Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly

This time, we explore the little known and surprising world of Industrial Musicals. In an unexpected collision of Madison Avenue and Broadway, companies in the '50s began staging full-fledged musicals in an effort to inspire their employees, parade new product lines and boost morale. We'll look at one company that tripled the production costs of My Fair Lady to inspire its sales team, another that unknowingly funded one of the most iconic novels of our time, and the handful of companies that still practice the art of Industrial Musicals today. Nothing inspires a marketing department quite like choreographed tap dancing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The research team at Under The Influence does a lot of reading over the year, and finds a lot of great stories - many of which don’t fit into our regular episodes. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be told! This week, we’ll tell the story of how Stephen King’s wife fished a story out of the wastepaper basket that changed their lives, how Engelbert Humperdinck’s manager tricked his record company into signing him, how Rocket Richard taught an enforcer a lesson, and we’ll tell an emotional story about one of the most memorable scenes from M*A*S*H. Then, we’ll extract the marketing lessons from each of those incredible tales. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, we explore the world of loyalty programs. In this day and age, marketers do everything possible to encourage loyal customers, and loyalty programs are one of the most effective ways to retain them. We’ll go back in time to see how the first loyalty programs started, and we’ll analyze the marketing strategies behind today’s programs to see how they really work. Loyalty cards may give shoppers points, miles and merchandise, but what they give marketers is fascinating. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we take a trip to five different countries to listen to some astonishing radio advertising. From a theatre company in Switzerland that sponsored the traffic in a whole new way, to a radio campaign that tried to bore you to sleep, to an amazing radio ad that asks you to donate your voice to help other people - all of these amazing campaigns are turning radio on its ear. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s part two of our Strange Bedfellows episode. It’s not just smaller brands that are beginning to advertise on porn sites, Hollywood has come knocking, too. Large audiences and cheap ad rates are making advertisers ignore the risk in the hunt for reward. At the same time, porn sites are starting to advertise in mainstream media, and are trying to entice advertisers with analytics, public service messages and even college scholarships. It’s an interesting crossroad and a very dangerous intersection. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this show, we explore the increasingly blurry line between advertising and porn. There has always been a line advertisers wouldn’t cross to promote their wares - but now some marketers have tiptoed over that line to advertise on porn sites. From food companies to fashion brands to Hollywood movies, marketers have breached the final frontier in their search for bigger, more affordable audiences. And on the other side of the tracks, porn sites are beginning to advertise in mainstream media. It’s a big risk for these strange bedfellows. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is our annual episode where Terry tells some interesting stories about the brands he admires. This year, it includes the very first toy ever advertised on television in 1952, a teen magazine dedicated to heartthrobs, the only trailer people can name-check on highways, and a book that can be found in every hotel room.Each of these brands has a special reason why it has survived and thrived. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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