Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Brand Envy (2025)

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

This week, it’s our annual Brand Envy episode.We look at four brands that I admire.One is a cosmetics empire started by a woman in an era when women couldn’t even vote.One is a band I have a soft spot for.Another is a family-owned business that has lasted 88 years.The fourth is a TV show that broke records. And they all have one thing in common – they succeeded against all odds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that if you subscribe to our But Wait There's More option, you get a bonus story in every episode of Under the Influence. But wait, there's more! For the price of a cup of coffee every month, you get early access so you'll hear every episode a full week before everybody else. Plus, you enjoy that episode ad-free. Tsk tsk. And by subscribing, you support our podcast.

Just go to Apple podcasts and subscribe to Under the Influences, but wait, there's more. Hey, my friend Jill Deacon has a brand new podcast and it sounds very interesting. Hey, Jill, tell us about it. Thanks, Terry. Yeah, Love Affair with the Unknown is all about getting more comfortable with uncertainty. We're all dealing with unknowns all the time, especially right now. But what if uncertainty were actually the path to progress? My podcast is interviews with some big names like Jan Arden, Ian Brown,

Mary Walsh, Lisa Raitt, plus some less familiar folks, but they've all got great stories and insights about leaning into uncertainty. It's actually a fuel for greatness, growth and feeling alive. It's called A Love Affair with the Unknown, hosted by Jill Deacon. You can find it on your favorite podcast app. I'm a big book reader and love to read about interesting destinations. But here's an idea, why not pack a book and actually book a vacation to an interesting destination?

The folks at Sell Off Vacations can help make that happen. And here's the great thing about them. They've been booking vacations for over 30 years and you want that in a travel expert. And they not only offer sun packages and flights and cruises and hotels, Sell-Off Vacations also offers you something called their best price promise,

which means they will not only match a competitor's price, they'll beat it. Now, whether you want to see a new corner of this great country, and a lot of people are doing that this year, or if you want to head off to the Mediterranean or other parts of Europe or the Caribbean, there are options for every budget. And sell-off vacation experts know these travel destinations

because they've been there. And again, you want that in a travel expert. They've done their homework. And here's the other thing. Sell-off Vacations is based here in Canada. Canadians helping Canadians enjoy affordable getaways. So book your next vacation with selloffvacations.com and happy travels. Here's a question. How can you support Canada while you sleep? Well, you can do it by sleeping on a Douglas mattress, the mattress designed and manufactured

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This is an Apostrophe Podcast production. We're going to show you our big new Studebaker. Start the car! Mamma Mia, that's a spicy meatball. What love doesn't conquer, Alka-Seltzer will. What a relief! You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. If you find yourself walking west on King Street in Toronto and you're nearing Roy Thompson Hall, look down. Beneath your feet is Canada's Walk of Fame.

On 13 designated blocks in Toronto's entertainment district, maple leaves designed to look like stars are embedded in the sidewalk with the names and signatures of famous Canadians. The Walk of Fame was conceived in 1996, was first implemented in 1998, and now includes 210 honorees as of this writing. Loosely modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Canadian Walk of Fame inducts people who have excelled in six categories, arts and entertainment, sports and athletics, business and entrepreneurship, philanthropy and humanities,

science and technology, and legends, which is given out posthumously. The first induction ceremony held in 1998 was hosted by Eugene Levy, who we'll hear more about a little later. Thirteen people were inducted that day. They were... Canadian Rich Little, musicians Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy St. Marie and Brian Adams, hockey star Bobby Orr, figure skater Barbara Ann Scott, and race car driver Jacques Villeneuve. All Canadians are encouraged to submit nominations for Canada's Walk of Fame through the organization's

website. Nominees must have been born in or spent their formative years in Canada, have had a minimum of 10 years experience in their field, and have impacted Canadian culture and or heritage either nationally or internationally. Then a board of directors reviews the submissions and selects which nominees will be inducted. There was one year where there were no inductees, but that was due to the 2020 pandemic, and

in 2023, a record-breaking 13 rock bands were inducted. Now, some stars on the walk have taken a little damage over the years, mostly due to harsh weather and the odd snowplow. One day, William Shatner tweeted that he heard his star on the Canadian Walk of Fame was a little frazzled. Then Shatner added, but then again, so am I. Welcome to our annual Brand Envy episode. Today we'll talk about five brands that all have something in common. They are Canadian brands that have excelled.

One was a pioneer in the cosmetics industry. One is a band that holds a special place in my heart. One has survived for 86 years. Another is a family owned business that has survived for 88 years. And one is a television show that broke records. Think of them as my own little Canadian walk of fame. You're under the influence. Way back in 1884, a girl named Florence Nightingale Graham

was born on a farm in Woodbridge, Ontario. When she was five, she helped her father sell carrots and corn husks at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Young Florence loved the bartering and the deal-making buzz at the market, and it made a big impression on her. She would eventually leave high school early to find employment. She worked as a cashier and a stenographer and as a dental assistant. While at that last job, Florence convinced the dentist to advertise,

and she wrote creative letters to patients warning them about missing checkups. In one year, the dental business doubled. about missing checkups. In one year, the dental business doubled. In 1907, Florence followed her brother William to New York. She found work again as a stenographer, but it was her next job that would change her life. She landed a position working for a woman named Eleanor Adair, a beauty specialist. There, Florence learned the cosmetic industry from the ground up.

Then, in 1910, she started her own company with another woman named Elizabeth Hubbard. The partners agreed to name the company Elizabeth Hubbard and began to mix face creams, body lotions, and oils. But the partners often clashed, so Florence decided to buy Elizabeth Hubbard out. Planning to name her solo business Florence Nightingale, she discovered she wasn't allowed

to register the name as a trademark. The name Elizabeth was already painted on the shop window, so Florence scratched out Hubbard and added the word Arden instead, a word she had taken from a favorite Alfred Tennyson poem. With that, the Elizabeth Arden Company was born. ["The Little Mermaid"] Florence Nightingale Graham

then made two momentous decisions. First, she decided to change her own name to Elizabeth Arden. And second, she hired a gifted chemist who would help her develop revolutionary new cosmetics. In 1915, Arden married an advertising man, who helped her market and package her products. In the early 20th century, the use of cosmetics was considered lowbrow, only used by sex workers and showgirls. So Arden created advertising campaigns that changed women's perceptions of cosmetics. The use of close-ups was also a new technique in motion pictures and Arden

demonstrated how the leading Hollywood stars all use makeup to look their best. Arden was also a dedicated suffragette, and in 1912 she marched for women's rights. The women all wore bright red lipstick as a form of protest, and Arden supplied most of it. By 1920, Elizabeth Arden was selling merchandise to over 5,000 drug and department stores. Arden opened up a salon on Fifth Avenue in New York and styled it with Persian rugs and upscale furniture. Time magazine reported that

the Arden salon was guarded by a doorman. That door was painted red and simply said, Elizabeth Arden. Women who entered that red door felt like they were swept into an exotic world of makeovers, manicures, pedicures, and even yoga. All revolutionary at the time. In 1917, Arden introduced eyeliner and mascara to North America. Her company grew at a furious pace. Five years later, she had established a Parisian salon,

as well as locations in London, Madrid, Rome, and Berlin. Elizabeth Arden was creating an empire, one that even flourished during the Depression, earning more than $4 million a year. She pioneered travel-sized cosmetics, she was the first cosmetician to convince women to exercise, she was the first businesswoman to have her own radio show, and she was the first to create a line of cosmetics for women serving in the army during World War II. In 1946 Arden was also the first business woman

to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Fortune said Arden probably made more money than any other business woman in history. Elizabeth Arden eventually had many competitors, but her arch-rival was Helena Rubenstein. Although the two never met, they feuded for 50 years, stealing employees back and forth, each trying to outdo the other. At one point, Arden divorced her husband, who then went to work for Rubenstein. You can imagine how that went over. But that rivalry fueled the growth of both companies.

In the 1940s, Arden took an interest in raising thoroughbreds, and one of her horses won the Kentucky Derby in 1947. Elizabeth Arden always kept her age a secret and when she died in 1966 the world was shocked to learn the slim stylish head of the cosmetics empire was 88 years old. Today Elizabeth Arden's company is worth over a billion dollars. Not bad for a Canadian farm girl from Woodbridge, Ontario. A lot of great musical artists have come out of Canada. The Guess Who, April Wine, Rush, Triumph, Ian Thomas, Anne Murray, Brian Adams, Shania Twain, and Celine Dion to name a few.

But I have a soft spot for the very first concert I ever saw back at the Sudbury Arena in the fall of 1972. The band was the Stampeters and they had just had a breakout hit called Sweet City Woman. Sweet City Woman was written by lead guitarist Rich Dodson, who, by the way, was born in my hometown of Sudbury. The band had formed in Calgary, then moved to Toronto, and the song lyrics reflected that move to the big city. They had played at Expo 67, and Dodson's love of Montreal inspired the Bon C'est Bon section of the song.

The Stampeters were driving back to Toronto from a gig in Kingston in their old station wagon at four o'clock in the morning when a New York radio station WABC drifted onto the car's radio. As they listened, the DJ said, Here's the number one record this week, and played Sweet City Woman. The band couldn't believe it. They stopped the car, jumped up and down on the hood, and cheered. It was only the beginning. The song won best single of the year at the 1971 Juno Awards and the Stampeters won Best Group. Sweet City Woman stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks. In a recent poll, the song was voted one of the top 10 most recognizable songs from the 70s.

The band had originally formed as a six-man group called the Rebounds in Calgary in 1964. They became a trio in 1968 with Dodson on guitar, Ronnie King on bass, and Kim Burley on drums. They renamed themselves the Stampeters after the famous Calgary Stampede donned cowboy hats and had their first big hit with a song called Carry Me. The hits just kept on coming. Devil You, Then Came the White Man, Monday Morning Choo Choo, Wild Eyes, Oh My Lady, Minstrel Gypsy,

and their cover of Hit the Road Jack with a guest appearance from Wolfman Jack himself. The band broke up in the late 70s, but reunited in the 90s. In 2011, the Stampeters were given a lifetime achievement award for their body of work. Rich Dodson was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

We lost Ronnie King in 2024, but the band still tours today as a tribute to King. I'll always remember the Stampeters as my first rock concert. One night at my office many years ago, I was working late and the phone rang. It was someone looking for our music director. I said he had left for the day, could I take a message? The caller said sure tell him Rich Dodson called. I just smiled to myself and said, we'll do Rich.

When we return we get the scoop on an ice cream company. Traveling in Europe is such a unique experience for us Canadians. You can hop from country to country with ease. For Canadians with a country that stretches for more than 5,000 kilometers, it seems almost impossible to imagine visiting five or more countries in just a couple of days. One way to make that experience even more enjoyable

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["Sailor's Guide to the World"] In our annual brand envy episodes, I'm particularly fond of companies and products that have managed to last for decades, mostly because it's so hard for a company to continue to grow through the ups and downs of the economy and the arrival of new competitors nipping at their heels. One day, I was giving a speech in the States to a marketing conference. I was making a point about how coffee crisp chocolate bars are marketed. After my talk, there was a Q&A period,

and the first question from the audience was, what's a coffee crisp? I had no idea at that time that Coffee Crisp was a strictly Canadian bar. Coffee Crisp began life as a British chocolate bar called Round Trees Wafer Crisp. In 1938, it was brought over to Canada as Bis Crisp. Say that three times fast. Then a year later in 1939, a coffee flavor was added and it became known as Coffee Crisp.

By 1948, Coffee Crisp was one of Canada's most popular bars. The point I was making about it in the States that day was how it was so smartly positioned in the chocolate bar market. When Roundtree looked at the chocolate bar marketplace, they noticed that every bar positioned itself as a treat. So Coffee Crisp spotted an opportunity. Instead of a treat, it positioned itself as a snack. Now you may not think that's so brilliant, but I do. A treat can be once a week or maybe once a month, but a snack can be daily. And once Coffee Crisp positioned itself as a nice light snack, sales soared. Remember this commercial?

Coffee Crisp, you are more than a candy bar. Remember this commercial? and in a chocolatey coating you're wrapped. Coffee Crisp, you're more than a candy bar. You're a nice light snack. That's what you are. That commercial really launched not only the ingredients, but the slogan, A Nice Light Snack. You may remember this commercial too. So? So? How do you like your coffee?

Crisp. You like your coffee crisp. I like my coffee crisp. Oh, I'm supposed to laugh now. Nestle now owns Coffee Crisp and still makes millions of bars each year. And while it isn't sold in the United States, you can find them at the Canadian Pavilion at Epcot Centre at Walt Disney World. Coffee Crisp is a Canadian staple and has survived for 86 years and counting.

While I'm drawn to companies that last for decades, it's especially hard for family-owned companies to survive. But I want to talk about one such company. It may not be known in the rest of Canada, but it certainly is in Ontario. Back in 1935, Jack and Isla Crowe were married in Oshawa. Jack was an employee at the Oshawa dairy. Two years later, they moved to Bob Cajun in Ontario's cottage country,

a town later memorialized in song by the tragically hip, by the way. The Crows settled down there and bought a modest dairy. In the 1930s, there was no high-tech dairy equipment available, so the crows would pick up raw milk every day from local farmers by horse and buggy in the warm months and horse and sleigh in the winter. Milk bottles were washed by hand and a boiler was used for heating as there was no electricity yet. Bottles of milk were stacked in a storage room,

kept cold by big chunks of ice the crows cut out of the lake. Milk was delivered to homes by horse and wagon and to cottages by boat. Jack and Isla did all this work together in a small three-room building with the help of one single employee. They called their business Kawortha Dairy.

In the mid-50s, Jack Crow decided to take an ice cream making course at the Ontario College of Agriculture in Guelph. Little did he know how important that decision would be. Almost immediately, there was a huge demand for Coortha Dairy ice cream. So much so, the dairy tripled in size, they added outdoor walk-up windows to serve summer visitors, and began opening locations in other parts of Ontario. Every summer, you still see long lines of people waiting at Coortha Dairy windows for a delicious ice cream cone.

While Coortha Dairy serves its rich and creamy ice cream from many locations today, it's still headquartered out of the same Bob Cajun site where it all began in 1937. And Mike Crow, who started working with his grandparents when he was 10 years old, is now a third generation owner. Hats off to a family business that recently opened a 54,000 square foot distribution center, has grown despite never advertising on television, and has somehow managed to retain its small town, family-run feel for the past 88 years. When we come back, high jinks at the Rosebud Motel. God help us, but Canada has never been more interesting.

What is happening now is urgent and important, and you need to stay on top of it. Every day on Canada Land, we bring you the information you need. About Canadian politics. And Canadian media. Through smart conversations. And original investigations. This is Canada like you've never heard it before.

Listen to Canada Land, wherever you get your podcasts. My last but certainly not least Canadian brand today is a television show. It was partially inspired by that time actress Kim Basinger actually bought a tiny town in Georgia in 1989 for $20 million cash. The co-creator of the show wondered, what would happen if an ultra wealthy family lost everything and had to go live in a tiny town they once had purchased as a joke. And that's how Schitt's Creek came to be. Dan Levy thought up the idea while sitting in a cafe one day, then later pitched it to

his dad, Eugene Levy. He asked his dad if he wanted to work on it with him. Eugene said yes. Dan and Eugene shopped the idea around to various American cable and broadcast networks, and they all passed. Every one of them. Eventually, the levies cobbled together funding, first from CBC, then Europe's ITV studios came on board as distributor. And finally, PopTV, an American paid television channel owned by Paramount, stepped up to round out the budget.

The family rose with Father Johnny, played by Eugene, Mother Moira, played by Catherine O'Hara, and their pampered children, daughter Alexis, played by Annie Murphy, and son David, played by Dan Levy, have all their wealth embezzled by an unscrupulous business manager and must now live by their wits, as the New York Times said, broke with nothing but the couture on their backs. The flamboyant Rose family must now live in a tiny town in the boonies in two adjacent rooms in a run-down motel, and coexist with the pragmatic townsfolk. As Catherine O'Hara put it,

it's like we're aliens learning how to be humans. Schitt's Creek fostered a lot of GIFs and memes, and Annie Murphy's A Little Bit Alexis song became a viral hit. While the show was a hilarious story of worlds colliding, there was also a lot of heart. The townsfolk learn to accept the roses, the roses see the good in the townsfolk, David as a gay character finds love in a community devoid of homophobia, and in the end, the family learns that money is not the be-all and end-all. Dan Levy says that the fact they couldn't find any interest initially in the States

was actually a blessing in disguise because producing it in Canada gave them an enormous degree of creative control. Levy feels the show would have probably been canceled after one season in the States, because it wouldn't have been given the time to grow and evolve. But once it landed on Netflix two years later, it had hit its stride and became a big hit

south of the border. ["The Star-Spangled Banner"] Interestingly, Dan and Eugene always viewed Chits Creek as a drama. A drama that happens to involve very funny circumstances and characters not equipped to handle those circumstances, which is always the key to great comedy. It's high drama to the characters and high comedy to viewers. Not only was the writing and casting superb, but the show made history in its sixth and final season.

At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Schitt's Creek won seven Emmys, breaking the record for the most wins by a comedy in a single season, winning for best writing, directing, and best overall comedy series. And it broke another Emmy record by becoming the only show ever to win all four of the acting categories in the same year. It also won two additional awards for casting and costume, for a grand total of nine Emmys. It had not won a single Emmy in its first five seasons. As Annie Murphy said as she accepted her Emmy,

it's a show that stands for love and kindness and inclusivity and acceptance. It was a care package from Canada. U2's Bono once said, The world needs more Canada. I couldn't agree more. As a country, we punch way above our weight. We're just quiet about it. But a closer look reveals a lot of remarkable talent at work.

Elizabeth Arden was a farm girl from Woodbridge, Ontario who started an empire in an era where women couldn't even vote and she had a lot to say about that too. The Stampeters broke into the American market at a time when almost no other Canadian bands did. Along with the Guess Who, they just kept putting out gold records and are still touring today. People are still snacking on coffee crisp after 86 years. I tip my hat to Coortha Dairy because it has remained a family-owned business for close to 90 years, a feat that doesn't get enough attention in this day and age.

Steadfast principles and a great product with no desire to sell out to a big corporation. And speaking of family-run businesses, the Levees aren't doing too bad either. They went out on top with six hilarious seasons and a shits storm of Emmys. And that's the way we do it up here in the great wide north when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the TearStream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer Debbie O'Reilly. Chief Sound Engineer Jeff Devine.

Under the influence theme by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick, and James Aitin. Tunes provided by APM Music. Follow me at TerryOInfluence. This podcast is powered by A-Cast. See you next week. Fun fact. Hi, this is Rudy from Winnipeg.

Annie Murphy's house burnt down and she only had $3 left in her bank account when she landed the role in Schitt's Creek. I'm a big book reader and love to read about interesting destinations. But here's an idea. Why not pack a book and actually book a vacation to an interesting destination? The folks at Sell-Off Vacations can help make that happen. And here's the great thing about them. They've been booking vacations for over 30 years and you want that in a travel expert.

And they not only offer sun packages and flights and cruises and hotels, Sell Off Vacations also offers you something called their best price promise, which means they will not only match a competitor's price, they'll beat it. Now whether you want to see a new corner of this great country, and a lot of people are doing that this year, or if you want to head off to the Mediterranean or other parts of Europe or the Caribbean, there are options for every budget. And sell-off vacation experts know these travel destinations because they've been there. And again, you want that in a travel expert. They've done their homework. And here's the other thing. Sell-off Vacations is

based here in Canada. Canadians helping Canadians enjoy affordable getaways. So book your next vacation with Sell-offVacations.com and happy travels!