O'Reilly on Advertising (2005) was a popular show that was broadcast Saturday mornings on CBC Radio One, running from 11:30 – 12:00pm (half an hour later in Newfoundland). Its host was Terry O'Reilly, who is a radio/voiceover director with a lengthy career. Its producer and co-creator was fellow adman and broadcaster Mike Tennant. "The program explored the world of advertising in a fun and irreverent way,"[1] and is essentially a primer on media literacy, illustrating how advertisers create successful (or unsuccessful, as the case may be) radio ads. It ran for a total of 25 episodes, not including repeats, and concluded airing on December 31, 2005.
Some of the topics covered in the series include branding, the effective use of tag-lines, the Lion Advertising Awards at Cannes, and Public Service messages. It also examined why some advertising campaigns win or fail, how good copywriting can make a difference, and also trends in ad creativity.
The show was produced independently for the CBC by Pirate Radio and Television in Toronto.
O'Reilly and Tennant returned to the airwaves in 2006 with a follow-up series called The Age of Persuasion (2006 to 2011). They decided to "recalibrate the series", taking a longer view, and gave it the new name. The program "explores the countless ways marketers permeate your life, from media, art, and language, to politics, religion, and fashion."[2]
O'Reilly's third radio series is called Under the Influence (2012), now in its 8th season . This new series takes a much wider view, looking at the history, methods, and impacts of "not just advertising – but the expanding world of marketing."