Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories

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 relations to thousands of pupils in 46 U.S. states, 5 NATO allies, Mexico and Paraguay, in addition to teaching PIO courses at FEMA for more than 20 years. Together, we'll honor 250 years of American exceptionalism by doubling down on the principles that actually made this country great: service, civil discourse, and compromise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Vulture.com. He's the founder of MZS.press, the arts bookstore of the internet, and appears in print in The New York Times, Salon, and Rolling Stone. And he's the author of a handful of New York Times bestsellers, including the Wes Anderson Collection, The Sopranos Sessions, and Mad Men Carousel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the Cola Wars. And with Jeff Beer from Fast Company, we explore the background and takeaway lessons of the Pepsi Harrier Jet fiasco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 strategy and comedy, and the Onion's blooming partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety. And we'll critique this ongoing corporate acquisition not just as a business strategy, but as a cunning publicity stunt and a brilliantly-conceived work of art. There's a video version of this episode available at https://youtu.be/0JvJuszeNtU 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 of a few other times when the republic teetered on the brink of PR calamity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 series. And, we dig in to their other past projects, including Covenant Eyes and VidAngel. And from episode 40, Dwight Chapin—who served in the Nixon administration and did prison time as part of the Watergate scandal—talks about how he punked Nelson Rockefeller at a political press conference, and shares his sincere regrets about his time in politics. Plus, we're joined by our old friends, marketer and strategist Kyle Brown and Andrew Julian, senior sports editor for the Messenger, to talk about what's next for Lead Balloon as a podcast. Cheers to 50 episodes, everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices