Bringing the Love Back to Brands: Broken Heart Love Affair

da Dasha Ovsyannikova

Broken Heart Love Affair
Advertising/Full Service/Integrata
Toronto, Canada
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How and when was your agency founded?

Broken Heart Love Affair is the passion project of five of Canada’s top advertising talents. Denise Rossetto, CCO, Todd Mackie, CCO, Carlos Moreno, CCO, Bev Hammond, CBO, and Jay Chaney, CSO, joined forces to ‘bring the love back to brands’ for clients, consumers, and the creative community. Our first week in business also happened to be the first week of the pandemic lockdown. We planned it that way.  

 

What is your agency’s superpower?

Transforming brands and redefining how their category connects with their audience. That, and drinking more carbonated water than any one group of people should. 

 

Why would a client choose your agency over a large network? 

Broken Heart Love Affair offers the most senior and awarded talent working directly on your business. We weren’t forced together for an account, and we’re not subject to the decisions of HQ. 

As a proud independent agency, we are accountable only to our clients and to doing great work.  

 

What is your view of the current climate in terms of new business opportunities? 

We were fortunate to have broad support from clients and the creative community. We are tracking well ahead of new business targets, but more importantly, we are getting the right types of opportunities with the right kind of clients. The new business environment seems to be electric at the moment, and clients are taking their agency selection incredibly seriously.  

 

Tell us about the latest work you've released. 

Unapologetically Human for Canadian paper manufacturer Kruger was our first piece of work, and it showcased the strength of our team, model, and superpower. We created a film for 4 brands across three product types (Scotties facial tissue, Cashmere and Purex bathroom tissue, and SpongeTowels paper towels), which upended a well-defined category approach that traditionally avoided the tension of the actual product usage and stuck to animated characters and euphemisms. Rather than avoid the conversation, we celebrated it with all of life’s incredibly beautiful, messy, and sometimes nasty moments. The reaction and results have been overwhelming. The spot is receiving fan mail from consumers, business partners, and staff (even those who have retired from the company feel a sense of pride) about what this says about Kruger. There has been a big business pay-off too with each product reaping the benefit of its humanity – tracking ahead of competitors in the category. 

 

How have you been able to nurture your culture during the pandemic?

We have built a team full of people who exude passion and a desire to do great work for great clients. That energy fuels all of us, whether separate or together. We have been so busy since launch that we connected by a sense of purpose and responsibility and of fun and relaxation that comes with confidence of knowing that we have something special. We aren’t forcing culture because it is naturally forming as we all learn to work together. We take the work, but not ourselves seriously. Founded in creativity, kindness, and honesty Broken Heart Love Affair was designed to be a place of refuge and joy for top-performing, passionate talent. We are all creating the agency we’ve always wanted to work for.