Lead Balloon - Marketing, Public Relations and Strategic Communications Stories
Episodes
68. Seth Rogen's Film, The Interview, Sparks a North Korean Hack Attack and a Hollywood PR Debacle for Sony Pictures' CEO
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment sparked an international diplomatic crisis when it announced its latest comedy, which they called “The Intervie...
67. Coca-Cola's Master's Tournament Sponsorship Triggers 2002 Boycott Threat, with Ben Deutsch and Dr. Martha Burk
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
66. Cracks in the ICE: Legal Observers in Minneapolis Use the First Amendment to Swing Public Opinion About Immigration Crackdown
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Since the government shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, something has changed in the national conversation about the Trump Admini...
65. Delicious Redemption: Getting Fired for an Infamous PBR Tweet Made Corey Smale the CCO at Garage Beer
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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!" ...
64. The Wikipedia Prank: Why the Internet Mistakenly Thought the Movie Good Luck Chuck was Based on Ben Kollenbroich
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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,”...
63. A.I. Podcast Host Invasion: Inception Point's Business Model & the Podcast Industry's Reaction
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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....
62. Modernizing the Way We Communicate About Road Closures (Especially During Emergencies), with Scott Oppman from ArcGIS
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most people get travel information about road closures from Google Maps, Apple Maps or a similar smartphone-based application. But when a road is cl...
61. Will Wikipedia survive Artificial Intelligence? (And Can A.I. Survive Without Wikipedia?)
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wikipedia readers consume nearly one billion articles per day from the online encyclopedia. In its 25 years of operation, this compendium of human k...
60. Recession Lessons from Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi: Double Down, Dig In
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the world of business, yet again, things looks grim. A brewing trade war, the uncharted fallout of artificial intelligence, and political upheava...
59. Bot Farms Have Made Social Media Engagement Metrics Meaningless, with Eric Schwartzman
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 markete...
58. The Mystery of the I-94 Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week Billboard, with Ken Hoffman & Kyle Brown
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is a weird, enigmatic old billboard along the interstate in Wisconsin promoting a "Sales & Marketing Tip of the Week." Without any branding or ...
57. Why Have Streaming Services Put So Many Ads In Our Shows? with Film Critic Matt Zoller Seitz
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
56. What Happens at American Airlines After a Plane Crash: Behind the Scenes with Former Spokeswoman Jennifer R. Hudson
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
55. Liquid Death Spoofs the Pepsi Harrier Jet Giveaway, with Andy Pearson & Jeff Beer
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 p...
54. The Election of the Podcast? 2024 Presidential Campaign PR Focuses on Podcasts & Social Media
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Jou...
53. Alex Jones’s Infowars Being Purchased by the Onion and Sandy Hook Families, with Onion CMO Leila Brillson
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 e...
52. FEMA Public Affairs Team Still Carries Scars from Hurricane Ike Assignment, with Molly McPherson & Mike Moore
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 rem...
51. The Legend of Dukakis in a Tank: White House Comms Pros Talk Presidential Optics, with Josh King and Kevin Sullivan
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The image of 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis riding in a tank has become synonymous with abject public relations failure. For m...
BONUS: Literally, the Grammar-Nerdiest Conversation You'll Ever Hear, with Dr. Valerie Fridland
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sociolinguist Dr. Valerie Fridland says we need to relax about the changing nature of language. In her book, "Like, Literally Dude: Arguing for the G...
50. Grumpy Cat, the Sound of Freedom, Watergate and More: A Look Back and a Look at What's Next
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you're working with high-profile people in fields like PR, marketing and branding, things are always changing. History gets uncovered. New inform...
49. How I Almost Got Fired in My 1st Week in PR, and the Important Life Lessons I Learned
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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. Du...
48. A UAP PR Campaign: Mainstreaming the Conversation About Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena, with Lt. Ryan Graves
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
UFOs have traditionally been more of a pop culture phenomenon than an actual science. But with the recent declassification of Navy gun camera footage ...
47. Sliding into DMs on the Dating App Hinge, with NextGen America's Kristi Johnston
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Let's be honest: political groups don't have a great success rate when it comes to their strategic communication tactics. Every election cycle, Americ...
46. Why Are Wireless Emergency Alerts on Your Phone So Terrible? A Strategic Communication Conundrum
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
45. Replaced by Chat GPT: Are Creative and Copywriting Jobs Threatened by Artificial Intelligence?
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The robot revolution has arrived. And they're coming for your marketing or content creation job. The advent of generative artificial intelligence chat...
44. How a Real Life Ad Agency Inspired the Robin Williams CBS Sitcom, "The Crazy Ones"
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
43. Brands Don't Have the Rizz: Appropriating Gen Z Slang Is Falling Flat in Social Media Marketing
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"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 t...
BONUS: Covid is—Air Quotes—Over. What That Means for Strategic Communicators, with former HHS Spokesman Bill Pierce
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
42. OkCupid Stays On Target During the Covid Pandemic: PR Messaging and Online Dating Apps
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 n...
41. Deepfakes: How Communicators Must Prepare Now for this Imminent Reputation Threat
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
40. In Event of Moon Disaster: The Greatest Speech Never Given
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
39. Pernicious Copyright Robots Are Targeting Your Website: PicRights and the Practice of "Copyright Trolling"
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a disturbing new trend making waves in the world of online content creation. Corporate blogs, mom-and-pop business websites, podcasts… E...
38. The Bud Light CoRntroversy, Revisited: Miller Lite Strikes Back
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Now with 50% new footage! During Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Bud Light launched a new advertising strategy that was... unconventional, even for them. Ins...
BONUS: Celebrating 20 Years Behind a Mic With Dusty's First Audio Boss, Scott Thompson
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
37. Blue Angels Ride Along: Lead Balloon Becomes the First Podcast to Fly with the US Navy Blue Angels
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 medi...
36. The US Navy Blue Angels: Public Affairs and Marketing at 500 Miles Per Hour
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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—...
35. Post-Cold War PR Trip to Uzbekistan Boosts Fundraising for United Jewish Appeal's Operation Exodus, with Dick Grove
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 Eas...
Trailer—The Lead Balloon Podcast—PR, Marketing and Strategic Communications Stories
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adweek's 2020 "Marketing Podcast of the Year." Webby Award-nominated. Profiled on Forbes.com. On Lead Balloon, professional communicators share tales ...
34. Murder in Boston Blamed on Sega's Virtua Cop Video Game, with Lee Caraher
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
33. National Airlines' Saucy "Fly Me" Ad Campaign, and the Great Stewardess Rebellion of the 1970s
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
32. Tesla’s Elon Musk Fires the Entire Public Relations Team—What Could Go Wrong?
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
31. Snapple: Pitching the Best Catchphrase On Earth, with Jane Cavalier and Richard Kirshenbaum
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The strategy at the heart of the Snapple brand's precipitous rise... and its cataclysmic fall... is simple: Embrace your roots. Celebrate authenticity...
30. Inside the PBR "Eating Ass" Tweetstorm, with Adweek Editor David Griner and Kyle Brown
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
29. Ukrainian Creatives Waging an Information War Against Russian Invasion
19 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For Ukrainian ad agencies and freelance creatives, "business-as-usual" stopped on the day that Russian forces launched their unprovoked war three week...
28. Wendy's Twitter Account Manager Recounts Battle with Social Media Burnout, with Amy Brown and Sallie Poggi
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wendy’s, the burger chain, is infamous for its punchy, no-holds-barred Twitter account. And social media manager Amy Brown was the creative instig...
27. Sherwin-Williams Paints Itself Into a Corner on TikTok, with Tony Piloseno
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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-Wil...
BONUS: Milwaukee Bucks Senior VP Alex Lasry on the City's "Quiet Swagger," His U.S. Senate Campaign, and the Team's Prospects for 2022
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 justic...
26. Bigger Than Basketball: The Milwaukee Bucks and the NBA Social Justice Walkout of 2020
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
24. The Dreaded Grand Jury Subpoena, with Duct Tape Marketing Founder John Jantsch
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 opport...
23. Bridgegate: Behind the Scenes at the Port Authority During the 2013 Scandal, with Anthony Hayes
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey is the world’s busiest motor vehicle crossing, carrying more than 103 million vehicles...
BONUS: Bulletins From an NBA Title-Winning Terrible City
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 OnMi...
22. Scandal at Foresters Financial, with former VP of PR Henry DeVries
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
21. Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons Hijacks the Mainstage at LinkedIn's Sales Summit, with Justin Shriber
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When Justin Shriber was the Vice President of Marketing for LinkedIn Sales and Marketing Solutions, he was charged with emceeing the social media jugg...
20. Plane Crash in Colombia: American Airlines Flight 965, with Jennifer R. Hudson
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
19. Coca-Cola and the Masters Tournament, with retired Coke Comms VP Ben Deutsch and Dr. Martha Burk
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
18. Coca-Cola's Retired Comms VP Ben Deutsch on the 1998 World Cup, Coke's Belgium Health Scare and More
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before he went on to become Coca-Cola's global vice president of corporate communication, Ben Deutsch was plucked from his dream job in Coke's Sports ...
17. The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson: Insurrection, Business Comms & Politics
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What constitutes "politics" in America has crept into new, ugly territory. And with the deadly Capitol insurrection on January 6, it finally became im...
16. Vaccine Messaging: How Comms Professionals Can Help Save the World from Covid
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With Covid-19 vaccination efforts finally getting underway, communicating properly about this process is critical to saving lives and re-opening the e...
15. Going Rogue, Battling Bears, Government Shutdowns and National Parks, with Julie Wright
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In public relations, "going rogue" is a notion that sets teeth on edge for most PR practitioners. But sometimes, when the conventional approach fails,...
BONUS: Adweek's "Marketing Podcast of the Year" Is... Lead Balloon!
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've just received some incredible news here at Podcamp Media world headquarters in Milwaukee. Lead Balloon is Adweek's 2020 "Marketing Podcast of th...
13. The Squatty Potty Saga and the Science of Going Viral, with Harmon Brothers CEO Benton Crane
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Right or wrong, there are some products that most PR and marketing professionals want nothing to do with. The Squatty Potty, a plastic platform that p...
12. A Creative in the Corporate World, with David Allen Moss
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Not everyone in marketing set out from Day One to become a marketer. And for outside creatives transitioning into the corporate world, there are tough...
11. The Emotional Unsubscribe, and other Marketing Automation Pitfalls to Avoid, with Misty Dykema and Abby Bell from Simantel
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With great marketing tools comes great responsibility--and marketing automation, email marketing and customer relationship management are no exception...
10. Getting Uncomfortable About Race in America, with Randy Crump, Dr. Monique Liston and Kennita Hickman
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the corporate world, unspoken rules about what constitutes appropriate workplace conversation provide white employees with a safe, comfortable spac...
9. The Ritz-Carlton Hail Mary, with Trusted Media Brands CCO Beth Tomkiw
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Hail Mary: a last-chance, desperation plan with a high risk of failure, turned to as a last resort when all other options have failed. It's not ju...
8. The COVID Pivot? Content Marketing Institute Founder Joe Pulizzi on Promoting Your Brand During a Recession
01 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There's no need to sugarcoat it: things looks grim. The COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic has exacted a brutal price in lives, public health and global ec...
7. COVID-19: Critiquing the Federal Response with former HHS Spokesman Bill Pierce, and Busting Coronavirus Myths with Epidemiologist Dr. Maria Sundaram
06 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Communicating with the public during a crisis is as critical as it is difficult. And if it's seemed to you like President Donald Trump has been hittin...
6. HBO's McMillion$: The PR Crises Behind the Hit DocuSeries, with Directors James Lee Hernandez & Brian Lazarte
25 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody remembers the McDonald's Monopoly sweepstakes. But until HBO's McMillion$ came out, most folks didn't realize that the reason it suddenly va...
5. The Seinfeld Press Conference, with Tim O'Brien
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It might be tough to imagine these days, but public relations work still got done in the era before cell phones and broadband. Somehow. But like the s...
4. We Don't Do Ribbon Cuttings, with Patrick McSweeney, Katrine Strickland and Jason Maddux
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick McSweeney is a cliché warrior. If it's a hackneyed, over-worn marketing and PR trope, he’s gone to battle against it. But when you choose c...
3. Bud Light's Corn Syrup-Fueled Ad War, with Neil Caskey from the National Corn Growers Association, Paul Gatza from the Brewers Association, and Kyle Brown
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
During Super Bowl LIII in 2019, Bud Light launched a new advertising strategy that was... unconventional, even for them. HEADS UP: We remastered this ...
2. City Hall Self Destruct, with Jim Bohl, Bill Arnold, Jim Owczarski and Ken Leiviska
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of his first week working in public relations, Dusty Weis did something so dumb, he could have been fired on the spot. During a meeting wit...
1. Grumpy Cat's Grumpy Manager Vs. the Wax Museum, with Jesse Russell
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It was supposed to be a historic day at Madame Tussauds wax museum in San Francisco. The storied attraction was launching, not only the first animatro...