Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Buy-O-Pics: When Brands Become Movies

Episode Date: March 9, 2024

As Oscar night approaches, we head to theatres to figure out why movies about brands are so popular.“Barbie” is breaking box office records. “Air” tells the story of Nike signing Michael Jordan.“Blackberry” explains the spectacular rise and fall of the first smartphone – and is getting great reviews. And a movie about the origins of McDonald’s – starring Michael Keaton - just might surprise you.They don’t only tell the brand stories, they each ask big, existential questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose. You're not you when you're hungry. You're a good hand with all teeth. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. On July 21st, 2023, two big movies launched on the same day. One was titled Oppenheimer.

It was the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered the father of the atomic bomb. The film was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan calls Oppenheimer the most important person who ever lived in human history, a man who reshaped history because he developed a bomb that had the potential to end the world if miscalculated. While Oppenheimer guides his team to develop the atomic bomb, he also struggles with enormous guilt over its devastating consequences.

As a result, Nolan tells the story from two different viewpoints. The first is the subjective viewpoint of Oppenheimer himself. The audience explores and discovers the atomic bomb along with the character. The other viewpoint is via a government inquiry that questioned Oppenheimer's patriotism. Nolan made an interesting choice. The subjective parts of the film are in color, and the objective section, the inquiry, is in black and white. Because Nolan likes to shoot his films in the IMAX format, there was one small problem.

Black and white IMAX 70mm film didn't exist. So Nolan and his cinematographer had to ask Kodak if it could create black and white IMAX film. Kodak answered the call and came up with a process of developing the film, and Nolan's team had to re-engineer their cameras slightly to run the newly created film stock. The IMAX print of the film stretches for nearly 11 miles and weighs 600 pounds. Because this was a Christopher Nolan film,

it wasn't hard to attract big stars to the project. Matt Damon, for example, who plays the general who recruits Oppenheimer, had promised his wife he was going to take a break from filming movies unless Christopher Nolan called. Christopher Nolan called. The critical role of Oppenheimer was played by Cillian Murphy, who had done five previous films with Nolan. The rest of the star-studded cast included actors like Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, and Kenneth Branagh.

Nolan was able to secure their commitments to the film, but didn't tell them what roles they would be playing until he finalized the deal with the studio. Only a director of Nolan's stature could have pulled that off. I mentioned earlier that two important films were released on July 21st, 2023. The other was Barbie. There couldn't have been two more different films. The producer of Oppenheimer had asked Margot Robbie to move their launch date, but Robbie refused.

Then a strange thing happened. Moviegoers decided to see the two films on the same day. Experiencing the emotional rollercoaster of seeing both in quick succession became the thing to do.

That phenomenon became known as Barbenheimer. It began as a meme, then became box office dynamite. For weeks, both showings were completely sold out. As a result, Barbie broke the billion-dollar mark, and Oppenheimer would become the highest-grossing biopic of all time. There are biopics in the world of marketing, too, except the bi in biopic is spelled B-U-Y. While they aren't documentaries, they are movies about the things we buy in our lives. From Barbie and Blackberry

to Nike and McDonald's, these brands have inspired some very compelling movie making. They don't only tell the brand stories, they each ask big existential questions. And audiences can't seem to get enough. You're under the influence. When television launched in 1939, it took 16 years to penetrate 50% of the North American market. When the BlackBerry launched in 1998, it only took a few years to grab 50% of the North American market. The BlackBerry changed everything.

Last year, a movie came out that told the origin story of the BlackBerry and the company behind it called Research in Motion, or RIM as it became known. The film follows the RIM tech team led by Mike Lazaridis, played by Jay Baruchel, and Doug Frieden, played by Matt Johnson, who also directs. In the movie, they discover there is a free wireless internet signal all across North America, and up until that point, nobody had figured out how to use it. So the RIM engineers harness that signal and develop a device that was a cell phone and an email machine all in one.

It was revolutionary. While the RIM team stumbles onto this earth-shattering innovation, they have no business chops. Then along comes Jim Balsillie, played by Glenn Howerton. Balsillie is a hard-nosed businessman who instantly understands the potential of BlackBerry, and together with RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis, builds a company that literally invents the smartphone. When they're pitching an early version of the BlackBerry to potential investors, one of these skeptical executives holds it in his hand and says, it's definitely the world's biggest pager. To which Lazaridis replies,

no, it's actually the world's smallest email terminal. And therein lies the genius. Director Matt Johnson's take on the story is an interesting one. To begin with, being Canadian, he was attracted to the Canadian aspect of the BlackBerry saga. He also liked the scrappiness of the Waterloo-based Rim. He felt it was like an indie film company, which he could relate to, working with small budgets, feeling outgunned in boardrooms,

and trying to break into the lucrative American market. Johnson also wanted to portray tech engineers with respect, not a nerd punchline. As he said, tech engineers invented our future. He also made the decision to shoot the film with handheld cameras. That gave the fast-paced script another layer of jittery momentum, giving the impression the camera people were trying their best to keep up with the dialogue, not really knowing where it would lead. That mirrored the BlackBerry story itself, an invention by a small group of young techies on the cusp of revolutionizing the world, but not really knowing how to build a business in a cutthroat corporate arena.

A business that had never existed before. Johnson and his team interviewed ex-RIM staffers and poured through their diaries written both during the astronomical success and its eventual downfall five years later. They also gathered over 2,500 photos provided by BlackBerry employees. The pictures revealed that the evolution of BlackBerry took place in cluttered offices and bland corporate boardrooms. Those small-scale locations made Johnson's small $5 million budget work. The movie is also very funny. It's a comic collision of personalities. The quiet visionary that is Mike Lazaridis, the bandana-wearing oddball personality of

co-founder Doug Frieden, and the screaming alpha male that is Jim Balsillie. Ironically, director Matt Johnson had never touched a BlackBerry prior to making the movie. I, on the other hand, had one of the early BlackBerrys and couldn't put it down. It seemed miraculous that I could email and conduct business from a device that fit in my shirt pocket. I remember standing on a sidewalk in California one day, watching as the U.S. presidential motorcade drove by. I spotted Barack Obama sitting in the back of his Secret Service limo, eyes and thumbs glued to his BlackBerry.

At the height of its popularity, there were over 85 million BlackBerry users worldwide. That's why the film is so compelling. It's not just a biopic about a company. It captures our addiction to one of the most popular devices of the 21st century. Last year, a movie came out titled Air, directed by Ben Affleck. It's the story of Nike pursuing a young Michael Jordan to sign him to the sneaker brand.

It's a terrific film. Everybody knows how famous Jordan became, how famous Air Jordan sneakers became once he began ruling the NBA, and how big Nike grew after that momentous signing. But not everyone knew the story of how Nike convinced Jordan to sign with them, because Jordan had zero interest in Nike. The movie focuses on Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, played by Matt Damon.

Vaccaro was in charge of developing Nike's basketball division. At that time, basketball sneakers were less than 10% of Nike's revenues. Then one night, Vaccaro spots something in a college player named Michael Jordan that nobody else sees. With only 18 seconds left in a championship game, the team doesn't give the ball to its star player. They throw the ball

to 19-year-old Michael Jordan instead, who confidently makes a 16-foot jump shot to win the game. That play told the Cairo everything. Back then, in 1984, Converse was the shoe most basketball players wore, including Michael Jordan. Nike wants in on the sport, but Nike ranks a distant third

behind big rivals Converse and Adidas. All sneaker companies routinely sign multiple NBA players to endorse their brands, but Vaccaro wants to put Nike's entire endorsement budget behind one single player, Michael Jordan,

a college player who has yet to step foot on an NBA court. Everybody at Nike is against that idea, including Nike founder Phil Knight, played by Affleck. But Vaccaro is adamant. He also discovers the only way to get to Michael Jordan is through his savvy mother, Dolores Jordan. Vaccaro makes the dangerous decision to go around Jordan's agent

to negotiate with Dolores directly. That's all I'll give away. It's good. But the backstory is as good as the movie. Like the rest of us, screenwriter Alex Conry was stuck inside the house during the pandemic. And like many of us, he binged-watched The Last Dance, the Emmy Award-winning documentary on Michael Jordan's last season with the Chicago Bulls. He became intrigued by the story of how Nike managed to sign Jordan, considering Jordan wanted to sign with Adidas.

So Conry wrote a script titled Air Jordan. He shopped it around Hollywood, but there were no takers. Then it got under the noses of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Affleck and Damon loved the idea. But before they got too excited, they wanted Jordan's blessing. Affleck said if Jordan said, don't do it, they would drop the project. And he was fully prepared for Jordan to oppose the film,

as Affleck wasn't purchasing Michael Jordan's life story. He was pursuing a story about Nike signing Jordan. Affleck reached out to Jordan, who then invited him down to Florida to play golf. But Affleck is not a golfer, so instead, he waited in the clubhouse for Jordan to finish his round. When they finally sat down, Affleck told Jordan the screenplay idea. Jordan liked it. Ben Affleck then asked Jordan what elements of this story were important to him, promising to handle those meaningful moments with care.

Rather than talking about what he accomplished, Jordan mentioned three people instead. People who were crucial in helping Jordan sign with Nike. The most important of which was his mother, Dolores. Affleck had assumed Jordan was going to tell him how he demanded that Nike pay him what he thought he was worth. But as he listened to Jordan, he realized it was his mother, Dolores, who negotiated the deal. And he saw the awe, reverence, and adoration Jordan had for his mother. Now Affleck understood the heart of the movie. The script would have

to be retooled to center on the dynamic between Dolores and Sonny Vaccaro. Then, Affleck made a mistake. Affleck asked Jordan who he thought should play his mother. That is usually not a good idea. Because if a big name is mentioned and a director can't get that actor,

it could lead to soured feelings. Jordan was firm. His mother had to be played by Viola Davis. Now Affleck and Damon had a big problem. They had to try and attract the Emmy, Golden Globe, Oscar, and Tony-winning actress to their project. Viola Davis was only one of the busiest and most expensive actors in the world.

Affleck and Damon gulped hard. When they approached Davis, she wasn't that interested in a sports movie. Until they mentioned that Michael Jordan wanted her for the role. That tipped the scales.

Davis was in. As a bonus, Michael Jordan's father, James, was to be played by Julius Tennon, who just happens to be Viola Davis' husband in real life. The cast was firmly in place. And that's how the remarkable story of how Dolores Jordan came to negotiate a contract for her son

with a shoe company he had absolutely no interest in, in a landmark deal that would change sports marketing forever, was made into a motion picture. To this day, Michael Jordan makes $400 million in passive income from that deal annually. And people buy $4 billion worth of Air Jordans every year. Just as Matt Johnson had never held a Blackberry, Margot Robbie had never owned a Barbie doll. Actor Margot Robbie never owned a Barbie doll growing up. But after she attained stardom in Hollywood and founded her own production company,

she heard rumors of a Barbie film and kept tabs on it. There had been a few previous attempts at bringing Barbie to the big screen, but those projects never got off the ground. Then, in 2018, a new CEO was installed at Mattel. Robbie sensed an opportunity. She arranged a meeting. Robbie told the CEO she wanted to honor the 60-year legacy of Barbie, but that there were also many people out there who hate Barbie,

and it was important for the company to be part of that conversation. It must have been a hard pill for Mattel to swallow. Not the fact there were people who hated Barbie, Mattel knew that, but to consider a pitch that would acknowledge that hate

in a movie. Robbie then approached Greta Gerwig about writing and directing the Barbie film. Gerwig was an actor who had received five Oscar nominations for the first film she wrote and directed called Lady Bird. Unlike Robbie, Gerwig grew up playing with Barbies. She liked the idea of a Barbie movie, on the condition she and her male co-writing partner, Noah Baumbach, could write it

together. Margot Robbie then pitched Gerwig to Mattel. Mattel signed off. The project was a go. When Robbie first read the finished script, she thought it was genius. But she also thought, they'll never let us do this. The film was too bold, too ambitious, and too honest. But amazingly, Mattel approved the script. As everyone knows, Barbie Land is ruled by Barbies. Ken, her male sidekick, was created second. Gerwig liked that aspect of Barbie history, saying it was the opposite of the

Adam and Eve creation story in the Bible. In the film, Barbies happily rule Barbie land. The Kens are merely fashion accessories. The Barbies assume it's the same in the real world. But when Barbie and Ken are thrust into the real

world, they discover a lot of women don't like Barbie, and men rule the world. Barbie is shocked. Ken is delighted. I won't give any more away. When the current CEO landed at Mattel, the company's revenues were in steep decline.

But he had a vision for Mattel. He wanted to create a film division to tell great stories based on its toys. He believed the intellectual properties Mattel owned could turn into a kind of Marvel universe. When it came time to approve the Barbie script, Mattel had to put a lot of trust into Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig. The movie is not a Barbie puff piece.

Some people in the film hate Barbie. The film takes some shots at Mattel, all while asking some big existential questions. But the CEO believed it was important

for Mattel to take risks and to put filmmakers ahead of the toys. That way, they would always be able to attract top talent. The calculated risk paid off. Barbie would go on to do something few movies in history have ever done. It broke the $1 billion mark at the box office. Greta Gerwig became the highest-grossing female director in Hollywood,

and Barbie became the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros.' 100-year history. During my career in advertising, I worked on dozens of McDonald's commercials. The fast food company has become ubiquitous in our lives. Wherever you travel in the world, you'll almost always see a McDonald's sign. But when the movie The Founder came out, I was surprised at the story it told about the origin of McDonald's. It was a story I had never been told. McDonald's was founded by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald. They had created a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California in the late 1940s.

But it was more than a hamburger joint. It was a revolutionary model of efficiency. The brothers figured out a system that enabled them to turn out orders in 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes and do it for an affordable price. There was nothing like it in the restaurant business. A milkshake machine salesman named Ray Kroc took notice of the McDonald's restaurant in 1954 when they ordered eight milkshake machines. A single restaurant that size usually only required one. In the movie, Ray Kroc, played by actor Michael Keaton, was so stunned at the efficiency and resulting lineups at this small McDonald's restaurant,

he asked the brothers if they would be interested in franchising their concept. Here comes a spoiler alert. The McDonald's brothers hesitantly accept his offer. With the stipulation, they maintain control of food and operations. Kroc agreed and opened his first franchise in 1955. Then he started signing up franchisees across the country at an incredible rate. Soon, Kroc started making food and operational decisions, which violated their contract. When the brothers keep protesting, Kroc subtly maneuvers himself

into a position of control, pays the brothers $2.7 million for the rights to the concept, and makes a handshake deal to pay the brothers a percentage of the revenue going forward.

In a postscript, the movie says Kroc reneged on that promise. Those royalties would now be worth over $100 million a year. That story, how the McDonald brothers were so upset at the way Kroc was expanding the company, how Kroc broke their original contract, how they were never given the promised share of revenue, and more importantly, how they have been given the promised share of revenue, and more importantly,

how they have been almost forgotten in the company's history, is surprising. Yes, Kroc did have a big vision, and he did achieve franchise history with over 36,000 locations worldwide. But the story didn't start with him. As the grandson of Dick McDonald said when the movie came out, quote, I want people to know Ray Kroc was not the founder of McDonald's. It was my grandfather and his brother. Ray Kroc took an idea somebody else had come up with. In other words, the title The Founder comes with a silent question mark.

Why do movies about a sneaker, a smartphone, a kid's doll, and a fast food company pull millions of people into theaters? Maybe it's because over 80% of the people who wear Nike sneakers don't work out. They buy Air Jordans because Nike and Michael Jordan are now deeply embedded into pop culture and they're seduced

by the universal message of just do it. Maybe it's because so many of us became addicted to the Crackberry as it revolutionized our lives. You can love or hate McDonald's, but it feeds over 1% of the world's population every day.

And many of us parents couldn't drive past the Golden Arches without prompting a cascade of tears in the back seat. The founder also raises the question, should we applaud ruthless entrepreneurs? When it comes to the Barbie movie Maybe director Greta Gerwig says it best Barbie is a polarizing, powerful, contradictory symbol Barbie said women could achieve anything

But the real world was a different matter Yes, Barbie was an astronaut and a doctor but there was also a Barbie bathroom scale stuck at 110 pounds. As Gerwig says, that issue still stands near the center of a decades-long and still-running argument about how to be a woman. And maybe therein lies the answer.

We're attracted to these movies because they aren't about products or brands. They're really about all of us and why we buy when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Airstream mobile recording studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly.

Sound engineer, Jeff Devine. Research, Patrick James Aslan. Under the influence theme by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Tunes provided by APM Music. Follow me on social at Terry O. Influence. This podcast is powered by ACAST. If you think there are too many ads in a show about advertising and you'd like to see them disappear into thin air,

you can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or become a subscriber. And if you'd like to read next week's fun fact, just go to apostrophepodcasts.ca and follow the prompts. See you next week. Hi, this is Drew from the beaches of Toronto. Fun fact, three different Canadian actors play Kens in the Barbie movie. Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, and Michael Cera. That would make them Ken-adians.