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in these. mrs

3:15

past Envy,

4:11

as they say, is one

4:13

of the seven deadly sins. It

4:15

is the resentment of another's good

4:18

fortune. A

4:20

book titled The Traveler's Guide to

4:22

Hell says envy is ruled

4:24

by the celestial sign of the moon.

4:27

It also says envy is

4:29

the key behind every advertisement.

4:34

The Roman poet Ovid wrote

4:36

that the personification of envy

4:38

is a figure with shallow

4:40

cheeks, a shrunk body, decayed

4:43

teeth, and a venom-coated tongue.

4:46

There is no doubt envy

4:48

is corrosive. It can damage

4:50

relationships, undermine businesses, and eventually

4:53

it can sabotage your own

4:55

career. In

4:57

a medieval diagram called the Tree

4:59

of Vices, it depicts

5:01

the fall of man as a

5:04

tree with seven branches, representing each

5:06

vice. The base

5:08

of that tree, the root of

5:10

all vices, is pride, but

5:13

the first branch after pride is

5:16

envy. People

5:20

generally have no problem talking about

5:23

religion, politics, and even sex, but

5:26

envy is rarely discussed out in the

5:28

open. It's a

5:30

festering private kind of anguish. Sociologist

5:34

Helmut Schuch, who wrote a book about envy,

5:36

called it a fundamental problem

5:39

of existence. It's

5:42

interesting that we rarely envy people we don't

5:44

know. Are you envious

5:46

of movie star Ryan Reynolds, for

5:48

example? Probably not.

5:51

But your neighbor's fancy new car? Absolutely.

5:56

The green eye of envy is usually reserved

5:58

for those we know well. We

6:00

are more unhappy when a close friend

6:03

succeeds than when a stranger does. Which

6:06

prompts another question. Why

6:08

are we green with envy? It

6:14

said the ancient Greeks believed that the

6:16

green of envy and its kissing cousin

6:19

Josie occurred as

6:21

a result of the overproduction

6:23

of bile, which turned human

6:25

skin slightly green. And

6:28

when bile rises, well, you know

6:30

what happens. Historically,

6:32

the color green was very

6:35

difficult to replicate. Green

6:38

plant dye quickly turned brown. Egyptians

6:41

tried using a mineral called

6:43

malachite, but it eventually turned

6:45

black. The ancient

6:47

Greeks gave up on green almost

6:49

completely and preferred yellow, red, black

6:51

and white. So

6:53

perhaps those who could create the

6:55

color green were envied by

6:57

those who couldn't. According

7:02

to an article in The Guardian,

7:04

the color of envy is almost

7:07

always green. In Italy,

7:09

the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Spain,

7:11

Portugal, Finland, Norway, the US

7:13

and Canada, envy is

7:16

green. But green

7:18

isn't universal. In

7:20

Hungarian and German, one is

7:22

consumed by yellow envy. Same

7:25

with the French. They are yellow with envy,

7:28

but green with fear. Poles

7:30

connect envy with the color purple. Envy

7:34

is Russian, see purple and black. In

7:37

West Africa, they go macro red.

7:40

The eyes of the Maasai in Tanzania

7:42

go black with envy. In

7:45

Ukraine, there are two different kinds of envy.

7:48

White envy means you're happy for other people.

7:51

Black envy simply means bite

7:53

me. Welcome

8:03

to our annual brand envy

8:05

episode. This is the

8:07

show where I list some brands I admire from

8:09

a distance. Brands that

8:12

have lasted or succeed in a

8:14

difficult category or brands that are

8:16

especially unique. We'll talk

8:18

about four such brands today. And

8:21

while they give me a case of brand

8:23

envy, I assure you it's a very healthy

8:25

shade of green. Or minty,

8:28

really. During

8:50

the war years in the 1940s,

8:52

there was material shortages and fuel

8:54

rationing. As a result,

8:56

families had to watch their pennies and

8:58

spent more time at home. It

9:01

was during that difficult time that

9:03

board games became popular. They

9:06

were inexpensive and gave people a

9:08

much needed stay at home diversion.

9:10

Family, friends and neighbors could play.

9:14

A few years before the war,

9:16

a wealthy Canadian couple were on

9:18

vacation in Tibet. While

9:20

there, they discovered an ancient dice

9:22

game. They loved it

9:25

because it was both simple and complex.

9:27

And above all, it was a lot of fun.

9:33

This wealthy couple brought the game

9:35

back to Canada, updated the rules,

9:37

created a scorecard and they would

9:39

play it on their yacht. Whenever

9:43

they had friends on board, they would break out

9:45

the dice game and have fun. Because

9:48

they would play it on their yacht, they

9:50

called it the Yacht Game. Their

9:53

friends enjoyed the game so much, they all

9:55

wanted copies of their own. So

9:57

in 1956, the The

10:00

couple approached Edwin Lowe. Back

10:03

in 1929, Lowe was a

10:05

traveling salesman and noticed that

10:08

people in Georgia were playing

10:10

a rudimentary game called Beano.

10:13

Sensing it had great potential, Lowe returned

10:15

to his New York home, established

10:17

the E.S. Lowe

10:19

Company, changed the name of

10:21

the game to Bingo, and made

10:23

a fortune. The Canadian

10:26

couple approached Lowe and asked him to produce

10:28

a few samples of their yacht games so

10:30

they could give them to friends. Lowe

10:33

liked the game so much, he

10:35

offered to buy the rights. The

10:38

Canadian couple agreed to sell the game

10:40

in exchange for the first 1,000 games

10:42

Lowe produced so they

10:44

could continue to give the game

10:46

as gifts. Lowe

10:48

happily agreed and they shook

10:51

hands. The

10:55

first thing Lowe did was change the name

10:57

of the yacht game to Yahtzee. When

11:00

it came to marketing, he decided to

11:03

promote the educational aspects of the game

11:05

and position Yahtzee as fun for

11:07

the whole family. But

11:10

sales were lackluster. That

11:12

prompted Lowe to try another strategy. To

11:16

demonstrate the fun of Yahtzee, he

11:18

began organizing Yahtzee parties across North

11:20

America where people could learn to

11:22

play the game. It

11:24

was a grassroots effort, but it paid

11:27

off. As word

11:29

of mouth spread, demand for Yahtzee soared

11:31

and millions of games were sold from

11:33

that time forward. Any time, any

11:35

place you'll love Yahtzee, your game was

11:38

strategy and chance add up to

11:40

fun and excitement. Yahtzee!

11:42

Yahtzee! Yahtzee! Triple Yahtzee

11:45

challenge Yahtzee and word Yahtzee for Milton

11:47

Bradley. Edwin Lowe sold his successful company

11:49

to Milton Bradley in 1973. Ten

11:53

years later, Milton Bradley became a

11:56

subsidiary of Hasbro. changes,

12:00

Yahtzee remained an evergreen,

12:03

very profitable game. It

12:05

was so popular, dozens of variations were

12:08

produced, including travel Yahtzee sets, triple Yahtzee

12:10

and word Yahtzee. Take a gamble on

12:12

Yahtzee, there's a million ways to play.

12:15

Pay it in, as is the nighter

12:17

in the day. Play it with a

12:19

flag. Play it with a daze.

12:21

Let's get played with a hawker face. Yahtzee

12:24

got its first celebrity endorsement when Tony

12:26

Randall and Jack Klugman, from the sitcom

12:28

The Odd Couple, appeared on the cover

12:30

of the 1974 challenge Yahtzee game. Even

12:36

into the 21st century, where

12:38

computer technology reigns, Yahtzee

12:40

easily transformed into digital

12:42

and online versions. Yahtzee

12:46

with Buddies became one of the first

12:48

games available for the Apple Watch. Today,

12:51

Yahtzee is still one of

12:53

the most successful games of

12:55

all time, with over 50

12:57

million sets sold. Ervin

13:09

Robbins was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba

13:11

in 1917. When

13:14

he was a boy, his family moved to

13:17

Tacoma, Washington. His father

13:19

owned a dairy and ice cream store

13:21

there, and young Erv grew up scooping

13:23

ice cream cones in the family business.

13:27

Robins were always smiling when they bought

13:29

ice cream cones, and Erv would often

13:31

finish the day's work happy. It

13:34

was a feeling he would never forget. Erv

13:38

Robbins would eventually go to university

13:40

in Seattle, then served as

13:42

a lieutenant in the Navy during World

13:44

War II, where he would occasionally whip

13:46

up ice cream for his fellow troops.

13:50

When he returned to civilian life in 1945, he

13:52

cashed in a $6,000 life insurance policy and

13:57

opened the Snowbird ice cream store.

13:59

store in Glendale, California.

14:03

He wanted the shop to have an old-time ice

14:05

cream feel with 21 different flavors,

14:08

and he wanted to recreate the

14:10

happiness he felt in his father's

14:12

store many years before. One

14:15

year later, Erv convinced his

14:17

brother-in-law, Bert Baskins, to open

14:19

up his own ice cream

14:21

shop in nearby Pasadena, California.

14:25

By 1949, they had 40 stores between them. Then

14:32

in 1953, Erv and Bert decided to

14:35

merge their ice cream companies to form

14:38

Baskin-Robbins. A

14:41

local advertising company called Carson-Robbins created

14:43

a visual identity for the new

14:45

company and incorporated the number 31

14:48

into their logo as

14:50

the combined Baskin-Robbins now had 31

14:53

different flavors. It was

14:55

one of the most distinctive aspects of the

14:57

company, one flavor for

14:59

every day of the month. Along

15:03

with that branding, the company also

15:05

created its iconic pink spoons. As

15:08

the number of stores grew, Erv and

15:11

Bert realized that in order to maintain

15:13

their high standards store to store, each

15:15

location would require a manager who had

15:18

a stake in the company. With

15:20

that, the partners pioneered the concept

15:22

of franchising in the ice cream

15:25

business. Baskin-Robbins

15:27

also purchased their first dairy, giving

15:29

them complete control over the production

15:32

of their ice cream and the

15:34

development of new ingredients and flavors.

15:41

When the Beatles landed in New York in 1964,

15:44

a reporter called Erv-Robbins to

15:46

ask him what flavor Baskin-Robbins was

15:49

going to introduce to commemorate the

15:51

band's arrival. Erv

15:53

had not even thought about it until that

15:55

moment, but quickly replied, um, Beetle

15:58

nut, of course. The

16:01

flavor was created, manufactured, and

16:03

delivered within five days. Baskin

16:06

Robbins has had a lot of fun with their flavors

16:08

over the years. There was a

16:11

double 031 secret bonded flavor

16:13

to celebrate the popularity of

16:15

James Bond movies in 1965.

16:19

There was a lunar cheesecake flavor when man

16:21

landed on the moon in 1969. To

16:25

mark the end of the cold war,

16:27

the company created a flavor called Gorba

16:29

Chocolate. And Shrek

16:31

Swirl joined the list when the movie

16:34

hit screens in 2002. Baskin

16:40

Robbins opened its first Canadian store in

16:42

1971. Today,

16:45

it has 96 locations

16:47

spread across Ontario, Quebec,

16:49

British Columbia, and Alberta.

16:52

Internationally, Baskin Robbins now

16:54

has 7,500 shops

16:56

in 50 countries, and it

16:58

is synonymous with ice cream.

17:02

Irv Robbins once said he never met a

17:04

flavor he didn't like. It

17:06

must be true, as Baskin Robbins has

17:08

over 1,200 flavors in

17:10

its flavor library. By

17:13

the way, back in 1978, scooping

17:16

ice cream at Baskin Robbins was

17:18

the first summer job of a

17:21

young 16-year-old kid in Honolulu. When

17:23

he looked back on that job years

17:26

later, he said it taught him responsibility,

17:28

hard work, and how to balance a

17:30

job with family, friends, and school. Perhaps

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you've heard of him. His name is

17:36

Barack Obama. While

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its music. What

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marketing things that Arkells have done?

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This year, we put in a

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very quiet album called Laundry Pile.

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It's very different than anything else we've ever done. We're

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thinking about, what's the best release event

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we invite in groups of 15 or 20

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at a time

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there for them, like it's an art gallery,

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we have a laundry bin with 10

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dirty laundry, and each t-shirt has a

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different song title from the new

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21:25

song that group gets to hear? To

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really appreciate it. Thank

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you. named

22:00

George Blaisdell watched another man struggle

22:02

to light a cigarette with a

22:05

European lighter. So

22:07

Blaisdell decided to construct a better

22:09

one. He fabricated a

22:12

small metal case and attached a

22:14

lid with a hinge. Then

22:16

he incorporated a tiny chimney feature

22:19

to make the flame windproof. The

22:22

result was an attractive lighter that could

22:24

be operated with just one hand.

22:28

Next, the lighter needed a name.

22:31

Blaisdell had always liked the sound of the

22:33

word zipper, so

22:35

he called his lighter Zippo. Blaisdell

22:41

founded the Zippo company and the

22:43

first lighter was manufactured in 1933.

22:47

A patent was granted three years later.

22:50

Zippo Lighter sold for a buck 95 and

22:53

the warranty said it works or

22:55

we fix it for free. That

22:57

warranty is still honored 92 years later.

23:02

World War II had a huge

23:04

impact on Zippo as the company

23:06

ceased production for the consumer market

23:08

and dedicated all production for the

23:10

military. Millions of

23:13

soldiers carried Zippo Lighters into battle

23:15

and brought them back home when they

23:17

returned. During

23:22

the 1960s concert goers would hold

23:24

up their lighters when they wanted

23:26

an encore. It became

23:28

known as the Zippo Moment. Though

23:31

the Zippo lighter is small, it

23:33

is iconic. The

23:36

shape is trademarked as is

23:38

the unique sound the lighter makes when it's

23:40

flipped open. An early

23:42

advertising campaign for Zippo Lighters demonstrated

23:44

how it worked even in the

23:47

wind. The ad showed

23:49

a young lady lighting a cigarette while

23:51

leaning into a wind so strong it

23:53

molded her dress to her body.

23:57

Later ads made a strong case for choosing

23:59

Zippo. over a book of matches

24:01

with the line matchless

24:03

performance. The

24:06

Marlboro man, one of the most famous

24:08

advertising images of the 20th century, also

24:11

used a Zippo. But

24:13

maybe the best advertising

24:15

came courtesy of Hollywood.

24:20

Hollywood has cast Zippo in over

24:23

2,000 movies and TV shows and

24:25

Zippo has never paid a dime for the

24:28

product placements. From I

24:30

Love Lucy to The Godfather

24:32

to Pulp Fiction to Ocean's

24:34

Eleven, the appearance of Zippo

24:36

tells the audience the character

24:38

is cool, self-reliant, and a

24:40

hero. As a matter

24:42

of fact, you rarely ever see a villain

24:44

using a Zippo. The

24:47

headline for one early Zippo ad

24:49

said, 278 movies, zero facelifts.

24:54

Which is not only funny, it

24:56

underscored a Zippo fact that in

24:59

its over 90 years of existence,

25:01

only two of the lighter's original

25:03

parts have been modified. Yet

25:06

over 400,000 varieties

25:08

of Zippos have been produced. There's

25:12

even a YouTube video that teaches you how

25:14

to ignite a Zippo by snapping your fingers,

25:17

just like you see so often

25:19

in the movies. So

25:24

how does Zippo survive now that millions

25:26

have given up smoking? Actually,

25:28

the company has had record sales in

25:31

the last few years. First,

25:33

Zippo has diversified its product

25:36

range to include Zippo branded

25:38

sunglasses, apparel, camping equipment, and

25:41

even perfume. And no, it

25:43

doesn't smell like butane. Second,

25:45

over 60% of its revenues

25:47

now come from overseas markets

25:50

like China and India. Third,

25:53

more and more people are sparking up their

25:55

cannabis. Plus, Zippo sponsors

25:57

between 100 and 100. 150

26:01

music concerts every year. It

26:03

produces versions with band imagery, TV

26:05

show imagery, and over 30,000 other

26:09

collectible designs. Zippo's

26:14

main competition isn't from other lighters, by

26:16

the way, it's from

26:18

counterfeiters. So the company

26:20

maintains a full-time staff to search

26:22

the internet for knockoffs. It

26:25

vigilantly guards its trademark. Since

26:29

1933, Zippo has produced over

26:31

570 million lighters. It's

26:35

been on screen for over 75 years. It's

26:38

still owned by a member of the

26:40

original Blaisdell family. And

26:42

you can identify a Zippo with

26:45

your eyes closed. That

26:48

makes it a classic brand.

27:01

Speaking of Hollywood, there is a brand

27:04

that I've admired for quite a few

27:06

years now. It's called Shonda

27:09

Land. Shonda

27:11

Rhimes was born in 1970 in a suburb

27:13

of Chicago. The

27:16

youngest of six children, she exhibited

27:18

an early talent for storytelling. And

27:21

in high school, she worked as

27:23

a hospital volunteer, which ignited an

27:25

interest in the busy world of

27:27

hospitals, hint, hint. She

27:30

majored in English and film studies at

27:32

Dartmouth College, where she directed and performed

27:34

in student productions. And after

27:37

Rhimes got her degree, she moved to

27:39

San Francisco and worked as

27:41

a writer at advertising agency

27:43

McCann Erickson. But

27:45

her big dream was to write

27:48

for the television shows that advertising

27:50

interrupted. So

27:54

Shonda Rhimes moved to Los Angeles

27:56

to study screenwriting at the University

27:58

of Southern California. There,

28:01

she earned a Master of Fine Arts

28:03

degree. She landed

28:05

a succession of jobs in Hollywood.

28:07

She interned. She worked for Denzel

28:10

Washington's production company. She worked

28:12

as a researcher and she shot a short

28:14

film. Rhimes then

28:16

got a big break in 1999. She

28:19

landed an assignment to co-write

28:21

the movie, introducing Dorothy Dandridge,

28:23

starring Halle Berry. Then

28:26

Rhimes wrote Crossroads, the film debut

28:29

for Britney Spears. That

28:32

led to a job in

28:34

2004, writing the screenplay for

28:36

The Princess Diaries 2 Royal

28:38

Engagement, starring Julie Andrews.

28:42

Then Shonda turned her focus to

28:44

television. It would lead

28:46

to her greatest breakthrough. She

28:55

created Grey's Anatomy. The

28:58

ABC prime-time medical drama featured

29:00

a diverse cast and strong

29:02

female characters, which would become

29:05

a hallmark of Shonda Rhimes shows. It

29:08

launched in 2005 and was an immediate hit. At

29:13

its peak, Grey's Anatomy attracted nearly 20

29:15

million viewers per episode. It

29:18

is still on the air and

29:21

is the longest-running medical drama in

29:23

history. That

29:25

same year, to have more creative

29:27

control and freedom, she

29:29

established her own production company

29:31

called Shonda Land.

29:37

In 2007, Shonda Rhimes created a

29:40

Grey's Anatomy spin-off called Private Practice,

29:42

which ran for six years. In

29:46

2012, she created the TV series

29:48

Scandal. Kerry Washington starred as

29:50

a political fixer who happened to be

29:52

having an affair with the President of

29:55

the United States. Scandal

29:57

was also the first network TV drama in

29:59

the United States. in 40 years to

30:01

feature an African-American actress in the

30:03

lead role. Her

30:05

next hit was, How to Get

30:07

Away with Murder, starring Biola Davis. Even

30:11

in an era with declining

30:14

network TV viewership, her shows

30:16

attracted huge audiences, making

30:18

Shonda one of the most powerful

30:20

people in television. In

30:23

2017, she left ABC and signed

30:25

a $100 million deal with

30:28

Netflix, telling the Netflix CEO,

30:30

quote, I want to make

30:32

shows, I don't want anybody to bother me

30:34

while I'm doing it. So

30:37

there. In

30:43

2020, she produced Bridgerton,

30:46

a historical romance that flipped

30:48

perceptions of the Regency era

30:50

on its head by portraying

30:52

people of color as high-class

30:54

socialites. The show was watched by

30:56

63 million households in the

30:58

first 28 days. From

31:01

there, she developed a spinoff

31:03

called Queen Charlotte. Then

31:08

in 2022, Shonda created Inventing Anna, a

31:13

mini-series about a real-life con artist who

31:15

pretended to be a German heiress. And

31:19

while overseeing close to 70 hours of

31:22

television per season, she still

31:24

managed to write a New York Times

31:26

bestseller. She had committed

31:28

to saying yes to everything that scared

31:30

her for one full year and

31:33

wrote a book about it titled Year

31:35

of Yes. She

31:37

also launched the Women's Directing

31:40

Mentorship to help other aspiring

31:42

writers and producers. For

31:44

all that and more, Shonda

31:47

Land is a brand I

31:49

greatly admire. It

32:00

takes a lot of energy, chutzpah,

32:02

and courage to create a brand

32:04

that matters and lasts.

32:08

Over 100 million people worldwide play

32:10

Yahtzee on a regular basis. Baskin-Robbins

32:14

is still thriving after all these

32:16

years, probably because of

32:19

Irv Robbins' insightful philosophy. He

32:21

said, we sell fun, not

32:24

ice cream. In

32:26

over 90 years, no one has spent a

32:28

cent on a mechanical repair of a Zippo

32:30

lighter. The 100%

32:32

warranty still applies, and

32:35

Zippo still lights up Hollywood screens.

32:38

Not long ago, Shonda Rhimes was named

32:40

one of Time magazine's 100 People

32:43

Who Helped Shape the World. In

32:46

an industry mostly ruled by white

32:48

males, she is an

32:50

African-American woman who calls the shots.

32:53

Industry is a force of nature.

32:57

Every successful brand is the result of

33:00

the collective intent of the people behind

33:02

it. Edwin Lowe,

33:04

Irv Baskin, Burt Robbins, George

33:06

Blaisdell, and Shonda Rhimes drove

33:08

their companies to the top.

33:12

That's why Yahtzee, Baskin-Robbins, Zippo,

33:14

and Shondaland are brands that

33:16

are envied the world over

33:19

when you're under the influence. I'm

33:23

Terry O'Reilly. This

33:30

episode was recorded in the

33:32

Terrestrial Airstream Mobile Recording

33:34

Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly.

33:36

Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine.

33:39

Research, Patrick James Aslan.

33:41

Under the Influence theme by

33:43

Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre.

33:45

Tunes provided by APM Music.

33:47

Follow me on social at

33:49

Terry O'Influence. This podcast

33:52

is powered by ACAST. And

33:54

if you'd like to read next

33:56

week's fun fact, just go to

33:59

apostrophepodcasts.ca and follow the

34:01

prompts. See you next week. That

34:30

shop was a very different experience.

34:32

There was no holding company lording

34:35

over the ad agency, no long-distance

34:37

bureaucracy. That independent ad agency

34:39

offered a nimbleness conglomerates could

34:41

never match. As a result,

34:44

the work ruled the award shows. If

34:46

you work at an indie shop, you know what

34:48

I mean. And if you

34:50

want to know more about what's going

34:53

on in the world of independent agencies,

34:55

go to indieagency.news. That's

34:57

the member-led place where independent

34:59

advertising agencies gather, meet and

35:01

grow. And there's an

35:03

Indie Agency News show every day at

35:06

9am Pacific noon Eastern. Indieagency.News

35:09

tells you what's happening in the

35:11

indie agency world. Campaigns

35:13

and agencies are highlighted. Interviews

35:16

with owners, leaders and creative

35:18

people show indie thinking. One

35:21

more thing. If you're a marketer,

35:23

Indieagency.News is the place to find

35:25

your next agency. Become

35:28

a member. Go to

35:30

Indieagency.News and long live

35:32

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