
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 a... more
| Publishes | Monthly | Episodes | 74 | Founded | 7 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | Business NewsNewsMarketingBusiness | |||

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 lesson that's been served up again and again in the brands and marketing ecosystem. But... more
In 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment sparked an international diplomatic crisis when it announced its latest comedy, which they called “The Interview.”
Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Randall Park as a parodied version of North Korea’s Suprem... more
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, as its men-only membership policy came under the microscope in an unexpected and sensation... more
Since the government shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, something has changed in the national conversation about the Trump Administration’s immigration policies.
And the primary reason it’s happening is not a brilliant PR campai... more
People also subscribe to these shows.




A Fascinating story. Answered that age-old question on old billboards of “wonder the story about that?”
As always, great storytelling! A great look behind the scenes into why political ads work—-or don’t. You have been missed.
Dusty and team have done a great job setting up some of the best “behind the scenes” conversations around events we all know about. From marketing nightmares to general public misconception, Dusty has no fear in tackling both the good and bad. Keep it up Dusty and team!
Dusty Weis provides great background and sets up lessons in marketing and public relations that even non-marketing mavens can enjoy.
One of the best produced, most insightful, entertaining and informative podcasts around! I’m a huge fan now!
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #55 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
Lead Balloon delivers narrative-driven insights from the worlds of marketing, public relations, and branding, anchored by veteran host Dusty Weis. Episodes spotlight high-stakes crises, industry power players, and iconic campaigns, with behind-the-scenes lessons on decision-making, risk, and reputation management. The show blends investigative storytelling with practical takeaways for communications pros, making complex PR challenges approachable and entertaining. Noteworthy are its candid reflections on real-world missteps, ethical considerations in crisis scenarios, and a production style that leans into humor and immersive sound design to illuminate industry dynamics.
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Lead Balloon. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Lead Balloon and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Lead Balloon, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Lead Balloon, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers Lead Balloon has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with Lead Balloon:
1. Darknet Diaries
2. This American Life
3. Up First from NPR
4. Hidden Brain
5. The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Lead Balloon launched 7 years ago and published 74 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Lead Balloon from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Lead Balloon. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on Lead Balloon include:
1. Jane Cavalier
2. Richard Kirshenbaum
3. Michael Lynton
4. Ben Deutsch
5. Dr. Martha Burk
6. Corey Smale
7. Ben Kollenbroich
8. Ronald Young, Jr.
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.