Creativity is the Most Powerful Business Tool: Canadian Marketing Awards 2026
Under the Influence with Terry O'ReillyShow Notes
This week, we look at the level of advertising creativity north of the border. We’ll talk about a campaign that used real “sleep talking” to sell mattresses. We’ll explore a remarkable idea that transformed the annual migration of penguins into a protest march. And we’ll look at a campaign that convinced people to donate to a cause that started 45 years ago, but had faded from memory.
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More from Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly
Every 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%.
In 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.
Because 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.
In 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.