This week, we take a look at four brands that have found a way to survive for decades.

One company has been entertaining crowds with wax for 200 years.

One restaurant has been topping their ice cream cones with a unique swirl for over 80 years.

Another company teamed up with a certain debonaire spy 60 years ago.

And a fourth brand has made a fortune blowing bubbles for over 75 years.

Their stories are fascinating.

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Marketing contests can be tricky business.

On one hand, contests can be designed to help companies achieve certain business goals.

On the other hand, companies can lose control over them pretty quickly.

This week, we look at some of the most interesting – and hilarious – marketing contests.

Including one about a city that held a contest to name a new building – and the public voted overwhelmingly to name it after a past mayor named Harry Baals.

True story.

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From our Season 12 Archives,

Billboards are one of the biggest creative challenges in the marketing world.

They need to be seven words or less.

They need to contain an idea.

And they need to communicate quickly as people speed by.

This week on Under The Influence, we look at the most creative billboards from around the world.

We’ll talk about a car maker that used tiny billboards to get inside their competitor’s vehicles.

How one airline used a billboard that could detect planes passing overhead.

And we’ll tell you the hilarious story of a billboard stunt gone wrong that involves a giant… muffin.

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Another favourite from our Season 12 Archives.

This week it’s our annual Bookmarks episode.

I read a lot of books to research Under The Influence. But every season, there isn’t enough room to include all the great stories I find.

So this episode is dedicated to those stories that didn’t fit into our regular episodes. But are so good, they are worth telling.

We’ll tell an amazing story about the book Goodnight Moon.

We’ll tell you why David Bowie seemed to have two different-coloured eyes.

We’ll talk about why inspiration is 90% perspiration and the inside story of the historic music score from the movie Jaws.

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From our Season 12 Archives... another favourite.

You’ve probably seen those Red Bull Mini Coopers driving around town with the giant Red Bull can on their roofs.

This week on Under The Influence, we look at the wild and wacky world of marketing mobiles.

They’ve actually been around for over 100 years.

We’ll crack open the story behind the Planters Peanut Nutmobiles.

We’ll take to the skies to tell you an amazing story behind the famous Goodyear blimps.

And we’ll tell the story of the famous Oscar Meyer Wienermobiles.

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There are some very interesting loopholes in the world of marketing.

Because businesses are always looking for an upper hand in a competitive category, loopholes can offer legal advantages.

A loophole can help a company overcome barriers in the marketplace.

Sometimes, the way a product is marketed can give customers a loophole they can take advantage of.

And sometimes a 20-year-old kid can spot a loophole that panics a giant corporation.

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If you searched the question:

“What player has won the most Wimbledon singles titles,” Google will tell you it’s Roger Federer with 8 wins.

But that’s incorrect. Martina Navratilova has 9.

This week, we look at remarkable ideas that promote gender equality.

Including an idea called Correct the Internet.com

And one that challenged menstruation taboos with a program called “Touch the pickle.”

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The Beatlology Interviews (Season 2, Episode 1)

What if John Lennon had never died in 1980. What if George Harrison was still with us? What would it have taken to convince the Beatles to give one more major concert? In “Reunion: A Rock ’N Roll Fairy Tale” author Gary Burr tackles all those questions in a very entertaining novel. By the way, Gary has also played on nine Ringo Starr albums. He’s got some great inside stories.

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