Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly

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“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 menstruation taboos with a program called “Touch the pickle.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 businesses fail. If you like what you hear, search for Marketing Against The Grain in your favorite podcast app. Like the one you’re using right now ;) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 theatrical industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 for companies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 funniest ones we’ve seen, and a few epic church sign fails. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 women. And lingerie companies are now designing intimates for men. It’s a brand new, gender-bending world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we look at candy bar advertising. Millions are spent marketing candy bars every year. We’ll talk about how the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was owned by a candy company. And we’ll reveal whether it really was Phil Collins inside that gorilla costume in that famous Cadbury Dairy Milk commercial. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are very excited to welcome Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe to the Apostrophe Podcast Network. Each episode will feature two Dave and Morley stories as told by Stuart McLean. And for the first time ever, his longtime producer, Jess Milton, will tell you the backstories behind those stories. I have a story, too. The first time I met Stuart. Enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To kick off our 2023 season, we look at how the Queen’s death affects the marketing world. Over 600 companies had been granted a Royal Warrant by Queen Elizabeth, giving them prestige and enviable marketing power. But with the monarch’s death – all Royal Warrants become null and void. It’s now up to King Charles to honour them – or not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy New Year. We have a fun 2023 season planned for you. Here's a sneak peek at what's in store... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we feature our annual look at Five Remarkable Brands: A certain scientist who is such a powerful brand that he has displaced other great thinkers, a company that makes our world a little more colourful, a comic book that has enthralled teenagers for over 70 years, a honey of a product that was born in the back of a pick-up truck, and the most Emmy-nominated TV show in broadcast history. Best of all, they’re not only remarkable brands, they’re remarkable stories as well. Hosted on...

This week, we look at the Great Women of Advertising. The Hall Of Famers who broke the rules, kicked open the doors and created some of the most famous advertising of our times. We’ll meet the first advertising woman ever, the woman who created the first images of wives as Happy Homemakers, the woman who revolutionized the retail business, the female creative director who inspired the “I Love New York” campaign, as well as some of the top ad women of today. Move over Mad Men, it’s time to...

This week, it's Part Two of "Marketing Rock and Roll." As the 1980s unfold, technology changes rock and roll marketing forever, with the arrival of MTV. The launch of MTV is one of the great marketing stories of all time, and it almost went under before it began – but was saved by Mick Jagger and a one dollar bill. We’ll analyze how MTV changed the music business, and how Michael Jackson’s video Thriller changed MTV. We’ll also talk about how the Internet revolutionized the marketing of...

This episode looks at the concept of “Risk.” We tell the stories of the marketers who took the biggest risks, and reaped the greatest rewards – including how one of the best loved movies of all time only survived because the producer risked his career on it, a board game that dared break the conventions of the category, a watch company that risked all and saved the Swiss watch making industry in the process, and a CEO who made a decision that was so unpopular even his board of directors bet...