Share

Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
S4E16 - Brand Envy 2015
Season 4, Ep. 16
•
This week, it’s Terry's annual look at his favourite brands. They may not be the coolest brands, or the newest or the biggest - they are just fascinating studies in marketing. Terry looks at an armoured truck company that decided to transport money instead of packages, a business that started because of spilt milk, a board game created to protest capitalism, and a 51 year-old game show that still attracts over 25 millions viewers per week.
Each wildly successful, each still going today, and each one of them survived because of an unforeseen opportunity.
We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you don’t, subscribe ad-free here.
More episodes
View all episodes

42. From Bonanza to Batman: When Fictional Characters Endorse Brands
26:56||Season 15, Ep. 42In this encore episode, we explore a strange aspect of advertising.Specifically, when tv and movie characters endorse products. Not the actors, themselves - but the characters they portray.It's a trend that started in the early '60s with the Andy Griffith Show and Bonanza.Today, it includes characters like Breaking Bad's Walter White and even Phil Dunphy from Modern Family.Sometimes it's funny - and sometimes it bends the time/space continuum.
41. Orchestrating Elections: Political Campaign Songs
25:15||Season 15, Ep. 41In this episode from our archives, we take a look at one of the tools of political marketing – the campaign song.Politicians have used songs going all the way back to at least the 1700s.Sometimes the songs are written expressly for the political party or candidate.Sometimes, politicians co-opt pop songs.And sometimes, pop artists have a major problem with that.
40. Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz: How Companies Double Their Profits
27:52||Season 15, Ep. 40Every company dreams of doubling its profit.It’s almost impossible to do.Yet, some companies do it by tweaking one tiny thing.We’ll talk about an industry that put three words on their packaging that doubled their profit.A company that created a catchy jingle that doubled their revenue overnight.And a business that changed one single word in a headline and their profit went up 100%.A favourite from our archives.
39. Houston, We Have Pizza: Advertising in Outer Space
27:01||Season 15, Ep. 39In this episode, we shoot for the moon.Now that commercialized space travel has arrived, the world of marketing is setting its sights on the stars.We’ll talk about ads on rocket ships, ads on spacesuits, and television commercials filmed on the International Space Station.There are companies who want to employ hundreds of tiny satellites to create logos in the night sky.Some companies even want to put ads on the moon.And those ads might even be cheaper than Super Bowl commercials.From our 2024 Archives.
38. Die Another Day: Reviving Old Commercials
28:46||Season 15, Ep. 38From our archives, a favourite...Occasionally, an old advertising campaign is brought back from the dead.Even if it has been off the air for decades.In this episode, we’ll discuss a recurring Coke commercial that has been called the most popular ad of all time.A much-loved beer campaign that has been revived after 34 years.And a controversial commercial that was yanked off the air in 1989, but was re-run again recently.
37. Bookmarks
28:02||Season 15, Ep. 37Because Terry LOVES books, we do an annual Bookmarks episode. This one is from 2024.There’s never enough room to include all the great stories we find in our research books.So this episode is dedicated to all those stories that didn’t fit into our regular episodes. The theme is “bravery” - and we’ll talk about how a brave goaltender revolutionized hockey, how Larry David routinely ignored studio executives, and we’ll salute the bravery of Lucille Ball.
36. The Gong Show: Ads That Could Never (Ever) Run Today
26:59||Season 15, Ep. 36In this episode, we go back in advertising history and take a look at the ads and commercials that could never, ever, EVER run today.They are either so politically incorrect, so sexist, or so inappropriate, you won’t believe your ears.From doctors recommending cigarettes, to 7-Up advertising to babies, to everyone singing about the joys of DDT, it’s amazing to think they all ran back in the day. Ads that couldn’t run today.From our 2024 Archives.
35. How Jerry Goodis Made an Advertisement a Beautiful Thing
27:44||Season 15, Ep. 35Jerry Goodis was one of the most colourful characters in the history of Canadian advertising.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. Another favourite from our Archives.
34. Putting the Awe in Audio
26:56||Season 15, Ep. 34Taking a look at the most creative audio ideas from around the world. Including a podcast for runners that only works if you’re actually running, a police recruitment campaign that capitalized on the popularity of True Crime, and a very ambitious alternative audio track created to be played over Disney’s Pocahontas movie – that tells the truth behind the fairy tale.Another favourite from the Archives.