Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories

Every professional communicator has had a day that seems like it came straight out of a TV sitcom.

For Rob Davis and John R. Montgomery, working at the Chicago ad firm Leo Burnett in the early 2000’s, it was a regular occurrence.

In fact, the stories from their time there were so singular, that when they shot a pilot and pitched it to Hollywood, it was picked up and run as a CBS sitcom starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

From wacky hijinks to high-stakes drama, unbelievable coincidences to larger-than-life personalities, "The Crazy Ones" sourced its comedy from real-life agency anecdotes, amplified by the creative genius of its all-star cast and famed executive producer David E. Kelley.

And Rob and John found themselves on a wild Hollywood ride that would alter the course of both their careers.

In this episode, they tell us what it took to get the project off the ground, what it was like repackaging their professional lives as TV scripts, and how they pitched a new approach to brand integration on television that was years ahead of its time.

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"How do you do, fellow marketers? We think it would be pretty 'on fleek' if you would stop trying to use slang terms to make yourself more relatable to young people."

Certainly, brands swooping in and trying to leverage youth culture to drive sales is nothing new.

But as bad as it was in the 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s, the advent of social media marketing made it 1000 times worse.

The internet never forgets, and whether it's the "Silence, Brand!" meme or the "How Do You Do, Fellow Kids" Reddit group, the web is littered with examples of companies whose attempts to ingratiate themselves with young people have earned outright scorn instead.

So in this episode, we talk to Holden Jurisich, a 24-year-old Gen Z meme expert, and his dad Jay Jurisich, the founder and creative director of the Zinzin naming and branding agency in San Francisco, to explore case studies of this phenomenon in action.

Plus, sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland explains how this pattern has played out, again and again, over the centuries of English language history.

Because, while you’ll find dozens of articles explaining how to incorporate youth slang into your social media marketing, or urging you to be ironic and self-aware when you speak to Gen Z in their own language, the best advice is and always has been:

Don’t.

Just don’t do it.

Because the kids don't like it.

Check out the blog post by Holden: https://www.zinzin.com/observations/2022/how-do-you-do-fellow-kids-gen-z-speak-in-naming-and-branding/

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Communicating during and about the Covid-19 pandemic is a topic we've discussed several times on this show, including in our most recent episode.

And, as of today, May 11, 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus Public Health Emergency is expiring.

But just because Covid is "over" doesn’t mean we won’t still have to discuss it as strategic communicators.

And so in this bonus episode, we bring back someone who has been a voice of reassurance and reason throughout this horrible, three-year ordeal.

Bill Pierce was a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services in the George W. Bush Administration. Today he’s a crisis communications consultant at APCO Worldwide and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.

We'll discuss the nuances you need to understand as a strategic communicator in the "new normal," best practices to keep in mind, and what it all means for the world of business and public policy more broadly.

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When the unstoppable force of online dating met the immovable object of global pandemic social distancing, there was no road map for what would come next. 

Michael Kaye is the director of brand and communications for the online dating app OkCupid. And, in the early days of the Covid lockdown, he and his team faced decisions that weighed on no less than the continued existence of the company.

After all, what is a stay-at-home order if not an existential threat to a company whose customers want to get matched up with new people to meet and date?

Facing this and other previously unthinkable realities in 2020, Michael and his team made the bold decision to retool their messaging—and indeed their core operating strategies—to embrace social responsibility over conventional profit.

It was a calculated risk that panned out in the long run, as we'll learn from Michael and a pair of OkCupid users—Lauren Stines and Jake Sandvik—who each have their own stories of love finding a way, even in the midst of global crisis. 

Special thanks to London indie musician Garlen Lo for sharing his song, "Lover's Lover" for this episode! Visit www.garlenlo.com to learn more.

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It is now only a matter of time until someone attacks your reputation with a deepfake, according to the experts.

So-called deepfake technology, which can synthesize audio and video of things that never happened, has arrived en masse.

And, while these tools for generating potential disinformation were previously only available to trained experts and big institutions, recent advances in artificial intelligence technology mean that ANYONE can create fake videos... nearly instantly, with little to no training, for FREE.

Accordingly, experts like Dr. Hany Farid from UC-Berkeley say deepfakes are suddenly being used the wage disinformation campaigns every day.

So in this episode, Dr. Farid cites some examples of how deepfake technology is being used to attack important people and institutions, and lays out strategies that strategic communicators can use to try and protect their clients and employers.

We talk to Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund, the Emmy-winning film directors who used a viral deepfake of President Richard Nixon to try to warn society about the growing threat, and learn some shocking facts about the technology.

And we meet Noelle Martin, a lawyer, researcher and activist from Australia whose reputation has been targeted with deepfake pornography. Noelle tells us about her efforts to create legal recourse for the non-consenting victims of deepfake porn and her battle to reclaim her reputation.

Because deepfake technology no longer poses a reputation threat "sometime in the next few years."

It poses a threat RIGHT NOW.

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It has been called “The Greatest Speech Never Given.” 

Drafted as a contingency plan for President Richard Nixon on the occasion of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the memo entitled "In Event of Moon Disaster" is inarguably a better piece of writing than any of the presidential remarks actually delivered on that day. 

Penned by White House speechwriter William Safire, today it is hailed as a work of rhetorical and poetic genius. It has inspired major Hollywood features, played a central role in moon landing anniversary observances, and even been used as a tool to educate information consumers on the dangers posed by deepfake technology.

And yet from July 20, 1969 until its rediscovery in 1999, this striking piece of American history remained buried in obscurity, its brilliance unrecognized among the millions of pages of documents archived from the Nixon administration.

So in this episode of the Lead Balloon podcast, we will track the path of the "Greatest Speech Never Given," from William Safire's desk, to Nixon's Chief of Staff, to its disappearance from and re-emergence in the national discourse.

Dwight Chapin, who served as Deputy Assistant to President Nixon and helped plan the Public Relations strategy for the moon landing, will tell us more about his colleague Bill Safire, and how they positioned the moon landing from a strategic communication context.

Joe Lopez, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Richard Nixon Foundation, will discuss the memo's rediscovery and display in the Nixon Presidential Library.

And Francesca Panetta and Halsey Burgund, co-directors of the viral Emmy-winning short film “In Event of Moon Disaster,” will discuss their decision to reimagine the remarks by using deepfake technology to synthesize a video of Richard Nixon actually delivering the momentous speech.

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There’s a disturbing new trend making waves in the world of online content creation. 

Corporate blogs, mom-and-pop business websites, podcasts…

Even stuff that you posted years ago to your personal website or social media.

It’s now being examined, sifted through and screened by artificial intelligence bots, which are programmed to search for copyright violations.

The practice has become known as “copyright trolling,” and when the bots find copyrighted images, they send a letter or email demanding payment of hundreds or even thousands of dollars to settle the claim, threatening costly litigation if the recipient does not swiftly comply. 

And for the unsuspecting, often well-meaning online creators who receive these letters, it can be a disruptive, scary and expensive experience.

Working on behalf of copyright holders like the AP and the AFP, companies like PicRights and Higbee & Associates may have outdated copyright laws on their side. But according to our guests in this episode, that doesn't make their practices ethical or moral.

Pierre-Nicolas Schwab is a Belgium-based marketer, technologist and business consultant, and the founder of the market research firm Into the Minds. He has blogged about his experience being accosted by PicRights, and exhaustively researched the company and its methods.

And Caroline Fox is the principal attorney at CJFox Law in Richmond, Virginia. With an agency background in public relations and social media, she now works as an attorney specializing in copyright, trademarks and advertising / media compliance, and has advised numerous clients who have received demand letters from PicRights.

Together, we'll explore how these operations work, what the implications are, and how to protect yourself. Because, if you or your company creates content on the internet, you might be surprised to learn just how vulnerable you are to copyright trolling.

Subscribe to the Podcamp Media e-newsletter for regular updates on what we've got cooking.

And check out these wacky results from when we asked an A.I. to draw "Evil Robot Copyright Lawyers" for us.

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Now with 50% new footage!

During Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Bud Light launched a new advertising strategy that was... unconventional, even for them.

Instead of frogs or "wazzap" guys or silly superstitions, this campaign focused on attacking Bud Light's rivals for using corn syrup to brew their beers. Stranger still, outside observers noted that the beer giant borrowed other conventions from the world of political mudslinging, twisting facts, doubling down on vague talking points and attempting to build a consensus against Miller Lite and Coors Light.

But the brewing barons at Anheuser-Busch didn't count on the little guys... specifically, members of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) who took exception to the attacks and rallied to the defense of MillerCoors.

We've remastered this classic Lead Balloon episode to add the perspective of new key players, including:

Additionally, we've refined the original storytelling with NCGA VP of communications Neil Caskey, Brewers Association spokesman Paul Gatza, and friend-of-the-show Kyle Brown. Together, we'll break down the ultimate failures of "the Corn Syrup Wars," untwist the misleading claims made in Bud Light's ads, and detail the long-term ramifications for all the brands involved.

Subscribe to the Podcamp Media e-newsletter for regular updates on what we've got cooking.

Listen to the NCGA Podcast episode from which our new footage was sourced.

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It's been a busy year here at Podcamp Media.

So busy, in fact, that we almost forgot to recognize a pretty significant milestone in Dusty's career.

20 years ago, Dusty got his first job behind a microphone. He was 17-years-old, working an after school gig at his local radio station in Monroe, Wisconsin, when he was afforded the opportunity to voice the overnight shift and eventually ride the news desk.

It ignited a passion for storytelling and audio that has guided his career ever since—during his 10 years in the radio business, then his career in public relations and content marketing, and finally in his role as founder of Podcamp Media and host of Lead Balloon. Connecting with and serving an audience has always been a guiding star.

So in this this bonus episode, Dusty calls up his first audio boss, Scott Thompson—co-owner of Big Radio in Monroe and afternoon show host—to talk about those formative experiences, lessons, people and memories that set the stage for every step in his career that would come after.

Plus, we dig into the archive and pull out a few audio clips from early in Dusty's career, just for giggles.

Lead Balloon will be back with new episodes in 2023.

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For the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron, media relations is not a job that just happens on the ground. 

Each year, dozens of media reps, influencers and VIPs are invited to take a ride in the back seat of one of the squadron's F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets.

And, in order to help tell the story of the Blue Angels public affairs team, Lead Balloon was invited to be the first podcast to take one of those rides.

CLICK HERE if you prefer to watch a video podcast documentary version of this episode.

In this episode, Dusty is paired up with Lt. Commander Griffin Stangel, #7 Blue Angels pilot and air show narrator, who is tasked with giving media reps the ride of a lifetime, while at the same time serving as an on-the-record spokesman for the unit. He not only flies the plane, but fields questions and hits talking points with a smile on his face—all while enduring the extreme physical punishment of high-G aviation.

The jet rides are a critical part of the Blue Angels media relations strategy, Stangel notes, because, "We can talk about it all day, but unless you're up here experiencing it, you won't truly know what these pilots are putting themselves through." 

Stangel also flies members of the Blue Angels public affairs team to capture photos and videos of the squadron in action. As we learned in the last episode, it's a remarkable ordeal to operate a camera in the middle of "the most intense roller coaster" ride in the world.

This time, we visit the team at their Pensacola headquarters, and we'll take you through a day-in-the-life as a member of the Blue Angels public affairs team: early morning pre-flight briefing, special breathing techniques to avoid "G-Force Induced Loss-of-Consciousness," strapping in to the fighter jet, and a memorable, adrenaline-soaked flight in an F/A-18 Super Hornet.

The Blue Angels are supported by a team of more than 150 U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel, and we meet a number of them, including:

Special thanks as well to Blue Angels Public Affairs Officer Lt. Chelsea Dietlin and Public Affairs Chief MCC Paul Archer for helping coordinate Lead Balloon's embed with the squadron, as well as Jim Schlueter, Paul Guse and Dave Oates.

Make sure to check out the epic video version of this podcast!

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Special music for this episode was performed and recorded by Ty Christian and Brian Koenig of the metal act Lords of the Trident, which is touring this fall in the U.S., Canada and Japan.

Additional music by the Revolution, Tiger Gang and Dr. Delight.

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