Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly

This week, we look at how books are advertised and marketed. Over 2.2 million new books are published every year - so how do books get noticed? One bookstore uses movies to sell books, another gets prison inmates to write book reviews and one grocery store breaks all the rules by putting books in the vegetable section. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you&n...

This week, we look at the history of animated commercials. One of the very first hit the air in 1941 - for “crinkle-proof ties.” Next came Reddy Kilowatt, to quell the public’s fear of electricity in the home. Then Esso’s Put a Tiger in Your Tank tangled with Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger - and that’s when the fur started to fly. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance...

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 lines and sometimes even a James Bond campaign can go up in flames. We know you want to list...

This week on Under The Influence, we tell the surprising origin stories of some famous products and brands. Because sometimes, backstories have backstories. We’ll tell a surprising tale about Coca Cola and the Civil War. We’ll delve into the bootlegger background of NASCAR. And we’ll tell the story of how the Lamborghini supercar began with a tractor… and an insult. We know you want to l...

This week, we look at cities and towns that are actually named after companies. We’ll talk about one town named after a shoe company, one named for a chocolate bar and another town that’s even named after a dish soap.  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 i...

To celebrate Canada Reads on CBC this week, here is the first chapter of Terry's latest book, "My Best Mistake". 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 information.

This week, we look at the most outrageous Hollywood Publicity Stunts. The crazier the stunt, the better. From sneaking a full-grown lion into a hotel room, to convincing women to throw panties at Tom Jones to spending $8 million dollars on a single stunt for a movie - wild publicity stunts were catnip to the press. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you ...

This week, it’s Part Two of our “Don’t Do It Advertising” episode. Last week we looked at ads that asked you NOT to do something. This week, it’s ads that ask you NOT to do something, but really want you to DO something. It’s reverse-psychology at work. 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 aca...

This week, we look at a category of advertising that doesn’t try to sell you something. As a matter of fact, tries to get you to STOP doing something. Like littering. And smoking. And drinking & driving. And spilling secrets. 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...

This week, we look at the reasons why successful companies suddenly change their names. Sometimes those name changes are for legal reasons, sometimes it’s because the old name has too much negative baggage, sometimes it’s to boost a stock price and sometimes a name changes because of a tornado. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscr...

This week, we look at powerful hospital marketing. Hospitals need marketing to generate much-needed donations. We’ll look at how one hospital uses celebrities, how another uses riveting patient stories and how one hospital threw away the rulebook and created advertising that looks like Nike commercials. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,&nbs...

In this episode, we dive into the Super Bowl. The broadcast not only attracts the biggest viewing audience of the year, it is one of the biggest marketing machines. It affects beer companies and supermarkets and even record sales of the halftime performers. And we’ll also revisit some of the most outrageous Super Bowl moments. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chan...

This week, we tell the story of one of the most colourful characters in the history of Canadian advertising - Jerry Goodis. He founded a legendary advertising agency and created some of Canada’s longest-running ad campaigns. And while doing that, he attacked the ad industry for producing terrible ads. He was loved and hated but couldn’t be ignored. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this...

This week, we explore how dating agencies Sell Love. We’ll talk about the very first dating service in history, we’ll explore one app that is more about lust than love and we’ll talk about how heartthrob Reynolds created one of the best dating commercials of the last 10 years. 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 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 listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free...

In this episode, we talk about the most  unexpected  ads of 2021. Quite a few commercials made eyebrows rise last year. From a fast-food restaurant that created outrage on International Women’s Day, to a Christmas ad that generated the most complaints of the year, to a Super Bowl commercial that was nearly derailed by a DUI charge. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show....

We’re back with our new season and the first episode is all about Bottle Cap Marketing. A bottle cap is a tiny thing but offers big opportunities. We’ll talk about how Coke figured out a way to help sophomores make friends, why a beer let other brands advertise on its bottle tops and how Pepsi staged a bottle cap promotion and almost made a $32 billion snafu. We know you want to listen to all the...

We’ve got a fun 2022 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.

It's our annual Ask Terry episode where we answer listener questions. We’ll delve into why creative advertising agencies have such boring names, to what has changed most - and least - since the Mad Men Era to why the wrong people are put into marketing departments so often. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free here. Hos...

This week, we talk about fake Hollywood brands. Whenever directors need a prop and there is no paid product placement, they have to use fake products. From Morley Cigarettes to Heisler beer to that wily ACME Corporation, these pretend brands have been around for decades. 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...

This week, we explore cemetery tourism. Before the pandemic stopped travel in its tracks, graveyards were becoming tourist hotspots. Millions of people are choosing vacation spots based on the final resting places of famous people. And cemeteries are using marketing to attract those tourists. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscrib...

This week, we head to Broadway. Every Broadway show is mounted with incredible risk and very few shows earn back their investments. But there are huge hits and the marketing behind these shows is often bold and outrageous. And sometimes, the marketing is just plain fun. 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...

This week, we trace the history of trading cards. For over 150 years, companies have used trading cards to entice customers to buy their products. From cigarette cards to bubble gum cards for Batman, sports teams and even the Gulf War, trading cards are big business. 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...

This week, it’s our annual Bookmarks episode - where we tell you the fascinating stories that didn’t fit into our regular episodes. Including a little-known backstory on the 1972 Canada/Russia hockey series and a moving story about a hockey game that was cut short by tragedy. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you  don’t ,  subscribe ad-free here. H...

This week, we profile the remarkable career of, arguably, the most successful women in advertising - Mary Wells. She was a woman of firsts - the first woman to found and run a major advertising agency, the first female CEO to take a company public and the first women to intimidate the boys club of Madison Avenue.  We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you&n...