Terry O'Reilly

Terry O’Reilly began his career writing commercials for FM108 Radio in Burlington, Ontario. He went on to become an award-winning copywriter for leading Toronto advertising agencies Campbell-Ewald, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Chiat/Day. He created campaigns for many top brands, including Labatt, Pepsi USA, Goodyear Tires, Tim Hortons, Nissan and the Hudson’s Bay Company.

In 1990, he co-founded Pirate Radio & Television. A creative audio production company producing scripts, sound and music for radio and television commercials, Pirate grew to include eight recording studios in Toronto and New York City.

He served on the inaugural Radio jury at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in France in 2005, and was named chair of many marketing and advertising award show juries.

When he is not creating advertising, he is talking about it as the host of the award-winning CBC Radio One/Sirius Satellite/WBEZ Chicago radio show, Under The Influence, a follow-up to the hit series, The Age of Persuasion.

Mr. O’Reilly has been given lifetime achievement awards by the American Marketing Association, the Advertising & Design Club of Canada, and the Television Advertising Bureau. He has received honorary degrees from McMaster University, Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, and St. Mary’s University. He was also the inaugural inductee in the RTA School of Media Hall of Fame at his alma mater, Ryerson University, and received the Alumni Achievement Award in 2015.

He has co-written the bestselling book The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture. His latest bestseller, This I Know: Marketing Lessons from Under the Influence, was named one of the best audiobooks of the year by Audible.com.