Listen Now

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 destinations based on the final resting places of famous people. And cemeteries are using marketing to attract those tourists.

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.

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.

This week it’s our annual Bookmarks episode, where we tell the fascinating stories from our research that didn’t fit into the regular season. Including a little-known backstory of the 1972 Canada/Russia hockey series and a moving story about another hockey game that was cut short by tragedy.

This week, we profile the remarkable career of, arguably, the most successful woman 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 woman to intimidate the boys club of Madison Avenue. And she did it all in the Mad Men days.

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.

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

This week, we dive into the world of Fan Clubs and how they're 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.

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. Join us and see if you remember them.

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 Tony awards can rescue a play overnight.

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.

This week, in an encore episode, 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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Superman promoting Kellogg’s in the 1950s to Batman hawking savings bonds to Batgirl advocating equal pay for equal work, stoic superheroes became the ultimate spokes-characters.

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 influence ticket buyers.

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.

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.