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.
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
22 Oct 2026
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
13 Oct 2026
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 (https://www.saveur.com/sugar-history-of-the-world/)
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan (https://michaelpollan.com/books/the-botany-of-desire/)
A bittersweet family history (https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/A-bittersweet-family-history-2498830.php)
What Is Turbinado Sugar? (https://www.webmd.com/diet/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 (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
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 37 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
50
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
Contact Strange Coordinates
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Strange Coordinates?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
