Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Putting the Awe in Audio

Episode Date: February 10, 2024

This week, we look at the most creative audio ideas from around the world. Including a podcast for runners that only works if you’re actually running, a police recruitment campaign that capitalized on the popularity of True Crime, and a very ambitious alternative audio track created to be played over Disney’s Pocahontas movie – that tells the truth behind the fairy tale. 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 the teeth You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. I have spent my career in recording studios. The company I co-founded owned four recording studios in Toronto and four more in New York City. Audio was our product.

I've always been fascinated with sound. There's something about the power of audio that never ceases to amaze me. It's also remarkable how audio captured the voices of historic people, some long before film was married to sound. Here is an audio recording of James Naismith, the man who invented basketball. He created the game in 1891 during a blinding snowstorm. For days, his students couldn't go outdoors, so Naismith

invented a game in the gymnasium to keep them occupied. Here, the Canadian-born Naismith tells the story in an audio recording. One day I had an idea. I called the boys to the gym, divided them up into teams of nine, and gave them an old soccer ball. I showed them two peach baskets I'd nailed up at each end of the gym, and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team's peach basket. I blew a whistle, and the first game of basketball began. If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, here's an audio recording of J.R. Tolkien reading from The Hobbit. And he does a pretty good Gollum. I guess it's a choice feast. At least a tasty marshmallow doesn't make us all.

And when he said all, he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat. That is how he got his name, though he always called himself My Precious. Joseph H. Hazleton actually witnessed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was only a schoolboy on that infamous day. He recorded this recollection when he was 80 years old. I was standing looking directly up at the president's box. I happened to turn my eyes to the right, to the main entrance.

I saw Wilkes Booth enter. As he went up the steps to the right, towards the dress circle, and then towards the president's box, I wondered in my childish way what he could be doing there, in such a garb on such an auspicious occasion. I didn't have long to wait. There was a flash and a report. President Lincoln had been assassinated. There are not words enough in the vocabulary of the English language to describe the awful hush fell over that house when the shot was fired.

Not long ago, another audio recording that was thought to have been lost was discovered. It was a recording of Gordon Lightfoot from 1950. He's singing a Christmas carol in St. Paul's Church in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario. The recording was full of scratches and very hard to hear. But a sound engineer named Rob Curry had just been watching the Beatles' Get Back documentary, where director Peter Jackson had used AI technology to isolate John Lennon's voice on a very rough demo tape. The result was so good, the remaining Beatles were able to finish the song titled Now and Then.

Curry used a similar process for the Lightfoot recording. It started like this. But listen to how angelic Lightfoot sounds at the age of 12. It's the magic of audio. There is some audio magic in the world of marketing, too. Today, we'll listen to some of the most creative audio ideas from around the world.

Audio ideas that make you stop and think about issues like organ donation, homelessness, and the plight of indigenous women. And audio that can also make you laugh, like an audiobook from the world's favorite fake doctor, and a funny radio campaign that reminds you to drink responsibly on St. Patrick's Day. So, put your ears on and listen up. You're under the influence. More than 90% of Canadians support organ and tissue donation. Yet, only 32% are registered as organ donors. And currently, there are over 4,000 Canadians waiting for an organ transplant. Becoming an organ donor is easy to do. Just go to organtissuedonation.ca.

But so few people do it, or remember to do it. Back in 1937, an advertising agency called WB Donor was founded in Detroit by a 23-year-old named Wilfred Broderick Donor. Today, it employs close to a thousand people and is one of the largest independent advertising agencies. It has a Toronto office called Donor North. donor north. While the name has nothing to do with organ donors, this ad agency came up with a very simple yet intricate radio message to encourage organ donation. Titled The Donated Commercial, it was created in a highly unusual way. It was assembled using 48 donated parts from other commercials. Every part of this message was donated from another commercial.

Just like organ donation. Inventory is limited. But if you make the most of this opportunity, you can give someone an upgrade bonus. We are having a big summer trade-in to give others a revolutionary new ride. So become an organ donor and you can make someone's life more livable than ever. It's the perfect gift that opens up new horizons and can save up to eight lives.

So take advantage of this exceptional offer and become a donor. Visit organtissuedonation.ca It was a very smart ad demonstrating that something could be brought to life with donated parts. It was launched on Spotify during National Organ and Tissue Donation Week.

The commercial's click-through rate was 87% higher than the average ad on Spotify, meaning 87% more people than usual click through to the organ donation website, and 79% of those people registered to become organ donors. Demonstrating the power of audio. In Australia, an organization called White Lion helps young people at risk. Advertising agency Ogilvy wanted to help White Lion generate donations to help the homeless. Over 46,000 young Australians live on the street there.

To most, they are invisible. So Ogilvy looked to the streets for an idea. And they spotted something else that has become virtually invisible. Payphones. There are still 15,391 payphones on the streets of Australia. And three times that number of homeless youth live on the streets. So the advertising agency decided to make the loudest call. Using advanced telephony technology, they called every payphone in Australia at exactly the same time.

While it's easy to ignore a homeless person, it's harder to ignore 15,391 phones ringing at once all over the country. When the public did answer the phones, they heard a message from homeless people. Hello. Oh, hi. Wow. I really thought you'd given up on me. But I've just got to say I'm pretty glad you answered. I'm one of 46,000 young people who are right now calling out for help. The phone messages explain some of the reasons why people become homeless. At the end of the message, the homeless people asked for help. If you'd like to do a little more and you're over 18... You can go to whitelion.org.au to donate and help write the story for young Aussies like me.

The budget for this idea was just $3,700. 15,391 phones rang that day. $76,000 was donated for a return on investment of 1,900%. By calling all of Australia's pay phones at once, White Lion

challenged the country to finally notice its 46,000 homeless youth. On the lighter side of life, Progressive Insurance created an unusual audio idea. For a few years now, they have been running multiple campaigns, one with spokesperson Flo from Progressive and another one with Dr. Rick. As we've mentioned before, Progressive calls Dr. Rick the world's foremost expert in parentamorphosis,

a condition used to describe young homeowners who start turning into their parents when they buy their first home. It's based on the psychological insight that when young people buy their first homes, they start to exhibit the qualities of their older parents as major life responsibilities start to weigh them down. And Progressive wanted to reach these new homeowners in a humorous way to convince them to insure their homes with Progressive. It's a very funny campaign. Dr. Rick tells them that they don't always have to use the speaker phone on every phone call, they don't have to wear socks and sandals, and they don't have to Google Google. In this commercial, Dr. Rick stands in front of a dumpster with his therapy group.

These are my tissue box covers. Remember, tissues come in their own boxes. It's important for young homeowners to let go of the things turning them into their parents. There we go. All right, who's next? I've been holding on to these pieces of crown molding because you never know when you're going to need them. I do, and it's never. Progressive can't save you from becoming your parents,

but we can save you money when you bundle home an auto with us. You can never have too many bags. Yes, you can. In the dumpster. And recently, Progressive produced an unusual audio idea. As they say on their website, through field work, seminars, and group sessions, Dr. Rick has helped young

homeowners everywhere unbecome their parents. But unfortunately, there is only one Dr. Rick. And since he can only reach so many sufferers at once, he's created an audiobook. Titled, Dr. Rick Will See You Now, Progressive says the audiobook is like a one-on-one session with the man himself filled with strategies, exercises, self-assessments, and bite-sized wisdoms that homeowners need to combat parent amorphosis. Next, imagine a man standing with his arm outstretched as he leans the majority of his weight against the side of a building. This pose is called the Leaning Tower of Dad. This is a simple fix.

Relax your shoulders. Relax your arms. Relax your legs. Just relax in general. If you see a wall or a structure nearby, resist the urge to lean against it. You don't need help standing, and neither does that building or pole. You're standing, not bracing for impact. The Tongue-in-Cheek book was actually distributed through Audible. It had over 12,000 downloads. It generated over 1,700 global ratings from listeners, boasting an overall rating of 4.8 stars.

It was the most downloaded audiobook from a brand last year, a big win for Progressive. And remember, Dr. Rick says you don't have to say howdy to people you meet.

You're not a cowboy. Jameson Irish Whiskey created an amusing radio campaign to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and to remind people to drink and act responsibly. So Jameson produced radio commercials by recreating actual police scanner reports from past actual St. Patrick's Day incidents. The following events are police transcripts from St. Patrick's Day. Attention all units, Westside Hotel. See security officer regarding a woman screaming,

Kiss me, I'm Irish, while yelling at her reflection in a lobby mirror. City zoo, contact security regarding a male and female skinny dipping with seals and feeding them corned beef and cabbage. Uptown, dispute. A man fell off a barstool and is accusing another man of moving it. All barstools appear to be bolted to the floor. This is St. Patrick's Day, don't push your luck. Drink responsibly.

Jameson Irish Whiskey. They are hilarious. I've said it before, you can't beat the inherent humor of real people. And you can't beat the audio power of podcasts. Over in Zurich, Switzerland, a fitness retailer called Exna Sport wanted to motivate runners. Lots of people take up jogging, but 6 out of every 10 struggle to keep motivated and stay with it. So Exna Sport chose audio and created a podcast called Run Time. In the podcast,

famous marathon and Olympic athletes talk about running across 12 episodes. They talk about their most famous races, what challenges they faced, how they overcame them, and share their elite running secrets. But here's the best part. Exna Sport and their advertising agency developed an app that uses speed sensors and GPS data to measure whether runners were actually running. Not just moving, but running. If the user stops, the podcast pauses. When the user runs, the podcast pauses. When the user runs, the podcast starts again. It was the first podcast of its kind, and each episode is longer than the previous one,

so users can keep increasing their fitness levels. The podcast motivated runners to stick with it, made the listeners run more entertaining, and users learned how to become a better runner. And with every completed episode, runners could unlock a discount voucher for running equipment. The Runtime podcast was so successful, it became the number one fitness app for runners in Switzerland, proving that audio can be very moving.

The Australian Federal Police, or AFP, is the federal law enforcement agency of the Australian government. It is tasked with investigating and preventing serious crime, ranging from terrorism to human trafficking. As crime becomes more complex, the skill sets required to stay one step ahead also become more complex, requiring a more diverse police force. But law enforcement has an image problem.

It's often seen as an outdated and male-dominated organization by the very recruits it needs to attract. To overcome this, the AFP wanted to reposition itself as an organization that, quote, outsmart serious crime with intelligent action. And it wanted to do that by attracting more female officers.

In order to attract diversely skilled police candidates, AFP and its advertising agency created an unusual recruitment campaign. One of the top podcast categories in nearly every country, including Canada, is true crime. And research shows that 75% of true crime listeners are female. In Australia, true crime is not only one of the fastest-growing genres, it attracts a female audience aged 17 to 25, the exact target age for police recruits. So AFP and its ad agency created a six-episode podcast series called Crime Interrupted.

Each episode opened the vault to a particular notorious crime story, creating an intriguing narrative. An every hour-long episode included interviews with officers, victims, and even criminals, and showcased the diverse skills police officers used to solve the crime. By the number of victims that he targeted, it wasn't just one child or two children. It was hundreds of children. Her nose was bleeding profusely. I was led into the house and I was met with another two guys, one with a handmade pistol, another one with a machete.

To maintain engagement, each episode was released weekly across all major podcast platforms, each offering a truly compelling picture of a career in the AFP. And every episode was linked to the AFP's recruitment hub. Instead of spending money on traditional media, the Australian Federal Police created their own channel that people actively sought out. The results exceeded all expectations. The Crime Interrupted podcast was downloaded 460,000 times in six weeks.

It reached number one in Spotify's Australia True Crime chart, and it hit number two in Spotify's National Podcast chart. Visits to the AFP's recruitment website increased 114 percent. Female applications went up 40 percent. The proportion of female applicants as a percentage reached the highest level ever on record. The Crime Interrupted podcast is regarded by the Australian Federal Police as their most successful recruitment campaign in history. And it showed the power of podcasting. According to Amnesty International, sexual stereotypes continue to be a major factor in violent attacks towards indigenous women and girls.

Indigenous women are 16 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than any other group. And four out of five Indigenous women will experience violence in their lifetimes. In an effort to change this, Toronto advertising agency BBDO partnered with Muskrat Magazine, a prominent Indigenous art and culture publication. Together, they focused on a key insight, that the hyper-sexualized Indian princess portrayed in popular movies continues to perpetuate false stereotypes

that lead to violence. The most famous of these portrayals is the story of Pocahontas, watched by generations of families with their young children. What many believe is a fairy tale

is actually the first documented account of a missing and murdered indigenous girl. It was time to flip the script and tell the real story

of Pocahontas, whose real name was Matoaka. The way Matoaka's real story was told is remarkable. A full-length alternative audio track was created to sync up to Disney's Pocahontas movie. It was a Herculean undertaking. The entire movie was rewritten and revoiced, word for

word, syllable for syllable, and perfectly lip-synced by indigenous writers, actors, and musicians, all done from an indigenous perspective. Screenwriter Lauren Delery explains. It's a simple hack.

Play Disney's Pocahontas on mute with the audio track from MissingMatoaka.ca lined up to the logo. Titled Missing Matoaka, it sets the record straight on harmful misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding the story of Pocahontas. Along with a big PR push, audiences were encouraged to play the alternative audio track over the Disney movie to reframe the well-known narrative in a profound and long overdue way. 118 million people were reached. It had such an impact, the advertising agency has been alerted

that Disney is now working on applying a warning before its Pocahontas movie. You can listen to the alternative audio track at missingmatoaka.ca. When you change the narrative, you change the future. I am Matoaka, and this is my story. Audio often doesn't get the respect it deserves. It's usually considered a lower art form than movies and television, yet the reality is very few can do it well. Note also that this episode is about audio, not just radio, because audio has escaped the confines of radio now, and it's more powerful than ever.

It made Australians notice and help the homeless. It framed the possibilities of organ donation in an arresting way. One of the most boring industries donation in an arresting way. One of the most boring industries made people laugh with an audiobook. And a whiskey brand made people smile while asking them to behave responsibly on St. Patrick's Day. Sometimes audio can be simple, like the Jameson radio commercials. Sometimes it can entertain, recruit, and keep you running. And sometimes it can even take on ambitious goals, like recording an alternate audio track to an entire Disney movie

to tell the truth behind the fairy tale. It's a sound you can't ignore 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. 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. 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 Ryan Vickers from Newmarket, Ontario. apostrophepodcasts.ca and follow the prompts. See you next week. Hi, this is Ryan Vickers from Newmarket, Ontario. Fun fact,

Jameson Irish Whiskey was named after John Jameson, who was Scottish.