Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - How Jerry Goodis Made an Advertisement a Beautiful Thing

Episode Date: September 5, 2026

Jerry Goodis was one of the most colourful characters in the history of Canadian advertising.He founded a legendary advertising agency and created some of Canada’s longest-running ad campaigns. And while doing that, he attacked the ad industry for producing terrible ads. He was loved and hated but couldn’t be ignored.  Another favourite from our Archives. We know you want to listen to all the ads in this show. On the off-chance you don’t, subscribe ad-free here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is subliminal advertising real? Superman or Batman? Best Canadian City to do a book event. Best ad of the past year. Well, I answer all these cues and more in a recent subscriber-only bonus episode, Apple or Android. Tap the link in the description.

This is an apostrophe, podcast production. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. Back in 1953, Three, a Canadian folk group was formed by four childhood friends. Their musical director was a local composer and advertising executive. They were modeled on the American folk group The Weavers, led by Pete Seeger. Like the Weavers, this Canadian group wanted to sing folk and protest songs, and they often performed at picket lines and union halls.

Inspired by the Weavers, they considered calling themselves the Beaver. But instead, they decided to call themselves the Travelers, a moniker taken from the folk song Lonesome Traveler written by Pete Seeger, who would play a role in their future. The very first time the Travelers performed was on a stage at a summer camp in Brampton, Ontario, where they shared the stage with none other than Pete Seeger himself. That night, Seeger sang a song The Weavers had recorded

but had never released because it had been written by Woody Guthr, who, along with Seeger, was blacklisted at that time during the McCarthy era. The Travelers loved the song, so Seeger suggested they take it and modify the lyrics to reflect Canada. That same year, the travelers achieved national exposure when they earned second place on the CBC TV show Pick the Stars, beating out a young impressionist by the name of Rich Little. They played the song Pete Seeger had encouraged them to record.

It was a big hit. If you remember the lyric from Bonavista to the Vancouver Island, you know the iconic song. This land is your land, this land is my land. From Bonavista to the Vancouver Island, This Land is Your Land became their theme song, and for many, it became Canada's second national anthem. For the next five years, the travelers toured extensively across Canada,

singing the song at concerts and on TV and radio shows. They became so popular, they were asked to perform at the very first Mariposa Festival in 1961. topping the bill alongside other folk acts like Ian and Sylvia. The Travelers also hold the distinction of being the first Canadian group signed to Columbia Records. The secret of the Travelers is in the amazing record of four personalities that become one when they perform folk music. Their first three albums were titled Across Canada with the Travelers in 1958. The Travelers Sing Songs of North America in 1959. and quilting bee in 1960.

Just as all this success was happening, one of the group's members decided to quit, and so did their musical director. But there was a reason they left the group. They had a side gig that was heating up, and that side gig would eventually have a big influence on the Canadian advertising industry. Leaving the Travelers was a very difficult decision for a man named Jerry Goodes.

It was an emotional moment for him, but earning a living as a folk singer in Canada was tough. So he and the Traveler's musical director, Sam Goldberg, left to form an advertising agency to pay the bills. It wasn't long before that side gig became a growing concern. And Goodus would lead that company to become one of the legendary Canadian advertising agencies. You're under the influence. Jerry Goodus was born into a Jewish working class family in 1929 and grew up in the Garment District of Toronto. Both of his parents were politically active and were heavily involved in their respective unions. That early influence would one day steer Goodus into the world of politics.

He was always small for his age, so his main defense mechanism was a very quick wit, another trait that would come in handy down the road. He was 25 years old when he and his friends formed the travelers in 1953. Sam Goldberg was a pal who had studied music in Paris, and Goodus recruited Goldberg to manage the group. Goodus not only had a singing voice, he had personality, so his role was to act as MC and handled the between-song ad-libs to keep the audience amused.

It was there he came to understand a little about humor and a lot about communication, as he learned to feel out an audience, observe their mood, and see what grabbed their attention. Sam Goldberg's father had owned a printing shop, and Sam had spent time as the person, production manager for a small advertising agency, so he knew that end of the business. Goodus's half-brother Al Sorin was recruited to be the accountant, and Jerry Goodus assumed the role

of frontman, just as he had in the Travelers. Soon, Goodus Goldberg-Sorin became a very busy advertising agency, and that success forced Goodes and Goldberg to say goodbye to the travelers, and hello to the wild and woolly business of advertising. Jerry Goodes was a sharp observer of the advertising business in the late 50s and early 60s. He thought most advertising was terrible, but he loved the work an ad agency in New York was doing for Volkswagen. That agency was the fabled Doyle Dane Burnback. The ads were creative, funny, and self-deprecating. In other words, they were revolutionary.

Like Bill Burnback, Goodest believed in smart advertising. He vowed to never browbeat a customer into a sale. He would never pretend a single product could change a person's life. And he didn't buy into the prevailing wisdom that endless repetition was the only way to make an ad memorable. While he considered Burnback a mentor, he disagreed with another ad legend, David Ogilvie. Ogilvie believed advertising should be. resist the temptation to entertain, whereas Goodas believed ads needed to entertain in order to get

the public's attention. As Jerry Goodes later said, his ad agency prospered because the founders complimented each other. He was the sale, Sam Goldberg was the rudder, and Al Sorin was the keel. They were outsiders from the beginning. Of the 100-plus ad agencies in Canada in the late 50s, only one was run by Jewish owners. Goodus Goldberg-Soran would be the second. Goodus was also outspoken about the industry at large.

He felt most advertising was terrible and that most Canadian ad agencies were steeped in mediocrity. In a documentary on Goodest titled, Have I Ever Lied to You Before, done by the National Film Board in 1970, he comments on the industry. But the most important criticism I have to offer against our own industry is that we always assume that the people watching this station right now

are just a little dumber than we are. And that's a dangerous assumption. Insulting people's intelligence, I think, is just a very, very naughty and nasty thing to do. That didn't make good as a popular guy. Yet, it didn't stop his ad agency from landing a lot of business and dominating award shows with ads that didn't talk down to the public. One of the big reasons for that success was because Jerry Goodus had a keen eye for talent. Most of the creative people he hired would go on to become Hall of Fame creative directors

and others eventually started their own successful ad agencies. But while with Goodus, they created some legend, advertising you will remember all these years later. Back in 1958, the Wolverine Shoe and Tanning Company in Rockford, Michigan, developed a process to make a soft, comfortable shoe out of pigskin. They called them hush puppies. Why? Because they soothed your barking dogs. When the Winnipeg-based Greb Shoe Company purchased the Canadian rights to hush puppies,

they hired Goodes Goldberg-Sorne to help launch the shoes in Canada. Remarkably, Greb only allotted a $7,000 advertising budget to hush puppies. And even more remarkably, Jerry Goodes recommended television, the most expensive advertising medium of all. Somehow, the agency figured out a way to make a commercial for only $900. Filmed in black and white, it showed a husband and wife in bed. Separate beds, it was 1960 after all. The wife asks the husband to check on the children,

and when the husband gets out of bed in his pajamas, the wife notices he still has his hush puppies on. The husband, played by actor Jack Duffy, later of party game fame, says... Oh, what is so comfortable? I keep forgetting I have them on. When he checks on the kids, they are asleep with their hush puppies on. Goodes crossed his fingers and hoped the $900 commercial would sell 10,000 pairs of shoes. It sold 44,000 pairs. In 1961, the budget was increased to $50,000,

and the commercials sold $235,000. By 1963, Greb increased the budget again to $200,000, and one million Canadians bought the shoes. Eventually, Hushpuppie ads featured a basset hound as a mascot. The dog's name was Velvet, and it was owned by Mrs. Greb. It got so famous from the ads, it was actually kidnapped one day, and a rumored $20,000 ransom was paid. By 1966, Greb became the second biggest shoe company in Canada.

Goodus made Greb a big name in the shoe business, and Greb made Jerry Goodus a big name in the ad business. One of the creative people Jerry Goodus recruited was none other than fellow traveler Oscar Ross. Oscar was a great conceptual thinker. When Elmer's glue came to Goodus needing an advertising campaign, Goodus gave the assignment to Oscar. A few days later, he walked into Jerry's office

and plunked a rough layout on his desk. It was a billboard. idea. There were only four words on a white background. It said, quick, the Elmer's glue. And one corner of the white background was peeling off the billboard. It was so simple

and so perfect. It didn't just talk about the adhesive benefit. It showed the benefit. And the billboard didn't even need to feature a photo of the glue bottle. It set it all in the blink of an eye, the ultimate goal for a billboard. Goodus loved it and posted the billboard in high traffic areas near hardware stores.

Elmer's glue flew off the shelves. That kind of creativity would soon attract even bigger clients. Don't go away. We'll be right back. One day in the early 70s, a company called Speedy Muffler hired Goodus Goldberg-Sorin. At that time, specialty repair shops, didn't really exist. If you had a muffler problem, you just took it to your local all-purpose garage.

When the owner of Speedy was explaining his business to Goodness, he actually got emotional talking about how poorly people were treated by ordinary garages when they brought their cars in for minor repairs. He said, where else but a garage can you go in with an expensive piece of merchandise and get ignored? The Speedy owner wanted to treat his cut. with respect.

And there was the key to the advertising idea. It wasn't the number of speedy locations. It wasn't the price and it wasn't the guarantee. It was how customers retreated when they walked through the door. Again, Oscar Ross came up with the perfect line. It said, at Speedy, you're a somebody. Writer Doug Linton and art director Gary Carr came up with a very funny TV commercial.

It began with a husband quietly getting out of bed early in the morning while his wife is still asleep. He changes into his golf clothes without a sound. He tiptoes down the stairs to the kitchen. He gingerly steps over the family dog. He prepares a drink in a mixer and steps into a closet to turn the mixer on. Then he comes out, grabs his golf clubs, and tiptoes out into the driveway, gets into his car, then turns the key.

The muffler is so loud it not only wakes up his wife, it wakes up the entire angry neighborhood. Hilarious. Then, Hubby takes his car to Speedy, where they happily take care of him. You can find the commercial on YouTube, and it's still as funny today as it was in 1971. By promising courteous service in a category not known for it,

speedy muffler sales went up a whopping 30% in the first six months alone. At speedy, you're a somebody. By 1972, Goodus Goldberg-Sorne was the seventh largest Canadian-owned agency with a staff of over 130 people. Other advertising accounts started knocking on the door. One of those was Wonderbra. The team at Goodest created a commercial. based on a fashion shoot with a photographer and model.

CBC refused to air the commercial, as the network wouldn't allow ads that showed women wearing just a bra. Bikini's, yes, a bra, no. The commercial featured a jingle that I bet a lot of you still remember. We care about the shape you're in. Wonderful, wonderful.

Wonder bra. Very quickly, Wonderbra became the number one brand in its category. In 1972, Jerry Goodes became the first Canadian ad person to write a book on the business, titled, Have I Ever Lied to You Before? In it, Goodest summed up his philosophy saying, Almost Good Enough, isn't good enough. He demanded big ideas, so he hired the best talent, the top photographers.

He insisted on building the best sets, and he encouraged commercials to be shot, on location, even if that location was in Europe. It may have kept profits down, but the results were undeniable. His client's revenues went up, and Goodus Goldberg-Soran won countless awards for their work. Jerry Goodes was also fearless when it came to pitching new business. Ever the advertising bad boy, he once offered preparation H the line, kiss your hemorrhoids goodbye. He didn't get the business.

When he went after the Canadian Club Whiskey account, he sent a baseball bat over to Hiram Walker with the Canadian Club logo printed on it, along with a note that said, will help you club your competition. He got the business. When he was pitching the CIL paint account, he began the boardroom pitch by thanking CIL

for awarding him the business. The client reminded, Goodus they hadn't awarded the account yet. Goodus said, we'll see. He got the account. When the agency lost Formosa Springs beer as a client, it drove Goodes

crazy. He wanted it back. When he later heard Formosa was not happy with its new agency, Goodus immediately sent President Tony Toledo a letter asking if Goodus Goldberg-Sorne could get another crack at the account. Toledo wrote back

saying, maybe, but added, don't call us, we'll call you. The word don't was underlined. Goodes wondered how to keep in touch with the brewery president if he wasn't allowed to call or write. So he came up with an idea. He would communicate with them through the personal ads in the Toronto newspapers.

So Goodus placed an ad that said, Antonio, come back, all is forgiven. Jerry. Another said, Antonio, stop playing hard to get. Jerry. Still another said, how about dealing some clubs and diamonds again?

Love, Jerry, referring to Formosa Diamond and Club Ails. Goodes got the account back again. A few years later, the brewery was purchased by a tobacco company. The president told him he could keep the account if he stopped making anti-smoking speeches, which Goodus was known to do. Goodus said no, and he was fired again.

One of the great legacies of Jerry's agency was the fact so many of its campaigns lasted so long, such a rarity in the world of advertising. But Goodus had a nose for spotting a big idea. At speedy or a somebody, ran for decades. When Goodus landed the Swiss Chalet account, The restaurant chain only had six locations in Ontario and Quebec. The basic premise was simple.

Excellent barbecue chicken at moderate prices. So his agency came up with this slogan. Sweet chalet always so good for so little. Every commercials showed delicious chicken rotating over hard wood charcoal and the end of every ad featured a local celebrity enjoying their Swiss chalet dinner. It was a huge success. and Swiss chalet grew quickly to have over 50 locations. That slogan, too, ran for years.

Then Goodest landed the Harvey's hamburger chain. Harvey's predated McDonald's in Canada. It never really advertised, but once McDonald's entered the market, it had to start. Creative director Doug Linton noticed that McDonald's slogans were rarely about the food. You deserve a break-tip. and we do it all for you,

we're about the experience, Ronald McDonald, and kids. So Harvey's chose to advertise to adults and highlight the fact you could personalize your char broiled burger, unlike at McDonald's. Linton wrote this slogan and said it to music. Within one year, sales jumped up 28%. I still see that line on Harvey's website

over 30 years later. In 1974, Jerry Goodes was asked to help promote a different kind of product, a prime minister, to be exact, named Pierre Trudeau. Goodes was recruited by Senator Keith Davy. A special team was assembled, cherry-picking the top people from various advertising agencies who were liberal-friendly. It was a team of rivals, dubbed Red Leaf Communications. The assignment appealed to Goodus, who grew up in a politically active home, as mentioned earlier.

Trudeau needed commercials to secure a third term, and Goodus happily applied his skill set. He found Trudeau to be a whipsmart politician who demanded unvarnished feedback from those around him. If he didn't give it to him straight, you were out. The TV advertising was a success, and Trudeau was re-elected. During the campaign, Davy and Goodes had a meeting at 24 Sussex. Trudeau invited them both to stay for lunch. As they walked into the dining room, Davy pulled Goodus aside and said,

Whatever you do, don't sit in the chair closest to the north window. There was a special hotline phone under that particular chair, and only Trudeau was allowed to sit there. As they were ushered into the dining room, Goodus was so engrossed in the conversation, he sat right in the special hotline chair. Keith Davy's eyes bugged out of his head. Goodus suddenly realized his faux paw and turned beat red.

Trudeau told Goodus to relax, and if the phone rang, to just answer it. Goodus could hardly eat his lunch, petrified the phone under his posterior would ring. It was maybe the only time the MCN, of the travelers, and the frontman of Goodus Goldberg-Sorren was ever at a loss for words. Journalist Peter Newman once said that Jerry Goodus was a self-made man who worshipped his creator. There was no doubt Goodus had an ego, and he could showboat with the best of them.

But the pocket-sized ad man with the bad comb over worked hard for his clients. He not only promoted their products, he believed in them. He drank Canadian Club whiskey, he got his mufflers from Speedy, and his casual shoes were hush puppies. There was just one exception. He never wore a wonder bra. But he could spot talent.

He created an environment where creative minds could do their best work. He established a high bar for creative standards, and he kicked his way into a very waspy industry. When Jerry Goodes died in 2002, one of the creative people he had taken a chance on, who went on to found another terrific agency years later, said it was no overstatement to say Goodes Goldberg-Sorin was the only ad agency in Canada that looked and sounded as good as the best ad agencies in New York. The work Goodas inspired rang out for decades in a business where campaigns have the lifespan

of a mayfly. He was chronically unhappy with the ad industry as a whole, feeling it constantly embarrassed itself with terrible commercials. He spoke out about it at every opportunity and made a lot of enemies.

But at the end of the day, his work was known from Bonavista to the Vancouver Island because he had us all under his influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terstream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer Debbie O'Reilly.

Sound engineer Jeff Devine. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefeaver. Thank you to the National Film Board for the clips from Have I Ever Lied to You Before documentary. If you're enjoying this episode, you might also like, There's Something About Mary, Mad Woman Mary Wells, Season 10, Episode 18. You'll find it in our archives where

wherever you listen to your podcasts. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Terry O'Influence. See you next week. Fun fact. The Elmer's Glue Billboard was the first ad inducted into the Canadian Billboard

Hall of Fame. It must have really stuck out.