Some of the most notable campaigns to run in out-of-home over the past year actually promoted other media – namely, radio and television. On the pages that follow, we look at how broadcasters have employed various out-of-home media – everything from billboards to wild postings – to build their brands.
As this country’s largest city, Toronto could reasonably be described as the Canadian equivalent of New York. But the two aren’t exactly identical twins.
For one thing, you wouldn’t call quiet, conservative Toronto an ‘edgy’ kind of town.
That may be why the recent out-of-home campaign for new-music radio station cfny (‘The Edge’) – with its theme line ‘Everyone Has Some Edge in Them’ – has proven such a standout. And why it was such a challenge to create.
In the past, says program director Stewart Meyers, cfny has promoted itself with tv ads. This was the station’s first campaign in out-of-home – and it proved something of a learning experience.
Because the campaign (which kicked off in August) incorporated outdoor boards, street-level posters and transit ads, the creative had to win approval not only from Advertising Standards Canada, but also from the out-of-home suppliers and the Toronto Transit Commission (ttc). Which, given the deliberately provocative nature of the campaign, meant that a lot of ads ended up getting the axe.
In subway trains, for example, the station ran ads featuring disparaging comments such as ‘Cheats on Internet lover’ and ‘Tonight on Jerry Springer,’ with arrows pointing down to the commuters seated below.
One ad that had to be canned read ‘Get off your ass and do something.’ The ttc, Meyers explains, wouldn’t permit use of the word ‘ass’.
Other potentially offensive ads, however, met surprisingly little resistance. For example, a billboard featuring an upraised middle finger and the line ‘Signal all lane changes’ somehow passed the decency test.
The ‘lane changes’ ad, in particular, generated a lot of calls to the station – both positive and negative, Meyers says. But for the most part, the negative calls didn’t bother him.
‘All the positive [feedback] came from the right people,’ he says, adding that the people most likely to take offence were also the ones least likely to become cfny listeners.
‘I’m convinced that you can’t offend our audience,’ Meyers says. Indeed, focus groups have shown that the station’s demographic – adults 18-34, and in particular, males 18-25 – might complain that an ad isn’t funny, but will rarely express offence.
Dave Crichton, partner and creative director with The Crichton Kim-Kirkland Company, the Toronto agency that developed the campaign, shares this view.
Crichton says cfny was very much aware that some of the more provocative ads might cross the line, but was willing to take that risk in order to attract listeners. ‘Their attitude was, ‘Hey, if one has to come down, so be it.”
One poster that may have crossed the line featured a photograph of a highway; in the foreground lay a (very) dead possum, over which the road’s dividing line had been freshly painted. While no animals were harmed in the making of this ad (the image was pulled from the Internet), some animal activists responded angrily.
cfny handled all accolades and criticism in characteristic manner, airing comments both pro and con for the pleasure of its listeners. ‘In the end,’ Crichton says, ‘there were a lot more people phoning in and saying they loved it.’
Out-of-home was the ideal medium for this campaign, Crichton adds, because it presents so many opportunities ‘to cater the creative to a specific need.’ For example, the ‘Signal all lane changes’ board went up in a location where it was certain to be seen by commuters, but far less likely to be seen by children.
For the latest evolution of the campaign, which began appearing in the market at the end of December, the agency opted to use vertical boards in the subways and in Toronto’s hip College and Queen Street areas.
The overriding goal of the campaign, from the outset, has been to attract new listeners without turning off the core audience. Which, says Crichton, is not as straightforward as it sounds.
For many years, cfny was known as Canada’s only truly alternative commercial radio station, and built a loyal cult following on that basis. However, in an effort to grow its listenership, the station spent much of the early ’90s re-inventing itself.
Today, cfny resides somewhere on the spectrum between college radio and all-things-to-all-people stations like Toronto’s Mix 99. And though its listeners now are more likely to wear Nikes than Doc Martens, it still enjoys an ‘alternative’ brand identity.
One of the strengths of the ‘Everyone has some edge’ campaign, Crichton argues, is the solid psychological insight on which it’s founded.
Most people, he says, like to think that they have a certain edge, even if they’re as mainstream as a pair of khakis. And twisted humour is one good way of conveying edge.
‘Everybody thinks that they get it more than the next person,’ Crichton says.
Also in this report:
– Signs of the times: Creatives pick their favourites in a less-than-stellar outdoor season p.19
– The Weather Network plays outside: Campaign uses humour to invest station with some personality p.21
– CFRB tailors message with wild postings: Guerrilla tactics reinforce nature of CFRB as provocative, on-the-street medium p.25
