Strange Coordinates

Hosted by territorial

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Strap in. We're going on a trip! Robert and Topher, cofounders of advertising agency Territorial, explore the weird, compelling, and sometimes forgotten corners of our culture through a surprising lens: the brands we all know and/or love. Every episode uses a familiar brand as a roadmap to stories you would never imagine to help you see the world in a new way. To learn more about Robert Balog & Topher Burns, and their work at Territorial, visit www.weareterritorial.com or find them on LinkedIn.

Listen to episodes

42 recent

November 3, 20261 hr 6 min

Genesis of an Icon (ep 23)

Hosts Topher Burns and Robert Balog unpack the wild corporate history and brand mechanics behind Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog. We trace Sega's unlikely journey from its 1940s roots as a Honolulu slot-machine supplier for US military bases ("Service Games") to the fierce 1990s 16-bit console war where the Sega Genesis successfully dethroned Nintendo by positioning Mario as kids' stuff. We also look at how Sonic survived the irreverent depths of the internet's "Sanic" meme era to pioneer modern video game cinema, proving Topher's core thesis: brand don't cost, it pays. --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@strangecoordinates Want to see our faces while we talk? You can also find Strange Coordinates on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@strangecoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

October 22, 202653 min

Strange(r) Coordinates: Ian Schafer

Hosts Topher Burns and Aydan Sarikaya sit down with digital media pioneer Ian Schafer , co-founder and president of Ensemble, host of Bloomberg TV’s Post Credits, and founder of Deep Focus. Ian explains why the transactional "influencer" era is dying and why the future belongs to creator-led entertainers . We unpack his "Two Clocks" framework and the "Deli Sandwich" theory of modern media: how audiences are slicing attention into wafer-thin micro-moments on their phones, only to stack their total entertainment diet higher than ever before. --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@strangecoordinates Want to see our faces while we talk? You can also find Strange Coordinates on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@strangecoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

October 13, 202647 min

The Dark Crystal (ep 22)

In our newest episode of Strange Coordinates, hosts Topher Burns and Robert Balog unpack the brown paper packet that conquered coffee shop counters worldwide: Sugar in the Raw . We trace the 10,000-year history of sugarcane — from ancient medical claims that sugar could "clear spots on your cornea" or cure colds if smoked, to the infamous 1965 scandal where the sugar industry secretly paid Harvard scientists to blame heart disease on fat, single-handedly launching the global low-fat craze. Show notes: The Illustrated History of How Sugar Conquered the World The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan A bittersweet family history What Is Turbinado Sugar? --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on TikTok Want to see our faces while we talk? You can also find Strange Coordinates on YouTube --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

September 23, 202648 min

Strange(r) Coordinates: Melissa Dunn

Hosts Robert Balog and Topher Burns sit down with Melissa Dunn , fractional CMO and former Head of Marketing at Suzy , to explore why B2B software marketing is ready for a consumer-grade revolution. Having worked on mega-brands like Visa and Verizon Wireless before making the leap into B2B SaaS, Melissa breaks down why B2B decision-makers have the exact same anxieties, attention spans, and emotional drivers as everyday consumers. --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@strangecoordinates Want to see our faces while we talk? Find Strange Coordinates on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StrangeCoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

September 2, 20261 hr 4 min

Our Heads in the Clouds (ep 21)

In our newest episode of Strange Coordinates , hosts Topher Burns and Robert Balog chart the 25-year trajectory of Salesforce through the lens of two dramatically different San Francisco protests. They unpack how Marc Benioff built a $40B+ enterprise giant by pioneering modern SaaS and seat-based pricing, the influence of Hawaiian culture on corporate America, and the existential threat AI poses to the seat-count business model. --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@strangecoordinates Want to see our faces while we talk? You can also find Strange Coordinates on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@strangecoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

August 25, 202650 min

Strange(r) Coordinates: Talia Klein

In our latest interview, Aydan and Robert dive into the inner workings of Wall Street and market infrastructure with Talia Klein , Head of Wealth and Investment Solutions at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation . Talia takes us behind the scenes of financial infrastructure to explore the convergence of institutional finance and modern consumer tech and unpack what outsiders get completely wrong about Wall Street culture. Real life isn’t like that Friends episode where Phoebe is a stockbroker — or is it? --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com --- Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@strangecoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

August 11, 20261 hr 4 min

Strange(r) Coordinates: Sean Szeps

We heard you loud and clear: You want more Sean Szeps. Fear not, dear listener: Sean is back, this time as the interviewee on Strange(r) Coordinates. Topher and Aydan sit down with the social strategist, academic, and all-star parenting creator to break down what happens when the person receiving agency briefs used to write them himself. --- Find Sean Szeps on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanszeps/ --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Want to see our faces while we talk? Subscribe on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@strangecoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

July 16, 20261 hr 6 min

Happy Accidents (ep 20)

In this episode of Strange Coordinates, Topher Burns is joined by special guest host (and creator, academic, and parent-marketing strategist) Sean Szeps to go behind the leak-proof seams of the multi-billion-dollar war between Huggies and Pampers. They trace the origin story of fierce 1980s patent battles, the effects of duopoly, and the environmental and sociological impacts of the diaper category and its marketing efforts over the past several decades. --- Find Sean Szeps on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanszeps/ --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

June 26, 20261 hr 8 min

Seeing Green (ep 19)

In this episode, we trace the strategic history of fintech giant Chime to expose how design, psychology, and color theory fuel modern banking. We break down Chime’s calculated play for the underserved gig economy, the ethical entanglements of their early Doctor Phil daytime TV endorsement, and the catastrophic Covid-era algorithm errors that left paycheck-to-paycheck users locked out of their accounts for months. We also examine the 2026 liquidity landscape as Chime clashes with Venmo and Cash App , the structural similarities to our own Webby-winning campaign for healthcare disruptor Centivo , and why a tech company’s sudden choice of a serif font is the ultimate sign of a corporate identity crisis. --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions

June 17, 202652 min

Strange(r) Coordinates: NBZ

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (or just Cannes if you’re normal) is coming up, and we’ve got the perfect tour guides. Rachel Segall and Simone Mandel of the growth platform and consultancy NBZ take us behind the festival facades and endless flows of rosé they experienced last year to give us a sense of what to expect next week. We talk about the shifting ecosystem of advertising, hyper-commercialization of the festival beaches, and how lean indie shops are successfully crashing a party historically dominated by legacy holding companies. Learn more about NBZ: https://www.nbzpartner.com/ --- territorial is an advertising agency that helps brands find their place in the world. To see our work and learn more about what we do, visit weareterritorial.com Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weareterritorial Follow us on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@strangecoordinates Want to see our faces while we talk? Find Strange Coordinates on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@strangecoordinates --- Show art & design by Chris Allen Editing & Video editing by Patrick Elmore: https://www.patrickelmore.co/ Marketing by Billy Silverman Episode music by Blue Dot Sessions