Toronto is a big city with big issues. Polite Torontonians prefer to ignore the city’s underbelly, rather than talk about it, let alone voice opinions on the issues in a public forum like CFRB 1010 Talk Radio. The public passion concerning the city’s problems was dwindling, and with it, participation in public discourse. We needed to be heavy-handed in a way that was so ‘in your face’ that ignorance was no longer an option. People had to talk, and mainstream media had to stand up and take notice.So we turned the issues into the medium. Prostitutes questioned the legalization of their trade while beggars pondered the legality of panhandling. Chalk body outlines appeared on streets and smokers found themselves being called out for puffing away their healthcare benefits.

Huge crowds were drawn to the executions, and the press was all over it. Reporters were out interviewing sex workers and panhandlers, while discussions took place in television, radio, print, and online media, around watercoolers and in the streets. CFRB was everywhere. The advertising was so explosive it spurred its own debate: Is this advertising or exploitation?

We targeted people who have an opinion, to let them know there was an outlet for their voices. And well, you know what they say about opinions. While we wanted to resonate with current listeners, we also needed to raise awareness amidst potential listeners and talkers. The more passion we could incite, the more involved people would get, essentially becoming advocates for CFRB. With this in mind we took a look at the social issues facing the city of Toronto and examined the dialogues that were (or weren’t) taking place around them. We blew up those that would elicit the strongest reactions, sparking dialogue and achieving CFRB’s goal: getting people to talk.

The campaign launched in September of 2008, and took the form of numerous rounds of ambient executions in high-traffic locations throughout the city of Toronto.

Each ‘stunt’ was executed individually, with real panhandlers and prostitutes paid to enlist their support. Each ambient effort remained in place until it was removed by the public, or the person tired of holding the sign. The ambient work was supported by billboards and transit ads throughout the city.Crowds naturally flocked to the scenes of these stunts and our tips to local newsdesks resulted in live cameras catching the events. We made sure that any media that wasn’t there live, heard about it afterwards. We photographed everything, and made the photos and CFRB spokespeople available to discuss and debate the issues for weeks to follow.

So, did we get people to talk? Indeed we did. Passionate callers to CFRB’s talk programs ranged from the amused to the outraged, from first-time callers to those who hadn’t been inspired to pick up the phone for years. The resulting fervent hot debates examined the motivation behind the campaign and truly drove home its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, the media continued the discussion, interviewing the man on the street, experts on prostitution and homelessness and CFRB spokespeople. This resulted in media exposure of nearly four million people in the Greater Toronto Area- a value surpassing $100,000 + ad buy.Most importantly, the result was a talk radio station that had been perceived as outdated and irrelevant becoming the talk of the town.

We needed to get these issues in front of the public in ways that could not be ignored and would spark conversation in the streets and in mainstream media. To do this, nailing down a powerful core ‘idea’ was key. We needed to come up with an idea that would stop people in their tracks, force them to talk, draw crowds, drive word of mouth, and force everyone from the man on the street to mainstream media to bloggers and social network junkies to take note and become part of the debate.Once we nailed down the idea, we knew our window of time with the ambient executions was limited, in some cases only a few hours, so we needed to ensure that they were big enough to not only draw as many people as possible, but inspire discussion that would take on a life of its own afterwards.

CFRB 1010 is talk radio, a medium many may consider outdated: old people talking about old news. In an increasingly fast-paced and evolving world, the public was inclined to get their news elsewhere. We had the opportunity to demonstrate that this talk radio station is not what they thought it was. It’s the place where today’s hot issues are discussed, whether they are light and breezy or downright serious – and people need to care about what is going on in their city. We needed to get people tuned into the issues so they would tune into CFRB.