Brand Strategy & Advertising

In 1929, a PR man named Edward Bernays paid women to smoke cigarettes in public and called them "torches of freedom." A century later, the tobacco industry was still running the same play — and women were still paying the price. In this episode of Brand Strategy and Advertising , cultural historian and Coastal Carolina University Assistant Professor Bob Batchelor traces one of advertisin...

One tear changed everything. In 1971, a single image — a man in buckskin watching trash hit the roadside, one tear rolling down his face — became one of the most powerful moments in American advertising history. The "Crying Indian" wasn't selling anything. It was selling an idea. And it worked. But who was really behind it? The answer is more complicated than you think. In this episo...

The 1960s gave advertising artistry. The 1970s gave it strategy. This episode completes the story. In Part II, we examine a media landscape flooded with advertising messages, brands that all had personalities, and consumers growing harder to reach by the year. The answer was a concept that now sits at the center of every brand strategy conversation in the industry: positioning. THE 1970s PIVOT: WH...

Here’s a question worth considering: What is advertising actually for? If your answer is “to sell products,” you’re not wrong. But you’re also only about a quarter right. The other three-quarters -- the part that explains why certain brands feel like part of your identity, why slogans burrow into your memory and stay for decades, why a Super Bowl spot can hit you in the chest before you process wh...

When your favorite YouTube creator says "this video is brought to you by Squarespace" and spends 90 seconds weaving the brand into their content, they're executing a strategy Procter & Gamble invented in 1932. On the radio. To sell laundry detergent. The model hasn't changed in 90 years. The medium has. In this episode, Bob Batchelor traces how one of the most consequential a...

Advertising Through Crisis: Why Depression-Era Strategies Never Stopped Working What do the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 pandemic recession, and 2023 inflation have in common? They all triggered the exact same advertising playbook created during the Great Depression. The industry nearly collapsed. Agencies cut salaries, eliminated jobs, and watched clients disappear. But the best advertisers di...

Quick test: Close your eyes and picture the Michelin Man. You see him instantly, right? That puffy white tire character has been selling tires since 1898—that's 127 years. Mr. Peanut has been tipping his top hat since 1916. These cartoon characters have survived two world wars, the Great Depression, the invention of television, the internet revolution, and the TikTok era. Meanwhile, Burger Kin...

That Instagram ad you saw this morning? It's using persuasion tactics from 1895. The ad before your YouTube video? That emotional storytelling structure was perfected in the 1930s. In this inaugural episode of Brand Strategy & Advertising , cultural historian and author Bob Batchelor, PhD reveals why advertising doesn't really change—only the medium does—and why understanding 125 years...

Welcome to Brand Strategy & Advertising! This introductory episode walks you through everything you need to know about how the podcast—and the course it supports—will help you understand how brands really work. Here's the core concept: We're studying 125 years of advertising history to decode contemporary brand strategy. Each episode connects historical case studies—drawn from the thre...