “help wanted” ads in the world. We’ll talk about how IKEA recruited new workers without needing to buy an ad. How VW found new mechanics by posting ads in the most unusual place. And the amazing ways the intelligence community recruits spies and code breakers. W...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we take a look at church signs. With congregations declining, churches are using their signs as marketing tools to attract new members. And they’re using humour to do it. We’ll look at the history of funny church signs, we’ll examine how effective they are, we’ll talk about some of the f...

If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. If you want to listen to this show about advertising  ad-free ,  subscribe here. This week, we look at companies that have spent decades advertising to only one gender - then suddenly decide to approach the opposite sex. L’Oreal is now marketing makeup to men. Scotch distillers are now targeting wo...