Toronto classic rock radio station Q107 has launched a television and out-of-home advertising campaign to promote its morning show, Derringer in the Morning with Maureen Holloway.

The campaign consists of a television ad, in 30- and 15-second versions, as well as three out-of-home executions that appear on billboards and in restaurants, bars, health clubs and other indoor locations throughout the city.

All of the creative is based on the idea that the Q107 morning show, hosted by John Derringer, is funny enough that even people in particularly upsetting circumstances can’t help laughing.

The television spot, for example, depicts a man emerging from a dark room, his clothes dishevelled, trailed by two burly customs officers. All three are laughing uncontrollably, and while no words are spoken in the ad, the latex gloves worn by one of the officers suggest they just performed a cavity search on the man.

The three out-of-home executions, meanwhile, show a construction worker impaled by a steel beam, a diner cook engulfed in flames and a woman at a hair salon with a stripe shaved down the centre of her head. All of the characters in the ads are laughing as if unaware of their situations.

Creative for the campaign was developed by David Crichton of Grip Ltd. and Graham Lee, who left the agency at the end of last year.

The TV spot was also directed by Crichton, his first time behind the camera, through Industry Films.

Darren Wasyluk, director of marketing and promotion for the Corus-owned Q107, said the work by Crichton and Lee delivers an effective message about the morning show’s humorous talk without using any words.

“Rather than go and tell people we’re funny, we thought we’d let the actions tell the story and basically just make people laugh,” said Wasyluk. “We just wanted to make people laugh using other mediums, and in so doing communicate what John’s comic sensibility is.”

The campaign began its six-week run earlier this week.