Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Even More Remarkable Brands

Episode Date: November 26, 2022

This week, we feature our annual look at Five Remarkable Brands: A certain scientist who is such a powerful brand that he has displaced other great thinkers, a company that makes our world a little more colourful, a comic book that has enthralled teenagers for over 70 years, a honey of a product that was born in the back of a pick-up truck, and the most Emmy-nominated TV show in broadcast history. Best of all, they’re not only remarkable brands, they’re remarkable stories as well. 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. Due to popular demand, we've dug very, very deep into our archives and are pleased to announce the re-release of episodes from the last season of The Age of Persuasion. And we've remastered them to fit our Under the Influence format. Here is an episode from 2011. This is an apostrophe podcast production. You're so king in it. Scores of it in an instant.

Your teeth look whiter than noon, noon, noon 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. In 1931, a scientist calculated, using general relativity, that a non-rotating body of electron-degenerate matter above a certain limiting mass must have an infinite density. In other words, the object must have a radius of zero.

Other physicists predicted that neutron stars above approximately three solar masses would collapse and that no law of physics was likely to intervene and stop at least some of the stars from collapsing. The singularity at the radius was such that the... Uh, Terry? Yes, Jeff? You lost me.

Where? Everywhere. Oh. Well, that perfectly helps illustrate my point. Physicists for a long time studied a phenomenon called the gravitationally completely collapsed object. Nobody cared about this phenomenon except physicists. Then one day, somebody renamed it the Black Hole.

Suddenly, the whole world was interested. The new name changed how people thought. Plus, the words Black Hole help people understand the basic concept, which was that when a massive star explodes, it creates a singular gravitational force that is so powerful that not even light can escape. Hence, the black hole. Those two words, for all intents and purposes, branded the phenomenon. It's also a phrase that has slipped into our vernacular.

If you hear a news reporter say that government spending on an initiative has turned into a black hole, you know instantly what she means, that enormous amounts of money are rapidly disappearing. What you never hear is this. The government funding is disappearing down a gravitationally completely collapsed object. Back to you, Tiffany. That is the power of branding. It attaches a memorable idea to a commodity, defines what it is, and makes it stand out from everything else. A brand can represent a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. A brand can be products or services or companies or non-profit organizations. Or it might be something you can't buy, like a city, a galaxy, or your high school.

Anything we store in our brain, we brand, because branding is shorthand in a time-starved world. It gives us a quick mental filing system that we can access at a second's notice. All brands reside in your imagination, where some dominate, some hang on at the edges, some slowly fade, and some remarkable ones stay tucked away for our entire lifetimes. Today, I want to take you on a tour of five remarkable brands. They may not be the top brands in their categories, they may not be the most hip, and my choices might be a little surprising.

But each of these five brands is fascinating. They have lasted, they have fought off aggressive competitors, and they all still have a shelf life. But the most amazing thing about these five brands is how long they have stayed lodged in your brain. You're under the influence. Speaking of science, can you picture these famous scientists in your mind? Edwin Hubble.

How about Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen? Jonas Salk. What about Albert Einstein? All four of these esteemed men were famous scientists who changed the world. It could be argued that each of their achievements are equally impressive. One invented the polio vaccine. One invented x-rays. The other discovered the existence of galaxies other than our own.

But I bet you could only picture Albert Einstein. That's because Mr. Einstein was a great brand. He had a unique look. He offered the world a singular revolution in physics. And he had personality in a category not known for personality. In other words, the very definition of a brand. Even the name Einstein

is synonymous with genius. If I said, he's the Einstein of plumbing, you'd know exactly what I mean. Einstein even defined the look of a genius for all time. I give you Christopher Lloyd's character in Back to the Future. This is what makes time travel possible.

The flux capacitor. Einstein is such a remarkable brand, he has displaced many other great thinkers in your mind. Yes, brands are sticky little things. Once lodged, they are very hard to remove. In 1885, Edwin Binney took control of the Peekskill Chemical Company. He and his cousin C. Harold Smith became partners, and they changed the company name to Binney & Smith.

In 1900, the company purchased a stone mill and began producing slate pencils for schools. That decision led Binney & Smith into the school supply business. While they had already invented a new industrial wax pencil to mark crates and barrels, it was too toxic for classrooms. So they experimented with various pigments and wax techniques, and in 1903 would create one of the most remarkable brands in North America, the Crayola crayon. The word Crayola was coined by Benny's wife, Alice.

A former school teacher, she combined two French words, cray, meaning chalk, and ola, which was short for oligineux, meaning oily, as crayons were made of petroleum-based wax. The very first box of Crayola crayons came in eight colors, and two years later, Binney and Smith had created an entire product line with 18 different box sizes and 30 vibrant colors. Over the years, they added even more,

eventually introducing a giant 64-color box. Crayola crayons had an enormous impact on the formative years of children across North America. The average child uses up to 730 crayons by age 10 and spends 20 minutes a day coloring. Children simply grew up with crayons. As they matured, so did Crayola. In response to the civil rights movement in 1962, for example, the flesh-colored crayon was renamed peach to recognize that not everyone's skin color is the same. On February 6th, 1996, Binney and Smith produced their 100 billionth Crayola. And that special crayon was molded in a ceremony by none other than Mr. Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

That same year, Crayola was honored with its own postage stamp showing the original eight-color 1903 box. Not long after that, the 64-color Crayola box was placed into the Smithsonian Institute's permanent collection. Ever wondered what the most popular Crayola color is? Answer? Blue. As a matter of fact, six shades

of blue round out the top ten most popular crayon color list. Blue is clearly the world's favorite color. A little insight there into human nature. We make eight different greens in all. And nine different reds.

And ten different blues, and eight different browns, and six different yellows. We make Crayola crayons in 64 different colors to help us see things for what they are. Think back to when you were a kid. Was there any greater pleasure than opening up a brand new box of Crayolas? And that smell of a brand new box of crayons?

Mmm-mmm. According to a study from Yale University, the smell of crayons is the 18th most recognizable scent to North American adults. Coffee and peanut butter are numbers one and two. Now, those two items are generic, but Crayola is a brand. One of the surest signs of a great brand is mass recognition, and the Crayola name has 99% brand name awareness in North America.

A brand is a product people know, but a remarkable brand is a survivor that can withstand the powerful forces of progress. Even with the onslaught of the digital revolution, over 3 billion Crayola crayons are still sold every year. There is a mid-sized town in the United States that has a popular beach, a lake, rivers, farmland, forests, mountains, and four distinct seasons. It has shopping malls, a transit system, restaurants, and parks. While millions have read about this town, nobody knows exactly where it is.

All we know is that Riverdale High School is there, and that Veronica, Betty, Jughead, and Reggie have been attending that school for over 80 years. Oh, and by the way, they have a friend who just happens to be a remarkable brand. His name is Archie Andrews. In 1939, MLJ Magazines was established by three men, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John L. Goldwater. The name of the company came from their first initials. They began publishing pep comics, and their first issues featured superheroes. For some reason, none of those MJL superheroes took flight.

But a small backup feature called Archie struck a chord with teens in 1941. John Goldwater wanted to create a character that average teenagers could relate to. And he was influenced by the popular Andy Hardy movie series at the time, starring a freshly scrubbed Mickey Rooney. Well, it's both the $8 and Cynthia. I gotta take Cynthia to the dance to get the $8 to get the car, and I gotta have a car to take anybody to the dance. So Goldwater hired a 21-year-old cartoonist

named Bob Montana, and in Pep Comics issue number 22 in December of 1941, Archibald Andrews made his debut. The red-headed Archie was a resident of the town of Riverdale, where he went to Riverdale High, battled the principal, Mr. Weatherby, had a best friend named Jughead, and a rival named Reggie. He also had trouble deciding whether to date the wholesome Betty Cooper or the very rich Veronica Lodge, setting in motion one of the most famous love triangles of all time.

Archie's popularity soared with the high schoolers of the 1940s, and three years later, the Archie comic was so popular, it became a radio show that ran from 1943 to 1953. Yes, and you relax too, folks, if you can, because here he is again, right out of the pages of Archie Comics magazine with all his gang, Archie Andrews! With the enormous success of Archie, MLJ magazines changed its name to Archie Comics Publications in 1946 and launched the Archie comic strip

in newspapers. But when the radical 60s arrived, it spelled the end for many squeaky clean stars and characters that were popular in the 40s and 50s. But not so

with Archie and his gang. They hit it big again in 1968 when they debuted with a Saturday morning television cartoon series. Everything's Archie Archie's here Betty's here Veronica too

And Archie's here Hey Jughead, where are you? Veronica too, and Archie's here. Hey Jughead, where are you? As Archie mania took hold again, the animated series even launched a musical group called the Archies. The first time a fictional band claimed Billboard's number one spot with the song Sugar Sugar, written by Canada's own Andy Kim. Not only that, Sugar Sugar is the number one song of 1969, beating out other great tunes like Honky Tonk Women by the Stones and Something by the Beatles. Sugar Sugar ranks number 63 on Billboard's Top 100 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The 70s brought another innovation, the release of Archie Digests, which reprinted original stories from the early years, attracting new multi-generational readers who had missed them the first time around. The Digests were a very smart marketing idea, as they were the perfect size for stocking near the checkouts at grocery stores, where you'll still find them today. The 500th Archie comic book was published in the year 2000, putting Archie in the same league as

comic book icons Superman, Batman, and Mickey Mouse. It has succeeded in an ever-changing multimedia world with comics, newspapers, radio, music, and television, and it landed online in 1997. For over 80 years, Archie has thrilled teenagers without ever having to resort to overt sex, violence, or profanity, and has still managed to sell over 1.5 billion comics in a dozen foreign languages right around the world. And, while some famous brands are born on the printed page, one very popular brand was born in the back page, one very popular brand was born in the back of a pickup truck. It all started with bees.

Bert Chavitz was a reclusive beekeeper with a small honey business in Maine. From his 30 hives, he would harvest honey and sell quartz under the back of his pickup truck during the summer. The small amount of money he earned was just enough to live in his 8 by 8 foot cabin. Roxanne Quimby was a 36-year-old divorced mother of twins who was living in a tent. She had been let go from her last three part-time waitressing jobs

and was eking out a living by selling antiques when the weather was good. One day, she met Bert at his roadside honey stand in 1984. She liked his honey, thought he was sweet, and soon they became romantically involved. Not long after, Quimby started helping Bert with his honey business. With her art school background, Quimby put the honey in cute little bee-shaped jars with pretty handmade labels, which sold much faster than the old court jars. Bert also had an enormous amount of excess beeswax he had been storing, so he suggested that Quimby make some beeswax candles.

She decided to try selling her first batch at the local junior high school craft show for $3 a pair and promptly sold out. She then started selling her candles at various fairs in the area and found herself making $200 a day. Because of the high quality of those candles, word spread, and by the end of their first year, Quimby and Bert had sold $20,000 worth. So they started a company named Bert's Bees, put Bert's picture on the label,

and set up shop in an abandoned one-room schoolhouse they rented from a friend for $150 a year. The building had no electricity, running water, or windows, but the price was right. Along with the candles, their first products were stove and boot polish and lip balm. Four years later, a New York boutique called Zora ordered hundreds of their beeswax candles. That was more production than Quimby and Bert could handle.

So 40 more employees were hired. And the abandoned schoolhouse was abandoned for an abandoned bowling alley, which would become their new manufacturing location. Then Quimby stumbled upon something that would change the fortunes of Bert's bees. It was a 19th century book of homemade personal care recipes. Following those recipes, the company began to manufacture natural homemade soaps, perfumes, and eventually lip balm, which became their biggest selling product. In 1993, Quimby bought out Burt's shares. As demand for Burt's B's products increased, the company moved to an 18,000 square foot building in North Carolina. They opened their first retail location there,

and by 1998, Burt's B's was offering over 100 personal care products with sales in excess of $8 million. The company soon developed toothpaste, its first shampoo, a line of infant care products called Baby Bee, and expanded its lip balm flavors. Discover all the naturally moisturizing flavors of Burt's Bees lip balm. In 2004, Quimby sold 80% of the business.

Because Burt's Bees was such a unique company, and because unique brands have enormous value, she sold it for $173 million. It was a standout brand in a very crowded category. The promise of bees and honey was the perfect offering for an all-natural product, and Bert's face on the yellow label was instantly memorable. If the definition of a brand is to offer a unique promise that differs from the competition, Bert's Bees is a very sweet example of a remarkable brand.

It has more than 300 Emmy nominations and over 80 wins, the most of any television program in history. Both Time Magazine and TV Guide list it as one of the greatest TV shows of all time. And every weekend, living rooms across North America hear these familiar words. And live from New York, it's Saturday Night! The show premiered on Saturday night, October 11th, 1975, and I was watching that night. It was originally called NBC's Saturday Night because Saturday Night Live was the title of a Howard Cosell show already owned by ABC. The idea for the show had been developed by NBC producer Dick Ebersole

and a Canadian named Lorne Michaels. But it was instigated by Johnny Carson. NBC had been airing the best of Carson reruns on Saturday nights, but Carson wanted them pulled off the air so he could save them for nights when he took time off. So Ebersole approached Lorne Michaels about creating an edgy comedy show that could run in that time slot. Michaels, who had worked on Ronan Martin's Laugh-In,

began by hiring an ensemble that included John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Lorraine Newman, Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase. Saturday Night Live was an instant success, pushing boundaries, tweaking conventions, and creating dozens of memorable SNL characters. Welcome to Coffee Talk. I'm your host, Linda Richmond. Well, isn't that special? I am Hans.

And I am Franz. And we just want to pop you off. That I, Roseanne, Roseanne Dana. Conehead, thy name is Conehead. My name is Matt Foley, and I am a motivational speaker. Welcome to Sprockets. I'm your host, Tito. We are the wild and crazy guys. The show's announcer was Don Pardo, who I had the pleasure of working with many years ago.

Don was 57 when SNL began, and he continued announcing the show right up to the age of 96. It's Saturday Night Live! Saturday Night Live parodied and made comedic statements about politics, presidents, celebrities, pop culture, and even parent company NBC. Not much was sacred. It has showcased the top musical acts of our time, and it was famous for its commercial parodies, where it skewered the ad industry. Who could ever forget the Change Bank? I needed to take the bus, but all I had was a $5 bill. I went to First Citywide, and they were able to give me four singles and four quarters. We will work with the customer to give that customer the change that he or she needs.

If you come to us with a $20 bill, we can give you two tens. We can give you four fives. We can give you a ten and two fives. We will work with you. Love that. From its very first host, George Carlin, to Lorne Michaels offering the Beatles $3,000 to get back together, to the inevitable happening when Charlie Rocket uttered the F word by mistake during a live sketch, to Sinead O'Connor tearing up a picture of the Pope, to the episode that aired three weeks after 9-11 where producer Lorne Michaels asked, can we be funny, and was answered by New York's mayor who

said, why start now? Saturday Night Live has been the hilarious, acerbic, fearless voice of our times. It was the only thing that could keep me home on a Saturday night as a teenager in 1975, and it still finds a place in my home all these years later. As of this writing, Saturday Night Live is in its 48th season. It has its ebbs and it has its flows, but it endures. Long live the remarkable brand that is SNL. I read an interesting article in the newspaper the other day.

It said that forgetting is an essential human skill. It allows us to suppress details we don't need. In other words, nature makes us forget in order to create space. Otherwise, we would be overwhelmed with the details of our past. But isn't it interesting that, in our hectic lives in this era when we are inundated, that some brands survive? They inhabit files in our minds that never seem to be cleaned out or bulk erased or shredded to make more room for other more pressing or recent information.

Even brands that no longer exist exist in our minds. Because great branding turns commodities into objects with meaning. And things that are meaningful stick, like burrs on a wool sweater.

And while thousands of brands find room in our imaginations, it's the remarkable ones that will always inhabit a special shelf in our minds. When you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine.

Under the influence theme by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Music in this podcast provided by APM Music. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for some fun behind-the-scenes stuff. See you next time. Fun fact. Anthony Michael Hall was the youngest cast member ever on Saturday Night Live. Amazingly, he was just 17.