Media: Creative impulse

An irreverent poster campaign by Talk Radio, depicting two opposing views on topical issues, seeks to encourage people to tune in. Three initial executions, on the pounds 15m signing of Alan Shearer, the choice voters face at the next general election, and whether the public should pay for the Duchess of York and the Princess of Wales, appeared at the beginning of the month; three more, on euthanasia, education and the political role of Gerry Adams, arrived last week. The ads, with the slogan "There's a good argument for listening", can be seen on 1,000 sites in British cities.

The client: Talk Radio

Paul Robinson, general manager

The brief was to communicate what Talk Radio is about. We now have a programme schedule and a line-up of presenters that we're pleased with. We're clear as to our position in the market - a commercial station committed to listener-led debate. Our priority now is to get people who haven't listened before to give us a try.

We're still a well-kept secret in some parts of the country. But our research, carried out in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Worcester to give a good cross-section, showed that when people listen to Talk Radio for the first time, they respond enthusiastically.

The agency: Walsh Trott Chick Smith

Amanda Walsh, managing director

Talk Radio is completely driven by listeners calling in. People ring in vehemently opposing what the last caller has said, and it all becomes addictive and involving. What we wanted to do, then, was capture this process on a poster, and show how extreme people's views can be on any issue, be it serious or light-hearted.

We also tried to demonstrate the personality of the station. People's ideas of a "talk radio" station tend to have been formed by Radio 4, which is rather dry and intellectual, but while Talk Radio is intelligent, it's also fun. One minute people can be discussing, say, Gerry Adams, and the next they can be talking about something quite flippant. It's spontaneous: if a story broke now, you could call in to talk about it right away.

We needed the advertising itself to be highly visible - and controversial. But any controversy about Talk Radio is created by the views that the average punter holds: the station itself is completely unbiased, and the presenters don't seek to elicit controversy. A poster on Gerry Adams has created a lot of fuss by asking if he is a statesman or a terrorist, but we're merely reflecting the differing views ordinary people have of him.

This is a simple idea - just a topic with photos - and not reliant on mega-budget production. Because of the need to be topical, we can't spend months producing something that's out of date by the time it's displayedn

Scott Hughes