Shows / Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories
Compelling tales from the world of public relations, marketing and branding, told by the well-meaning communications professionals who lived them. Lead Balloon is like Freakonomics for communicators and media consumers. It's a show where we tell stories from communications industry leaders, brands that everyone knows and loves (or hates), and spectacular PR disasters. With immersive storytelling and a wry sense of humor, host Dusty Weis (nominated for "Best Indie Podcast Host" at the 2026…
Episodes
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories74. But, Can AI Be a Podcast Host's ASSISTANT? with Aneri Shah & "Gabby"
We've been dunking on AI a whole lot lately. And that's not going to change any time soon. Because most of the uses for AI that we're seeing are cheap, sloppy…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories73. AI Podcasts Scrapped: Inception Point CEO Jeanine Wright Explains Pivot, Rebrand as Liquid Studios
As they promote their new AI technologies, executives at tech startups have said some outlandish things. Making bold claims gets headlines. It secures…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories72. Bald as a Brand: What is Baldmaxxing and Why Should Marketers Pay Attention? w/ Harry James and Brennan Johnson
For decades, baldness has been seen as undesirable—for men AND women. Traditional and social media both have reinforced the message that a thick, luscious head…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories71. America's Brand: Reclaiming Patriotism for Regular Americans, with Joe Trahan (APR Fellow PRSA)
Every nation on the planet is its own brand. And love of country plays a part in each one. But here in the U.S., the very notion of patriotism has been…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories70. How to Go Viral and Not Screw Up Your Kid's Life, with the Original "Hysterical Bubbles" Laughing Baby (All Grown Up)
The annals of internet history are littered with cautionary tales from young people who became internet famous. From “Star Wars Kid” (Ghyslain Raza) to “Overly…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories69. How the Snapple Brand Won Our Hearts in the 90s, Then Lost Them
The strategy at the heart of the Snapple brand's precipitous rise... and its cataclysmic fall... is simple. "Embrace your roots. Celebrate authenticity." It's…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories68. Seth Rogen Film, The Interview, Sparks a North Korean Hack Attack and a Hollywood PR Debacle for Sony Pictures' CEO
In 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment sparked an international diplomatic crisis when it announced its latest comedy, which they called “The Interview.”…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories67. Coca-Cola's Master's Tournament Sponsorship Triggers 2002 Boycott Threat, with Ben Deutsch and Dr. Martha Burk
Home to the Masters Tournament, the Augusta National Golf Club typically serves as a backdrop for sports drama. But in 2002, the club itself became the story…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories66. Cracks in the ICE: Legal Observers in Minneapolis Use the First Amendment to Swing Public Opinion About Immigration Crackdown
Since the government shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, something has changed in the national conversation about the Trump…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories65. Delicious Redemption: Getting Fired for an Infamous PBR Tweet Made Corey Smale the CCO at Garage Beer
It was four years ago that the Twitter account for legendary beer brand Pabst Blue Ribbon tweeted out: "Not drinking this January? Try eating ass!" And we're…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories64. The Wikipedia Prank: Why the Internet Mistakenly Thought the Movie Good Luck Chuck was Based on Ben Kollenbroich
15 years ago, if you had googled Ben Kollenbroich’s name, you would have discovered that his life story was the inspiration for “Good Luck Chuck,” a…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories63. A.I. Podcast Host Invasion: Inception Point's Business Model & the Podcast Industry's Reaction
Earlier this month, a new startup announced that they would be using artificial intelligence to churn out thousands of podcast episodes voiced by A.I. podcast…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories62. Modernizing the Way We Communicate About Road Closures (Especially During Emergencies), with Scott Oppman from ArcGIS
Most people get travel information about road closures from Google Maps, Apple Maps or a similar smartphone-based application. But when a road is closed, most…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories61. Will Wikipedia survive Artificial Intelligence? (And Can A.I. Survive Without Wikipedia?)
Wikipedia readers consume nearly one billion articles per day from the online encyclopedia. In its 25 years of operation, this compendium of human knowledge…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories60. Recession Lessons from Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi: Double Down, Dig In
In the world of business, yet again, things looks grim. A brewing trade war, the uncharted fallout of artificial intelligence, and political upheaval around…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories59. Bot Farms Have Made Social Media Engagement Metrics Meaningless, with Eric Schwartzman
What you see online is not real. This has long been a reliable axiom for information consumption on the internet. But social media and SEO marketers have long…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories58. The Mystery of the I-94 Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week Billboard, with Ken Hoffman & Kyle Brown
There is a weird, enigmatic old billboard along the interstate in Wisconsin promoting a "Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week." Without any branding or context…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories57. Why Have Streaming Services Put So Many Ads In Our Shows? with Film Critic Matt Zoller Seitz
After more than a decade of living in an entertainment golden age... Filled with more and better options, with less advertising, than ever before in human…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories56. What Happens at American Airlines After a Plane Crash: Behind the Scenes with Former Spokeswoman Jennifer R. Hudson
Three weeks after accepting a new role as an American Airlines spokeswoman in 1995, Jennifer R. Hudson was paged out of bed in the middle of the night. The…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories55. Liquid Death Spoofs the Pepsi Harrier Jet Giveaway, with Andy Pearson & Jeff Beer
At the height of the Cola Wars in the mid-90's, Pepsi committed one of the most notorious PR and marketing fiascos of all-time. An eye-catching spot promised…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories54. The Election of the Podcast? 2024 Presidential Campaign PR Focuses on Podcasts & Social Media
Earned media has long been the holy grail of public relations. For decades, getting your client's message in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal has…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories53. Alex Jones’s Infowars Being Purchased by the Onion and Sandy Hook Families, with Onion CMO Leila Brillson
Alex Jones, founder of the extremist conspiracy-theory-peddling digital brand Infowars, has proved again and again that there is no lie he will not embrace and…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories52. FEMA Public Affairs Team Still Carries Scars from Hurricane Ike Assignment, with Molly McPherson & Mike Moore
The videos and stories we’ve seen and heard from Hurricanes Helene and Milton over the last month have been truly horrific. They're an important reminder that…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories51. The Legend of Dukakis in a Tank: White House Comms Pros Talk Presidential Optics, with Josh King and Kevin Sullivan
The image of 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis riding in a tank has become synonymous with abject public relations failure. For marketers…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications StoriesBONUS: Literally, the Grammar-Nerdiest Conversation You'll Ever Hear, with Dr. Valerie Fridland
Sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland says we need to relax about the changing nature of language. In her book, "Like, Literally Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories50. Grumpy Cat, the Sound of Freedom, Watergate and More: A Look Back and a Look at What's Next
When you're working with high-profile people in fields like PR, marketing and branding, things are always changing. History gets uncovered. New information…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories49. How I Almost Got Fired in My 1st Week in PR, and the Important Life Lessons I Learned
At the end of his first week working in public relations, Lead Balloon host Dusty Weis did something so dumb, he could have been fired on the spot. During a…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories48. A UAP PR Campaign: Mainstreaming the Conversation About Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena, with Lt. Ryan Graves
UFOs have traditionally been more of a pop culture phenomenon than an actual science. But with the recent declassification of Navy gun camera footage that…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories47. Sliding into DMs on the Dating App Hinge, with NextGen America's Kristi Johnston
Let's be honest: political groups don't have a great success rate when it comes to their strategic communication tactics. Every election cycle, American voters…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories46. Why Are Wireless Emergency Alerts on Your Phone So Terrible? A Strategic Communication Conundrum
On January 18, 2018, the entire State of Hawaii received an ear piercing alert on their cell phones. "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories45. Replaced by Chat GPT: Are Creative and Copywriting Jobs Threatened by Artificial Intelligence?
The robot revolution has arrived. And they're coming for your marketing or content creation job. The advent of generative artificial intelligence chatbots—most…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories44. How a Real Life Ad Agency Inspired the Robin Williams CBS Sitcom, "The Crazy Ones"
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories43. Brands Don't Have the Rizz: Appropriating Gen Z Slang Is Falling Flat in Social Media Marketing
"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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications StoriesBONUS: Covid is—Air Quotes—Over. What That Means for Strategic Communicators, with former HHS Spokesman Bill Pierce
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories42. OkCupid Stays On Target During the Covid Pandemic: PR Messaging and Online Dating Apps
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories41. Deepfakes: How Communicators Must Prepare Now for this Imminent Reputation Threat
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories40. In Event of Moon Disaster: The Greatest Speech Never Given
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories39. Pernicious Copyright Robots Are Targeting Your Website: PicRights and the Practice of "Copyright Trolling"
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories38. The Bud Light CoRntroversy, Revisited: Miller Lite Strikes Back
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications StoriesBONUS: Celebrating 20 Years Behind a Mic With Dusty's First Audio Boss, Scott Thompson
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories37. Blue Angels Ride Along: Lead Balloon Becomes the First Podcast to Fly with the US Navy Blue Angels
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…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories36. The US Navy Blue Angels: Public Affairs and Marketing at 500 Miles Per Hour
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron is not only the world’s most well-known group of elite performing aviators. It’s also—and people forget…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories35. Post-Cold War PR Trip to Uzbekistan Boosts Fundraising for United Jewish Appeal's Operation Exodus, with Dick Grove
In 1993, the world watched as two bitter rivals shook hands on the South Lawn of the White House, presenting the best hope for peace in the Middle East seen in…
- Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories
Trailer—The Lead Balloon Podcast—PR, Marketing and Strategic Communications Stories
Adweek's 2020 "Marketing Podcast of the Year." Webby Award-nominated. Profiled on Forbes.com. On Lead Balloon, professional communicators share tales of the…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories34. Murder in Boston Blamed on Sega's Virtua Cop Video Game, with Lee Caraher
On a busy evening in Boston's financial district in 1995, gunshots ring out. When the smoke clears, a prominent divorce attorney is dead and a police officer…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories33. National Airlines' Saucy "Fly Me" Ad Campaign, and the Great Stewardess Rebellion of the 1970s
Sexist advertising that objectifies women reached its heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But, in that era, it was very seldom that any company actually…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories32. Tesla’s Elon Musk Fires the Entire Public Relations Team—What Could Go Wrong?
As the world’s most valuable automotive manufacturer, electric car giant Tesla is the largest company in the world that operates without any kind of public…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories31. Snapple: Pitching the Best Catchphrase On Earth, with Jane Cavalier and Richard Kirshenbaum
The strategy at the heart of the Snapple brand's precipitous rise... and its cataclysmic fall... is simple: Embrace your roots. Celebrate authenticity. It's a…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories30. Inside the PBR "Eating Ass" Tweetstorm, with Adweek Editor David Griner and Kyle Brown
On January 3, Pabst Blue Ribbon lit the internet on fire with one obscene tweet: “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass.” The uproar was swift and loud…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories29. Ukrainian Creatives Waging an Information War Against Russian Invasion
For Ukrainian ad agencies and freelance creatives, "business-as-usual" stopped on the day that Russian forces launched their unprovoked war three weeks ago…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories28. Wendy's Twitter Account Manager Recounts Battle with Social Media Burnout, with Amy Brown and Sallie Poggi
Wendy’s, the burger chain, is infamous for its punchy, no-holds-barred Twitter account. And social media manager Amy Brown was the creative instigator of that…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories27. Sherwin-Williams Paints Itself Into a Corner on TikTok, with Tony Piloseno
Tony Piloseno really likes paint. And as a junior studying marketing at Ohio University, he channeled his passion for a part-time job at a Sherwin-Williams…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications StoriesBONUS: Milwaukee Bucks Senior VP Alex Lasry on the City's "Quiet Swagger," His U.S. Senate Campaign, and the Team's Prospects for 2022
This month on the show, we talked to Alex Lasry, the Senior Vice President of the Milwaukee Bucks, about the team’s dramatic stand for social justice last year…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories26. Bigger Than Basketball: The Milwaukee Bucks and the NBA Social Justice Walkout of 2020
With a shot at an NBA title on the line, an entire basketball team refuses to take the court. They won’t even come out of the locker room. It’s a sports…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories24. The Dreaded Grand Jury Subpoena, with Duct Tape Marketing Founder John Jantsch
There's nothing easy about striking out on your own as an independent marketing consultant. Work can be scarce and hard to come by, and when an opportunity…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories23. Bridgegate: Behind the Scenes at the Port Authority During the 2013 Scandal, with Anthony Hayes
The George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey is the world’s busiest motor vehicle crossing, carrying more than 103 million vehicles a year…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications StoriesBONUS: Bulletins From an NBA Title-Winning Terrible City
At Podcamp Media, we are *proudly* based in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Founder Dusty Weis explains why in this column he wrote for our friends at…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories22. Scandal at Foresters Financial, with former VP of PR Henry DeVries
Henry DeVries had to choose: a big fat raise and a promotion, or maintain his integrity. The year was 1996, and Henry was the Vice President of Public…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories21. Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons Hijacks the Mainstage at LinkedIn's Sales Summit, with Justin Shriber
When Justin Shriber was the Vice President of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales and Marketing Solutions, he was charged with emceeing the social media juggernaut's…
Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories20. Plane Crash in Colombia: American Airlines Flight 965, with Jennifer R. Hudson
Three weeks after accepting a new role as an American Airlines spokeswoman in 1995, Jennifer R. Hudson was paged out of bed in the middle of the night. The…