Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories

We've been dunking on AI a whole lot lately. And that's not going to change any time soon. Because most of the uses for AI that we're seeing are cheap, sloppy and anti-creative. But there are people out there who are using it to do things that are interesting... and dare we even say it? Even artistic? One of those people is writer, filmmaker and podcast host Aneri Shah. She's pioneered an AI voice bot that she uses to screen potential podcast guests—a process known in the business as "pre-interviewing"—to see if they're a fit for her show, "Not Quite." And, in an interesting twist, Aneri has painstakingly imbued this chatbot, which she calls "Gabby," with a proximate clone of her own personality. She says it's because people are more willing to open up to a sassy AI, because they don't feel judged by something that isn't human. But when Dusty is invited to meet Gabby, he uses the opportunity to probe all the uncomfortably existential questions the bot was designed to get other people to explore. And the…

As they promote their new AI technologies, executives at tech startups have said some outlandish things. Making bold claims gets headlines. It secures meetings. It closes funding deals. It also runs the risk of being seen as manipulative, insincere and opaque. So in this episode, we have a big update to the story of Inception Point AI. This startup burst onto the scene a year ago using AI podcast hosts to produce 3,000 episodes a week of fully synthetic content. We'll speak with CEO Jeanine Wright herself to confirm that the company has pivoted its business model and spun off a B2B brand as Liquid Studios, an AI-driven "content transformation" engine. She tells us that Inception Point's AI podcast feeds have mostly been abandoned, and that monetization of fully-synthetic, human-like content is no longer a revenue source for the company. But we're also going to have some uncomfortable conversation about how we got here, because many of us in the podcast industry are still pretty peeved about this story.…

For decades, baldness has been seen as undesirable—for men AND women. Traditional and social media both have reinforced the message that a thick, luscious head of hair is synonymous with desirability and success. And marketers have hocked products to prevent, hide or "cure" baldness—but never to embrace it. However, a new online trend—"Baldmaxxing"—is changing the narrative around hair loss, and opening up a new market for shrewd communicators. Harry James is the founder of Baldcafé, a popular online community and YouTube channel created to help men embrace hair loss, overcome insecurity, and build confidence. He’s also credited with coining the term “Baldmaxxing,” empowering men to celebrate their ascent into baldness rather than try to cover it up. And Brennan Nevada Johnson is the founder and CEO of Brennan Nevada Inc., a black-and-female-owned PR and media relations agency working in New York. Brennan has been bald by choice for 15 years, hosts the podcast Bald and Buzzed with Brennan, and works to help…

Every nation on the planet is its own brand. And love of country plays a part in each one. But here in the U.S., the very notion of patriotism has been polarized. Culture warriors have attempted to unilaterally define what it means to be American, and they paint anyone who disagrees as unpatriotic. So how did one extremist ideology corner the market on branding American patriotism? Why is it imperative for regular Americans to reclaim the American brand? And why is the so-called “opposition” SO BAD at branding and messaging? A respected public relations leader, government PR trainer and service member Dr. Joe Trahan joins us to discuss. Dr. Joe is the founder of Trahan and Associates, a recognized leader in media relations and crisis communications for more than 23 years. He's a former member of the PRSA national board. Earlier in his career, he achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel in the US Army Reserve, and commanded the 314th Public Affairs Operations Center. And as an instructor, he has taught media…

The annals of internet history are littered with cautionary tales from young people who became internet famous. From “Star Wars Kid” (Ghyslain Raza) to “Overly Attached Girlfriend” (Laina Morris), many viral stars of the early internet did not intend to become memes. And the unintended attention and even bullying that accompany online celebrity can have a profound—even damaging—impact on a kid’s life. Yet surveys indicate that many young people still aspire to become internet famous. So is there a way to achieve viral notoriety without screwing up your kid’s life? We’ll talk to the internet’s favorite laughing baby, whose infectious giggle owned the world wide web in 2011 after her mom posted a video of the family dog popping bubbles. The video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnagemulucw ) was seen by tens of millions of people, featured on national television, and yielded significant ad and licensing revenue. 15 years later, little Molly is almost all grown up, and living the happy, normal life of an…

The strategy at the heart of the Snapple brand's precipitous rise... and its cataclysmic fall... is simple. "Embrace your roots. Celebrate authenticity." It's a lesson that's been served up again and again in the brands and marketing ecosystem. But it never seems to sink in. So in this episode, we'll pop the top on a Snapple double feature. First, Jane Cavalier tells us about pitching Snapple's iconic slogan, "Made From the Best Stuff on Earth," and watching it flop with the company's original owners. And then, Richard Kirshenbaum outlines the genesis of the iconic "Snapple Lady" ad campaign, which catapulted Snapple into a multi-billion dollar brand--that is, until new owners changed course and sunk $1.4 billion in mismanaged brand value. Richard will tell us how he discovered Wendy Kaufman, the iconic brand spokeswoman whose folksy New York persona peaked the brand's popularity, and why they eventually had to part ways. And together, Jane and Richard will parse lessons hard-earned in the hustle of Madison…

In 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment sparked an international diplomatic crisis when it announced its latest comedy, which they called “The Interview.” Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Randall Park as a parodied version of North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un, the film features a slapstick plotline where a couple of bumbling journalists are recruited by the CIA to assassinate the reclusive dictator. But when the teaser for the flick hit the internet, the real life hostile foreign power was not amused. North Korea spent the ensuing months issuing threats of violence and terrorist attacks. And then, just a month before the film's scheduled release, the hermit kingdom successfully hacked Sony's computer servers, publishing damaging information for anyone to access on the internet. So in this episode of Lead Balloon, we speak with Michael Lynton, who was the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment at the time, and ultimately gave the film the green light for production. We discuss the public relations…

Home to the Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Golf Club typically serves as a backdrop for sports drama. But in 2002, the club itself became the story, as its men-only membership policy came under the microscope in an unexpected and sensational showdown between women's rights activists and the club's defiant adherence to "tradition." The tale of how the conflict came to a head is an unlikely Public Relations parable in its own right, driven by two iconoclasts of their era: Augusta National chair Hootie Johnson and Dr. Martha Burk, the chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations. And, as a signature sponsor of the Masters Tournament, Coca-Cola had to thread the PR needle, trying to land on the right side of history without alienating the powerful Augusta National Golf Club, the pro golf establishment and all of their supporters. In this remastered episode, retired Coca-Cola Vice President of Communications Ben Deutsch shares his recollection of the showdown, and Dr. Martha Burk explains how…

Since the government shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, something has changed in the national conversation about the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. And the primary reason it’s happening is not a brilliant PR campaign, Pulitzer-winning journalism, or organized political strategy. It’s because of regular folks with camera phones documenting what’s actually happening on the streets of Minneapolis and other cities that have been occupied by ICE. By simply recording and sharing, they have publicly and irrefutably contradicted the Trump Administration’s blatant lies. And now, many people who did not want to pay attention to the issue are paying attention. Some folks who supported the aggressive immigration enforcement now don’t. And citizens who were not comfortable questioning the administration’s lies... question them now. Whether you want to call them “Legal Observers,” “Constitutional Observers,” or "regular folks" who record what’s happening, the impact is profound. So in…

It was four years ago that the Twitter account for legendary beer brand Pabst Blue Ribbon tweeted out: "Not drinking this January? Try eating ass!" And we're FINALLY talking to the guy who did it. Because Corey Smale—who was promptly fired for the Tweet and owned it publicly—isn't just PBR's ex-social media manager. He's now been named Ad Age's "Marketer of the Year" for his current work as Chief Creative Officer at Garage Beer, one of the fastest-growing beer brands in the world. Look, we already covered the PBR "eating ass" tweet extensively in episode 30 of this podcast. And Dusty arrived at the conclusion that it might have been a dumb thing to tweet, but it was consistent with the brand voice that management and fans had embraced. Firing Corey was just an act of scapegoating. But in this episode, we'll chart the four-year redemption ordeal that took Corey Smale from social media fall guy… to the creative force behind a growing beverage brand that counts football and podcast sensations Jason and Travis…

15 years ago, if you had googled Ben Kollenbroich’s name, you would have discovered that his life story was the inspiration for “Good Luck Chuck,” a mid-budget, critically-panned romantic comedy starring Dane Cook and Jessica Alba. That’s not REMOTELY true, however. In fact, Ben Kollenbroich was just a regular 25-year-old guy in 2010. There certainly weren't any movies based on his life. And it wasn't an accident, a mix up or a mistaken identity that caused dozens of websites… and even his own grandmother… to believe otherwise It was an intentional and painstakingly-implemented prank executed by one of his best friends. With time to kill and a dogged commitment to the bit, Ben’s buddy Vince had cultivated a steady buzz of internet chatter claiming that Ben had inspired the Hollywood flop. Over the course of months, he gradually built up the source material needed to keep that fabricated factoid on Wikipedia. But what started as a prank got suddenly serious when Vince’s made-up Internet claim started to…

Earlier this month, a new startup announced that they would be using artificial intelligence to churn out thousands of podcast episodes voiced by A.I. podcast hosts. Inception Point A.I. claims to be able to fashion 3,000 podcast episodes a week at a paltry cost of $1 per episode, and plans to flood the market with massive amounts of content in the hopes of generating revenue through programmatic advertising. But the reaction to their market entrance was anything but warm and welcoming. Podcast industry stalwarts and professional communicators expressed shock and outrage that the startup would resort to such a low-quality, high-volume tactic. Many raised ethical questions about replacing human insights with A.I.-generated "slop," and concerns abounded about job losses in an already contracting industry. In a post to her LinkedIn, Inception Point A.I. CEO Jeanine Wright was flamed by dozens of angry comments from incensed audio professionals. Some objected strenuously to bizarre comments where Wright declared…

Most people get travel information about road closures from Google Maps, Apple Maps or a similar smartphone-based application. But when a road is closed, most transportation agencies put out a press release. And this disconnect is not only annoying—it can be a public safety hazard. So after the recent catastrophic flooding in his Southeast Wisconsin community, Dusty wants to start a conversation about how public officials can modernize the way they communicate about road closures in 2025. Because, in order to maximize the impact of potentially life-saving information, municipalities and departments of transportation need to take their message to the channels that the public actually uses. In this episode, we speak with Scott Oppmann, ArcGIS Solutions Director at Esri. Esri's ArcGIS is the leading mapping and spatial analytics software in its field, allowing organizations to leverage location-based digital insights across a wide variety of fields. And Esri’s Community Maps Program and Road Closures solution…

Wikipedia readers consume nearly one billion articles per day from the online encyclopedia. In its 25 years of operation, this compendium of human knowledge has become an integral tool for understanding the world in which we live. But artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT could threaten Wikipedia's viability over the next 25 years. And in fact, by diverting fundraising traffic, undermining traditional journalism, and thinning the ranks of Wikipedia editors, large language models (LLMs) could even imperil their own usefulness. So in this episode, we're talking to a Wikipedia expert about the implications—both for strategic communicators and for society in general. Bill Beutler is the founder of Beutler Ink, a PR firm that specializes in optimizing brands' presence on Wikipedia. And together we'll discuss what can be done to preserve Wikipedia as a resource, how communicators should adapt their strategies, and what the future might hold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the world of business, yet again, things looks grim. A brewing trade war, the uncharted fallout of artificial intelligence, and political upheaval around the world... All these factors have created an atmosphere of business uncertainty. Marketing jobs and budgets face the specter of the chopping block once again, and many are taking a "batten down the hatches" approach. But at a time like this, it's important to remember: when everyone else goes quiet, your voice carries that much further. And so in this episode, we're revisiting a pivotal conversation with Joe Pulizzi from the peak of the Covid lockdowns. When uncertainty was at its worst, he shared the story of how he raised the multi-million-dollar brand "Content Marketing Institute" from the ashes of an entrepreneurial venture that failed during the Great Recession. By "going big" on branded media when everyone else went home, that fledgling company changed marketing forever, rebranding the notion of "Content Marketing" and forging a media empire.…

What you see online is not real. This has long been a reliable axiom for information consumption on the internet. But social media and SEO marketers have long relied on their engagement metrics as an exception to that rule—critical quantitative data that can't be faked and can be leveraged to demonstrate the value of a campaign or piece of content. Except in 2025, it's just not reliable any more. That is because sophisticated operations called "bot farms" have built swarms of networked smart phones designed to mimic the organic engagement that drives social media algorithms. At a command, these bot farms can create a cascade of authentic-seeming engagement that's nearly indistinguishable from the real thing, catapulting selected posts to the top of social media feeds. International state actors can wage propaganda wars. Financial influencers can pump up the value of assets they hold. And, more and more, global brands can leverage bot activity to drive their messaging to the top of feeds, manufacture social…

There is a weird, enigmatic old billboard along the interstate in Wisconsin promoting a "Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week." Without any branding or context, this weathered sign invites thousands of motorists daily to call a mysterious phone number. And that has been driving Dusty CRAZY because, frankly, nothing about this billboard makes any sense in 2025. So we're going to SOLVE A MARKETING MYSTERY, folks! Together with our old pal Kyle Brown, we're going to speculate about WHY this sign exists, how it got there, and what its purpose is. And THEN, we're actually going to track down the person responsible for the sign and learn the strange-but-true story of the "Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week." Because it turns out this billboard is a portal back in time to a different era of direct response marketing. We discover that it was built decades ago by Ken Hoffman, a self-proclaimed "ideas man" who gives them away for free, but has trouble getting his own ideas off the ground. We learn how his career was…

After more than a decade of living in an entertainment golden age... Filled with more and better options, with less advertising, than ever before in human history... Are the good times over? Almost every major streaming service has recently begun inserting advertising into its programming. And it's NOT your imagination... the ads really are more disruptive and obnoxious than traditional television commercials. So what's driving the sudden advertising stampede in the streaming services that we used to love? How much worse is it going to get? And who in their right mind still thinks that intrusive advertising, inserted into something we'd rather be watching, is a way to win hearts and minds in the year 2025? We'll discuss all this and more with world-renowned film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz, the editor at large of RogerEbert.com (where he authored this barnburner https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/streaming-ads-worst ) Matt is a Pulitzer finalist who writes as well for New York magazine and…

Three weeks after accepting a new role as an American Airlines spokeswoman in 1995, Jennifer R. Hudson was paged out of bed in the middle of the night. The worst had happened. Flight 965 had disappeared in the mountains of Colombia, and Jennifer needed to report to the scene of the crash to coordinate the company's public relations response. Unnerved and uncertain, she had to push aside her doubts and power through what would become one of the most harrowing experiences of her career. Jennifer would go on to serve as a Vice President of Communications for British Airways, a PR Manager at the Sabre Group, and eventually the head of her own independent agency, Think Beyond PR. But the experience of immersing herself in a tragedy that cost 159 lives sticks with her to this day, forging a set of PR instincts and resolve that have served her well. And in the wake of recent air disasters, including the American Eagle 5342 tragedy in Washington, her story offers rare insights into what’s happening behind the scenes…

At the height of the Cola Wars in the mid-90's, Pepsi committed one of the most notorious PR and marketing fiascos of all-time. An eye-catching spot promised brand fans that, if they saved up 7 million Pepsi Points, they could win a Harrier fighter jet. However, no one at Pepsi or their ad agency ever expected anyone to try to claim that prize. And when Washington business school student John Leonard did, they faced a multi-year legal battle and a storm of negative publicity. Now, almost three decades later, another beverage company has spoofed that infamous campaign—with a twist. Canned water brand Liquid Death actually bought a jet for one lucky fan to win, and executed a wildly successful promotion to support the contest. So in this episode, we're talking to Liquid Death VP of Creative Andy Pearson about the logistics of making that happen. We discuss Liquid Death's unique approach to marketing, his creative influences, and why they would even want to try to recreate the publicity stunt that lost Pepsi…

Earned media has long been the holy grail of public relations. For decades, getting your client's message in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal has been the gold standard by which PR agencies are judged. But as we march further into this age of new media, those public opinion gatekeepers in the traditional media are losing their dominance of the American attention span. And as evidenced by this year's presidential campaign strategy, that means that PR tactics are shifting as well. Donald Trump's interview on the Joe Rogan podcast is seen as a pivotal moment in the campaign that cemented his electoral victory. And Kamala Harris's appearance with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast reached millions of voting age women who were viewed as critical to the Democrat's campaign strategy. So in this episode of Lead Balloon, we're joined by Colab co-founders Ashley Mann and Lizzy Harris for a post-mortem on the 2024 election in a public relations context. They discuss why traditional media's influence…

Alex Jones, founder of the extremist conspiracy-theory-peddling digital brand Infowars, has proved again and again that there is no lie he will not embrace and no moral line he will not cross. For his own, personal benefit, he has victimized the grieving parents of children who were killed in school shootings. He has deliberately stoked fear among his followers in order to sell them snake oil. He has promoted insane conspiracy theories about everything from 9-11 to the moon landing. And this month, karma FINALLY came around for him in the most epic way possible. The families of some Sandy Hook school shooting victims—the very people Jones hurt the most—are teaming up with the Onion, America's leading satiric comedy publication, to purchase Jones's Infowars brand at his bankruptcy auction. So in this episode, we're talking to Leila Brillson, CMO of The Onion, to learn all the delicious details. In this interview dated November 19, 2024, we'll explore what led to the bidding process, the line between corporate…

The videos and stories we’ve seen and heard from Hurricanes Helene and Milton over the last month have been truly horrific. They're an important reminder that the rescue and recovery crews who rush into these disaster zones are invaluable... ...as is the work of public affairs crews and reporters who document the aftermath of these storms. They’re giving the outside world a window in to the carnage, making clear the need for aid, and bearing witness to what we’ve lost. So in this episode, we're going to explore the sacrifices they make in the line-of-duty, and the psychological—and sometimes physical—toll it takes. We'll meet Molly McPherson and Mike Moore, two former public affairs professionals for the Federal Emergency Management Agency who were assigned to the Hurricane Ike disaster zone in 2008. It’s an assignment that would change their lives forever—and nearly cut Molly’s short. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The image of 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis riding in a tank has become synonymous with abject public relations failure. For marketers and PR practitioners, it serves as an enduring reminder of the power that our mistakes have to burn down powerful people and institutions in one moment of lapsed judgment. And in the spirit of the upcoming election, in this episode we'll explore what led up to the catastrophe, and its lasting impact on the world of public relations and marketing, with one Democrat and one Republican, both of whom worked in the White House. Josh King was a junior staffer on the campaign trail for Team Dukakis '88. He went on to serve as White House events director under Democratic President Bill Clinton. And Kevin Sullivan was the White House spokesman under the 43rd president, Republican George W. Bush. Together, they'll shed light on the political legend of Dukakis in a tank, offer up a glimpse behind the scenes of the Clinton and Bush administrations, and remind us…

Sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland says we need to relax about the changing nature of language. In her book, "Like, Literally Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English," she notes that language has always evolved. Every generation adds its own spin, and the English language is almost unrecognizable from what was spoken centuries ago. And for the most part, we agree. But Dusty thinks there's a *figurative* line in the sand that should never be crossed: the corruption of the word "literally" in modern English. We talked to Dr. Fridland for episode 43 of this podcast, where she gave us a brief history of how slang evolves, and why it’s a bad idea for brands to try and co-opt it. And she was so informative and wonderful and fun to talk to. But, in this clip that we didn’t have a place for in the episode, Dusty still had to press her about her stance on the word “literally.” Is Dusty just being a stick-in-the-mud? Or do we need to hold the line on "literally?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…

When you're working with high-profile people in fields like PR, marketing and branding, things are always changing. History gets uncovered. New information comes to light that changes everything. And sometimes an opportunity comes along to learn just a little bit more about a topic of interest. So in this episode, we're revisiting three separate tales from Lead Balloon’s four-year run to dig deeper, uncovering some new "holy crap" moments that we never saw coming. From episode one, we find out how the manager for world-famous-Internet-meme-Grumpy-Cat feels about being cast as the villain on our podcast. From episode 13, how the Harmon Brothers agency, creators of the viral video ads for the Squatty Potty, have become involved with the rightwing-conspiracy-fueled media landscape of the "Sound of Freedom" film, distributed by Angel Studios, that made headlines in 2023. We also learn that they're working on an eyebrow-raising marketing/entertainment crossover called Homestead, based on the Black Autumn book…

At the end of his first week working in public relations, Lead Balloon host Dusty Weis did something so dumb, he could have been fired on the spot. During a meeting with one of his new bosses, prominent Milwaukee politician Jim Bohl, Dusty made a bad assumption and recklessly insulted Jim to his face. Dusty wasn't fired, and the pair went on to work well together at City Hall for five years. But they never again spoke about what was said on that fateful day in 2012. That is, until the launch of Lead Balloon, when they recorded this important conversation about making mistakes, forgiveness and leadership. So in this remastered early episode of Lead Balloon, Dusty recounts the hilarious tale of the dumbest thing he ever did, with the help of colleague Ken Leiviska. Then, he and Jim Bohl revisit the insult to note some important lessons for media professionals transitioning into a career in political PR. And finally, Dusty checks in with two other City Hall officials, city clerk Jim Owczarski and public…

UFOs have traditionally been more of a pop culture phenomenon than an actual science. But with the recent declassification of Navy gun camera footage that shows unexplained craft seeming to defy the laws of flight and physics, there's a growing movement among the aviation, military and science communities. They insist it's vital to destigmatize the conversation around Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAPs, which is the preferred nomenclature for the inexplicable occurrences. Because the craft seem to do things that are impossible for our current level of aeronautical technology, and have interfered with the operation of other aircraft in-flight. And if they aren't American, they pose a national security threat regardless of whether they're from China, Russia or... somewhere else. So in this episode, we talk to former Navy Lt. Ryan Graves, the founder of Americans for Safe Aerospace and a former Navy F-18 pilot who has experienced encounters with UAP. He was also one of three experts called to testify at…

Let's be honest: political groups don't have a great success rate when it comes to their strategic communication tactics. Every election cycle, American voters are bombarded with mailers, emails and text messages that mostly just get trashed or deleted. And when a Political Action Committee like NextGen America is charged with reaching out to younger voters, they face an even more substantial task in motivating the perennially under-performing youth vote to make their voices heard. But this year, NextGen America made headlines nationwide when it leveraged a new, unconventional tactic in its get-out-the-vote efforts for a Wisconsin State Supreme Court race. Using a small team of staff volunteers, the group reached out to young people on the dating app Hinge, urging them to register and pledge their vote on an app that's typically reserved for romance and relationship seekers. And, with success in that race, the PAC is now looking to scale up its tactic for the nationwide presidential election next year. So in…

On January 18, 2018, the entire State of Hawaii received an ear piercing alert on their cell phones. "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." Those with a keen memory will recall that the Aloha State was NOT, in fact, wiped off the map by a missile strike. It was a false alarm. But what it revealed about the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system should concern every strategic communicator. Because while the WEA system has the potential to be a powerful lifesaving tool, it is routinely misused by emergency managers and misunderstood by the public. With little to no federal oversight, the manner in which this system is used is left up to more than 1,600 local jurisdictions. As a result, users are being bombarded with too many notifications that are not germane to their immediate safety, and that is conditioning us to ignore potentially life-saving alerts in the future. So in this episode, we parse lessons from Hawaii's WEA SNAFU with Commander Bhavini Murthy, a…

The robot revolution has arrived. And they're coming for your marketing or content creation job. The advent of generative artificial intelligence chatbots—most notably tools like Chat GPT and Midjourney—is poised to revolutionize creative industries. These tools use deep learning technology to generate new content based on prompts from human users. But will this be the end of creativity as we know it, or a new implement to help creative people be even more creative? In this episode, we hear from "Jess," a copywriter who was laid off from her job at a well-known national logistics company and "replaced by Chat GPT." And then, we talk to Renato Fernandez, the Chief Creative Officer at the LA-based, global creative agency TBWA / Chiat / Day. They’re a three-time honoree as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, have been recognized thrice as Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year, and are seen as a pioneering leader in the incorporation of generative A.I. into the creative workflow. Together, Jess and…

Every professional communicator has had a day that seems like it came straight out of a TV sitcom. For Rob Davis and John R. Montgomery, working at the Chicago ad firm Leo Burnett in the early 2000’s, it was a regular occurrence. In fact, the stories from their time there were so singular, that when they shot a pilot and pitched it to Hollywood, it was picked up and run as a CBS sitcom starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. From wacky hijinks to high-stakes drama, unbelievable coincidences to larger-than-life personalities, "The Crazy Ones" sourced its comedy from real-life agency anecdotes, amplified by the creative genius of its all-star cast and famed executive producer David E. Kelley. And Rob and John found themselves on a wild Hollywood ride that would alter the course of both their careers. In this episode, they tell us what it took to get the project off the ground, what it was like repackaging their professional lives as TV scripts, and how they pitched a new approach to brand…

"How do you do, fellow marketers? We think it would be pretty 'on fleek' if you would stop trying to use slang terms to make yourself more relatable to young people." Certainly, brands swooping in and trying to leverage youth culture to drive sales is nothing new. But as bad as it was in the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s, the advent of social media marketing made it 1000 times worse. The internet never forgets, and whether it's the "Silence, Brand!" meme or the "How Do You Do, Fellow Kids" Reddit group, the web is littered with examples of companies whose attempts to ingratiate themselves with young people have earned outright scorn instead. So in this episode, we talk to Holden Jurisich, a 24-year-old Gen Z meme expert, and his dad Jay Jurisich, the founder and creative director of the Zinzin naming and branding agency in San Francisco, to explore case studies of this phenomenon in action. Plus, sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland explains how this pattern has played out, again and again, over the centuries…

Communicating during and about the Covid-19 pandemic is a topic we've discussed several times on this show, including in our most recent episode. And, as of today, May 11, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus Public Health Emergency is expiring. But just because Covid is "over" doesn’t mean we won’t still have to discuss it as strategic communicators. And so in this bonus episode, we bring back someone who has been a voice of reassurance and reason throughout this horrible, three-year ordeal. Bill Pierce was a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services in the George W. Bush Administration. Today he’s a crisis communications consultant at APCO Worldwide and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. We'll discuss the nuances you need to understand as a strategic communicator in the "new normal," best practices to keep in mind, and what it all means for the world of business and public policy more broadly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…

When the unstoppable force of online dating met the immovable object of global pandemic social distancing, there was no road map for what would come next. Michael Kaye is the director of brand and communications for the online dating app OkCupid. And, in the early days of the Covid lockdown, he and his team faced decisions that weighed on no less than the continued existence of the company. After all, what is a stay-at-home order if not an existential threat to a company whose customers want to get matched up with new people to meet and date? Facing this and other previously unthinkable realities in 2020, Michael and his team made the bold decision to retool their messaging—and indeed their core operating strategies—to embrace social responsibility over conventional profit. It was a calculated risk that panned out in the long run, as we'll learn from Michael and a pair of OkCupid users—Lauren Stines and Jake Sandvik—who each have their own stories of love finding a way, even in the midst of global crisis.…

It is now only a matter of time until someone attacks your reputation with a deepfake, according to the experts. So-called deepfake technology, which can synthesize audio and video of things that never happened, has arrived en masse. And, while these tools for generating potential disinformation were previously only available to trained experts and big institutions, recent advances in artificial intelligence technology mean that ANYONE can create fake videos... nearly instantly, with little to no training, for FREE. Accordingly, experts like Dr. Hany Farid from UC-Berkeley say deepfakes are suddenly being used the wage disinformation campaigns every day. So in this episode, Dr. Farid cites some examples of how deepfake technology is being used to attack important people and institutions, and lays out strategies that strategic communicators can use to try and protect their clients and employers. We talk to Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund, the Emmy-winning film directors who used a viral deepfake of…

It has been called “The Greatest Speech Never Given.” Drafted as a contingency plan for President Richard Nixon on the occasion of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the memo entitled "In Event of Moon Disaster" is inarguably a better piece of writing than any of the presidential remarks actually delivered on that day. Penned by White House speechwriter William Safire, today it is hailed as a work of rhetorical and poetic genius. It has inspired major Hollywood features, played a central role in moon landing anniversary observances, and even been used as a tool to educate information consumers on the dangers posed by deepfake technology. And yet from July 20, 1969 until its rediscovery in 1999, this striking piece of American history remained buried in obscurity, its brilliance unrecognized among the millions of pages of documents archived from the Nixon administration. So in this episode of the Lead Balloon podcast, we will track the path of the "Greatest Speech Never Given," from William Safire's desk, to Nixon's…

There’s a disturbing new trend making waves in the world of online content creation. Corporate blogs, mom-and-pop business websites, podcasts… Even stuff that you posted years ago to your personal website or social media. It’s now being examined, sifted through and screened by artificial intelligence bots, which are programmed to search for copyright violations. The practice has become known as “copyright trolling,” and when the bots find copyrighted images, they send a letter or email demanding payment of hundreds or even thousands of dollars to settle the claim, threatening costly litigation if the recipient does not swiftly comply. And for the unsuspecting, often well-meaning online creators who receive these letters, it can be a disruptive, scary and expensive experience. Working on behalf of copyright holders like the AP and the AFP, companies like PicRights and Higbee & Associates may have outdated copyright laws on their side. But according to our guests in this episode, that doesn't make their…

Now with 50% new footage! During Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Bud Light launched a new advertising strategy that was... unconventional, even for them. Instead of frogs or "wazzap" guys or silly superstitions, this campaign focused on attacking Bud Light's rivals for using corn syrup to brew their beers. Stranger still, outside observers noted that the beer giant borrowed other conventions from the world of political mudslinging, twisting facts, doubling down on vague talking points and attempting to build a consensus against Miller Lite and Coors Light. But the brewing barons at Anheuser-Busch didn't count on the little guys... specifically, members of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) who took exception to the attacks and rallied to the defense of MillerCoors. We've remastered this classic Lead Balloon episode to add the perspective of new key players, including: MillerCoors (now called Molson Coors) Chief Communications Officer Adam Collins NCGA CEO Jon Doggett NCGA past president Kevin Ross…

It's been a busy year here at Podcamp Media. So busy, in fact, that we almost forgot to recognize a pretty significant milestone in Dusty's career. 20 years ago, Dusty got his first job behind a microphone. He was 17-years-old, working an after school gig at his local radio station in Monroe, Wisconsin, when he was afforded the opportunity to voice the overnight shift and eventually ride the news desk. It ignited a passion for storytelling and audio that has guided his career ever since—during his 10 years in the radio business, then his career in public relations and content marketing, and finally in his role as founder of Podcamp Media and host of Lead Balloon. Connecting with and serving an audience has always been a guiding star. So in this this bonus episode, Dusty calls up his first audio boss, Scott Thompson—co-owner of Big Radio in Monroe and afternoon show host—to talk about those formative experiences, lessons, people and memories that set the stage for every step in his career that would come…

For the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron, media relations is not a job that just happens on the ground. Each year, dozens of media reps, influencers and VIPs are invited to take a ride in the back seat of one of the squadron's F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets. And, in order to help tell the story of the Blue Angels public affairs team, Lead Balloon was invited to be the first podcast to take one of those rides. CLICK HERE if you prefer to watch a video podcast documentary version of this episode. In this episode, Dusty is paired up with Lt. Commander Griffin Stangel, #7 Blue Angels pilot and air show narrator, who is tasked with giving media reps the ride of a lifetime, while at the same time serving as an on-the-record spokesman for the unit. He not only flies the plane, but fields questions and hits talking points with a smile on his face—all while enduring the extreme physical punishment of high-G aviation. The jet rides are a critical part of the Blue Angels media relations strategy,…

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron is not only the world’s most well-known group of elite performing aviators. It’s also—and people forget this—a group of elite public affairs and marketing practitioners. From the pilots to the technicians turning wrenches on the planes, every Blue Angels team member is trained to uphold the unit's 76 years of tradition and legacy. As a brand management exercise, there is perhaps no other initiative in the world as rigorous and disciplined. And at the heart of this publicity apparatus is a small but extraordinary group of public and media relations practitioners whose duties would literally make most strategic communicators pass out. The Blue Angels public affairs team operates under grueling physical conditions, works brutal hours and is held to meticulous standards befitting one of the most storied aviation units in history, where the stakes are always life and death. They populate social media accounts on behalf of the Blue Angels brand, coordinate…

In 1993, the world watched as two bitter rivals shook hands on the South Lawn of the White House, presenting the best hope for peace in the Middle East seen in centuries of bloodshed. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chair Yasser Arafat’s signing of the Oslo Accords—and the handshake that followed, cajoled by U.S. President Bill Clinton—comprised an iconic snapshot in history. In the moment, the world was awash in optimism, and Jewish Americans in particular were riveted by what was happening in the Middle East. But in Eastern Europe, Jewish people living in former Soviet states faced a growing threat of persecution, and the problems went largely unreported. And Operation Exodus, an effort by the United Jewish Appeal to repatriate one million Jewish refugees from failing states like Uzbekistan to Israel, would need a brilliant publicity campaign to motivate donors to support its ambitious goals. So the UJA hired Dick Grove, the founder of Ink PR, for the job. And,…

Adweek's 2020 "Marketing Podcast of the Year." Webby Award-nominated. Profiled on Forbes.com. On Lead Balloon, professional communicators share tales of the do-or-die situations that defined public relations and marketing careers--what went wrong, how unexpected obstacles were overcome, and what was learned in the process. With immersive storytelling and a wry sense of humor, host Dusty Weis revisits epic PR disasters, intense communications scenarios, professional crises and half-baked marketing campaigns gone awry, and usually finds a reason to chuckle. Because sometimes, there are important lessons to be learned from someone else's worst day. And sometimes, it's just more convenient than group therapy. Tune in monthly for new episodes. Visit podcampmedia.com/leadballoon to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a busy evening in Boston's financial district in 1995, gunshots ring out. When the smoke clears, a prominent divorce attorney is dead and a police officer is wounded. And Lee Caraher, then the Vice President of Corporate and Consumer Communications for the Sega Corporation, doesn't know it yet... ...but she's about to have a public relations crisis on her hands. Police would eventually uncover evidence that shooter John T. Lin "trained" for his revenge rampage by spending hours playing Virtua Cop, an arcade-style video game that puts a plastic replica pistol directly in the player's hands as they blast bad guys on a screen. And media coverage of the shooting would add fuel to the fire in the growing debate over video game violence that played out in the mid-90s. So in this episode, we rehash the story with Lee and parse the PR takeaways. And, since video games have been blamed for dozens of other heinous acts in the years since the shooting, we'll explore the relationship between violent media and violent…

Sexist advertising that objectifies women reached its heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But, in that era, it was very seldom that any company actually faced backlash or consequences for its ad practices. That began to change, however, when National Airlines deployed a racy new ad campaign in which alluring young stewardesses invited travelers to "Fly Me" on their next business trip. National Airlines may have sold more tickets as a result of the ads. But, for a workforce of stewardesses who were fed up with sexist standards and unfair working conditions, the campaign proved to be a tipping point that sent them into the streets to protest, organize, and agitate for the respect they deserved—both in the workplace and in the media. In this episode, Nell McShane Wulfhart—author of The Great Stewardess Rebellion—charts a course through the aviation, advertising and labor history of this story. Plus, we're joined by Philippa Roberts and Jane Cunningham to explore the sexist tropes at play in 1970s…

As the world’s most valuable automotive manufacturer, electric car giant Tesla is the largest company in the world that operates without any kind of public relations personnel. That means no media relations arm. No crisis comms plan. No PIO. In fact, the entire PR team was purged just a couple years ago in 2020, and CEO Elon Musk has defended the move, saying the company doesn't believe in "manipulating public opinion." Not only does this reflect a very unsophisticated understanding of what public relations practitioners do, but it also makes Elon Musk the sole public authority authorized to comment on Tesla's wheelings and dealings... and he doesn't exactly have a history of exuding stability. So in this episode, we revisit that history with Forbes Senior Editor Alan Ohnsman and San Diego-based crisis communications consultant David Oates. We discuss how Tesla is now struggling to control its own narrative, what risks it's courting, and how Elon Musk's leadership model might be setting up the company... and…

The strategy at the heart of the Snapple brand's precipitous rise... and its cataclysmic fall... is simple: Embrace your roots. Celebrate authenticity. It's a lesson that's been served up again and again in the brands and marketing ecosystem. But it never seems to sink in. So in this episode, we'll pop the top on a Snapple double feature. First, Jane Cavalier tells us about pitching Snapple's iconic slogan, "Made From the Best Stuff on Earth," and watching it flop with the company's original owners. And then, Richard Kirshenbaum outlines the genesis of the iconic "Snapple Lady" ad campaign, which catapulted Snapple into a multi-billion dollar brand--that is, until new owners changed course and sunk $1.4 billion in mismanaged brand value. Together, Jane and Richard will parse lessons hard-earned in the hustle of Madison Avenue and retell a tale as old as the Golden Goose itself: "If you've got a good thing going, but you don't understand how it works, for the love of God don't tinker with it." While you're…

On January 3, Pabst Blue Ribbon lit the internet on fire with one obscene tweet: “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass.” The uproar was swift and loud. And PBR deleted the tweets and apologized publicly, even as some writers blamed a “rogue employee” for the tweets. That was NOT the case. The offending Tweeter was actually an established social media manager by the name of Corey Smale, a creative enigma whose free-wheeling, hands-on approach had really resonated with the brand’s fans. So what went wrong for PBR? What safeguards did they have in place? Who’s REALLY to blame for the ass-eating Twitter incident, and what can we learn from it? On this episode, we pick through the wreckage with Kyle Brown, our go-to beer marketing correspondent, and with David Griner, Adweek’s International editor, who scored an exclusive interview with former PBR social media manager Corey Smale. Plus, we examine an interview that Corey gave on the In Defense of Ska Podcast—mere weeks before his dismissal—to learn more…

For Ukrainian ad agencies and freelance creatives, "business-as-usual" stopped on the day that Russian forces launched their unprovoked war three weeks ago. Now, they need your help to pierce the veil of Russian propaganda and fight for their homeland in their own way--by waging a global information war to win the hearts and minds of the world. In this episode, we talk to three Kyiv-based creatives who are organizing this loose coalition of Ukraine's creative community: Viktor Shkurba, Founder and Creative Director of [isdgroup] Oksana Gonchar, Creative Group Head at [isdgroup] Andrii Mishchenko, Kyiv-based freelance creative strategist They discuss how the war has disrupted their lives and their agency's future, how they're fighting back against Russian disinformation, and the imperative for creatives around the world to get involved. Additionally, you can support these causes: Prevent World War 3 Brief: https://preventww3.in.ua/ How to support Ukrainian army:…