In this interview, Max talks about his favourite Beatle albums, Ringo’s profound influence on rock drummers, and what happened onstage at a Springsteen concert the night Lennon was murdered.

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Tom Halley was one of the brilliant animators on Yellow Submarine. The film is considered one of the most inventive animated films of all time. In this interview with the late animator, he tells us how he came to be involved, how they all managed to create this classic film in just 11 months. And much to our surprise, Tom tells us he was also an animator on the Beatles cartoon series.

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This week, 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Occasionally, an old advertising campaign is brought back from the dead.

Even if it has been off the air for decades.

This week, 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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This week, we explore the use of nostalgia in advertising. For decades, advertisers have tapped collective memories in commercials, hoping those warm feelings wash over their products. From resurrecting Wayne’s World for Uber Eats commercials to Macaulay Culkin revisiting Home Alone for Google, nostalgia is a powerful marketing tool.

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This week, we tell crazy stories from the world of advertising. High pressure, big money and impossible deadlines makes for some hilarious situations. Including a TV shoot where a hot air balloon towing a new car goes missing in the wind and a cat food company who insists the ad agency eat the cat food before they create the ads. 

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This week, we dive into the world of Fan Clubs. They are huge marketing tools for celebrities. We’ll track some of the earliest fan clubs, then compare them to the fan clubs in the digital era. We’ll also explore the big shift in power that swung from celebrities over to their fans.

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This week it’s our annual Bookmarks episode.

We read a lot of books to research Under The Influence. 

But there’s never enough room to include all the great stories we find.

So this episode is dedicated to those great stories that didn’t fit into our regular episodes. 

This year, our theme is bravery.

We’ll tell an amusing story about how Danny DeVito made a bold decision when he was auditioning for the sitcom Taxi.

We’ll salute Lucille Ball’s bravery.

And we’ll talk about how Jacques Plante revolutionized goaltending by being brave enough to defy his coach.

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This week, we talk about companies and products that turn 50 years old this year. Back in 1971, some of the best-selling products were created that are still best-sellers today. There were also a number of famous advertising campaigns launched that year.

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This week, we look at televised award shows and how they are very effective marketing for movies, Broadway plays and recording artists. We’ll explore whether Oscar nominations sell more tickets than Oscar wins, how Grammys can make a career and how the Tony awards can rescue a play overnight.

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This week, we listen to the most creative radio advertising from around the world. It’s the toughest medium to write for - but it’s also the most creatively freeing. We’ll hear commercials for a hair removal product, a fast-food series created for these confusing times and a student audio idea that attracted Taylor Swift.

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This week, we explore famous products named after their inventors. Some products are so cemented in our minds we forget those names once belonged to people. Shrapnel was invented by Henry Shrapnel, nachos were invented by Nachos Anaya and the leotard was invented by a Jules Leotard.

We’ll even look at some inventors who wish their names had been forgotten…

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This week, it’s our annual Brand Envy episode. This season, we look at four unique companies. One completely changed a sport forever. One became the best-selling toy of all time. Another has influenced the music business since 1894. And one had a heavenly idea. 

All achieved something that had never been done before.

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This week, we look at famous animals in advertising. The ad industry has a long history of using animals in commercials. From Spuds MacKenzie the original party animal to the majestic Budweiser Clydesdales to Morris the finicky cat, they all have fascinating stories to tell.

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This week, we look at one of the oldest advertising mediums - skywriting. From its beginning back in the early 1920s, skywriting was once the most sensational advertising medium in the country. We’ll look at the most famous skywriting campaigns, the most recent billboards in the sky and some of the most amusing spelling errors.

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This week, we explore how the pandemic is affecting the world of marketing. Some products are tanking while others are setting sales records. We’ll tell the story of how one airline has started selling airplane food in grocery stores. And why lipstick sales have tanked but plastic surgery is booming. Who wins and who loses is very surprising.

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This week, we explore superheroes in advertising. Superman was the archetype of the modern superhero and he was the archetype for how superheroes were used in ads. From Supe promoting Kellogg’s commercials in the 1950s to Batman hawking savings bonds to Batgirl advocating equal pay for equal work, stoic superheroes became the ultimate spokes-characters.

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This week, we look at the most famous movie posters of all time. The movie poster is the beginning of the story - often the first piece of marketing created for a new film. We’ll look at how posters are designed and we’ll analyze how the best posters of all time influenced ticket buyers.

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This week, we learn about famous female brand icons. In a marketing world full of Mr. Cleans, Ronald McDonalds and Mr. Whipples, there are female brand characters that were just as successful - and some even lasted longer. Join us as we draw a direct line from Josephine the Plumber and Madge the Manicurist to Flo from Progressive.

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This week, we explore what happens when an established spokesperson switches brands. We’ll tell the story of how the Verizon “Can you hear me now?” guy ended up pitching Sprint, how “The Most Interesting Man in the World” went from Dos Equis to tequila and how a spokesperson for a hamburger chain got fired when she pitched spaghetti sauce.

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This week, we explore how this new era of racial reckoning is affecting the world of marketing. Several of the leading brands have their roots in racial stereotypes, like Aunt Jemima - which took its imagery from the slave era. Some brands, like Eskimo Pies, have announced they are now re-naming their products and acknowledging their old names were offensive to indigenous people. We’ll also look at sports teams and their long history of controversy with team names.

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Well, this week it’s our annual show where we answer listener questions. Like - why the most popular Super Bowl commercial chose to replace their lead actor, why Gatorade’s famous Be Like Mike campaign called Michael Jordan “Mike” when no one ever called him that before and we’ll answer the age-old question - why are there so many bad ads? 

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This week we’re talking about the Mandela Effect. It is defined as “collective false memory.” That means many of us remember things incorrectly and we all remember them incorrectly the same way. From famous movie lines to song lyrics to details of traumatic events and even to famous commercials, we all think our memories are time-stamped videos of our lives. But they are not.

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This week, we explore the branding of diseases. Over the course of history, diseases have been named after people and countries with devastating effects. Names have stigmatized entire regions, decimated industries and have even caused diplomatic crises. And countries have weaponized diseases for political purposes. As with all branding, words matter.

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This week, it’s our annual Bookmarks episode - where we tell fascinating stories from our research that didn't make it into the regular season. We’ll talk about a book that maintains if you build a better mousetrap, the world will NOT beat a path to your door. And we’ll tell a story from a biography of Bruce Lee that proves sometimes the only way to sell a product is to increase its price. Throw on your reading glasses and join us for Bookmarks 2020. 

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Some people call Under The Influence UTI for short. It’s not a good nickname. But some brand nicknames are positive and extremely valuable - like Coke and Chevy - and some nicknames like “Whole Paycheck” don’t make Whole Foods happy. Join us this week as we explore the implications of brand nicknames.

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Every episode of Under The Influence begins with an opening story. And after more than 300 episodes, we’ve told over 300 opening stories. This week, we look back at the ones that generated the most listener feedback - from a story about a one-armed martial artist to the unorthodox ways lovers communicated in the Victorian era to the story of the greatest racehorse of all time. 

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This week, 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.

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80 to 90% of new product launches fail. So to lower the risk, companies do trial runs. This week, we explore Test Markets - where companies launch new products in small towns to see if shoppers pay attention. We’ll tell the stories of successful product launches as well as a few notable product disasters. 

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This week, we explore how business can be won or lost with spontaneous off-hand remarks. Not all advertising business is conducted in a boardroom or in commercials. Sometimes somebody says something in an elevator, or in a speech or in a doorway that leads to winning an account - or losing it. Talk ain’t cheap. 

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This week, it’s our annual Brand Envy episode, where I tell the stories behind some of the brands I admire. We’ll talk about a romance novel company that was started by a fur trader, an empire created by a cartoonist and a certain cream cheese with its very own spokes-angel.

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This week, we explore the world of torture tests. Torture test commercials are one of the advertising industry’s most powerful techniques - because when a product can survive a dramatic test, it can convince a lot of people to buy the product. Unless, that is, the torture test goes very wrong…

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