Creative Director’s Choice gives Creative directors a chance to highlight the current work they think is the best out in the ad world – the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference.

This week, the creative team of art director Jackie Anzaldi and creative director Lindsey Lanpher at BBH NY give their take on OkCupid’s DTF campaign by Wieden + Kennedy and its broader implications on embracing brands’ less pleasant aspects.

When you hear the name Okcupid, you’re all, “Isn’t that the dating site where people are just like, ‘DTF?’” And OkCupid goes, “F- yeah we are. DTFarmers market. DTFire up the kiln. DTFeel out the dance floor.” And boom. Stigma erased. Conversation opened. Plus, who knew there were so many other ‘F’ words?

More of this please: Brands embracing their unsavory side — because it’s honest, relatable and sounds nothing like a brand.

In his (or ‘The’) ad bible, Luke Sullivan says the most effective ad platforms are mined from brand truths. And, as it’s not all that fun to look in the mirror and see a giant flaw staring back at you, the realities aren’t always palatable for a client to face. Ergo the typical shouting match between a bunch of brands all claiming they’re the best. Yawn. 

But if you can turn a truth on its head, and get the client  actually to embrace it, then you wind up with a snazzy campaign that naturally rises above the usual barrage of blah blah blah. 

Not only does dating deserve better. So does advertising.

We could go on and on about the engaging, not-taking-itself-too-seriously language, poppin’ art direction, how they’ve done a hell of a job representing the target; everything about this campaign cleaned up nice.

But we love that they convinced OkCupid to own a negative like a “Nasty Woman” t-shirt because that leads to a real conversation from one human to another. One especially perfect for a site where humans can meet each other.

To see the latest creative ads and campaigns, visit The Drum’s Creative Works section. If you or your creative director would like to feature in our Creative Director’s Choice, please contact Kyle O’Brien at [email protected].

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