Stay ConnectedUnder the Influence gives listeners a rare backstage pass into the hallways, boardrooms and recording studios of the ad industry.Join host and adman Terry O’Reilly for fascinating (and humorous) stories that connect the dots between pop culture, marketing and human nature.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Copyright: © Apostrophe Podcast Network
In this show, we explore the world of business-to-business advertising. It used to be the most boring advertising in the world - where green copywriters cut their teeth, and washed-up copywriters ended their careers. But all that changed when B2B companies dared advertise on the Super Bowl, and showed the marketing world that advertising industrial equipment could be as sexy as advertising a sports car.
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 search for some of the world’s oldest brands. 80% of companies fold after 18 months, the ones that survive average a 50 year lifespan - then there are the ones that manage to last 100, 300 or sometimes even 600 years.
We’ll look at a retail store that began in 1670, a brewery that poured its first beer in 1366, and the oldest fast food joint that used root beer to attract drinkers during Prohibition.
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 how marketing companies bounce back from blunders and epic missteps. Yes, most apologize, but what happens after the apology?
We find out by telling the story of an airline that mistakenly offered business class tickets to Europe for $39, the cautionary tale of a company that made fun of a very serious Twitter hashtag and paid the price, the way a major candy bar company was forced to pull a global campaign off the air but came back even stronger, and the odd story of how a mattress company offended almost everybody with an ad, then apologized, then took the apology back.
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.
While there are many strange products in the world, there are even stranger service companies. This week, we talk about a company that rents wedding guests, a company you can hire to actually cuddle you, and we’ll explore a company that promises to cure your hangover in just a few hours.
And if you need an alibi to go with that hangover, there’s a company that markets lies, too.
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.
The most interesting cultural differences aren’t country to country, they are province to province, state to state, and even city to city. This week, we explore how and why people living in different locations buy such vastly different products. British Columbia likes to show off luxury cars, Toronto likes big homes, and New York likes luxury watches. The most pampered pets live in Saskatchewan.
Last year, the city that bought the most sex paraphernalia was Victoria, this year it’s a city out east. Join us to find out which one. Live & Let Buy: where you live dictates what you buy.
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 explore when a smaller advertiser attacks the weak spot in a bigger advertiser’s marketing. It’s a strategy of brinksmanship, because it means a smaller company not only chooses to attack a larger company, but it attacks the weakness in a bigger company’s strength. It takes surgical precision, but when done well, the smaller advertiser gains market share, while diminishing the bigger company’s reputation at the same time.
We’ll talk about how Avis aimed an arrow at Hertz, how Tylenol overtook the much larger Bayer Aspirin, how Scope used a slingshot to battle the Goliath in the mouthwash category, and the amusing story of how a potato chip company battled a competitor by finding the soft spot in its ingredient list.
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.
In this episode, we explore the marketing of movie merchandise. From the earliest days of merchandising book characters, to the true beginning of movie merchandising with the birth of Mickey Mouse and the Disney Studio, the marketing of toys and games became a critical strategy for movie and television studios.
We chart the milestones in entertainment merchandising, how those milestones became a marketing strategy to build loyal audiences, and how the biggest merchandising breakthrough in a galaxy far, far away changed everything.
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 explore words invented by marketers. Many of those words found their way into the dictionary and have become part of our daily language, like “Dependability” and “Halitosis.” While some other familiar words like Retsyn and Fahrvergnugen were around for a short time, then disappeared into the annals of commercial history. We’ll also get to the bottom of Corinthian Leather.
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 episode explores how small moves can result in huge business gains.
While much of the business world spends its time looking for the big idea, many companies enjoy massive results with tiny moves and subtle tweaks. We’ll look at how a hit movie that was turned down by every studio in town was finally sold thanks to a small change in the way it was pitched, how Obama used a small tactic to beat John McCain, and how broccoli made a small move to become popular during the infamous OJ Simpson trial.
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 consequences when marketing companies lie.
From the Volkswagen scandal, to a promotion that brought Hoover to its knees, to a company that promised super-charged sexual enhancement, each was a case of fraud with disastrous repercussions.
Join us as we explore what happened, and whether those companies could ever regain the trust of their customers.
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.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
