Creative Director’s Choice: Unfold’s Brick Rucker on OkCupid’s cheeky ‘DTF’ campaign
Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the work they think is the best out in the ad world — the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference.
OkCupid's DTF campaign
This week, Unfold co-founder and executive creative director Brick Rucker talks about OkCupid’s effectively cheeky dating campaign.
Where do I even begin? The OkCupid ‘DTF’ campaign touched all sorts of places I didn’t know a campaign could touch at once.
All the cool kids use acronyms. You can’t go wrong with a recognizable acronym from days gone by that makes you giggle on the inside a little for all the wrong (right) reasons. Acronyms, check.
It’s cheeky AF; they know they’re being cheeky, I know they’re being cheeky, and they know I know they know they are being cheeky. Self-Awareness, check.
Topical subject matter is the backbone of comedy, and good comedy is disarming – it tells me there is a team of smart folks behind the campaign that are thinking really hard about how to disarm me and get my attention, which I appreciate. Getting someone’s attention in a crowded landscape is more of an art than a skill. In turn, when I know smart people are working hard for my attention and thus my dollars, I in turn want to patronize their brand or service. Topical, check.
Full Disclosure: I am happily married to a wonderful wife and I have two young children, so I’m not on dating sites no matter how cheeky and/or topical the ads are, mainly because my wife would kill me.
This campaign lives on the edge of polite society. At quick glance you wonder was it an error? No it couldn’t be… Did they just say that? Actually… I think they did. Did the campaign offend a very small segment of the population that is offended at everything? Probably. That just makes me love it more that someone’s panties are bunched right now. Edgy, check.
Lastly, does the rubber meet the road? Did the campaign move the needle for OkCupid, or was it the ad campaign equivalent of a student arthouse film? It was reported that the OkCupid chief marketer said the campaign boosted buzz by 50%. Effectivity, check.
The ingredients to a good ad campaign are varied, complex, and ultimately personal to the individual. This one ticked off a lot of my boxes, and I’m not even in the target audience. Success, check.
Brick Rucker is co-founder and executive creative director of Los Angeles digital creative agency Unfold.
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