New Yorkers have to put up with a lot to be New Yorkers—there are the neighborhood rats, the sour stench of garbage and sweat during sticky, sweltering summers and, of course, the apartment situation.

Local housing platform StreetEasy has long documented in its ad campaigns the beautiful struggles of living in a NYC abode. In its first campaign out of new AOR Preacher, which won creative duties in January, it reminds city-dwellers that they don’t have to settle—at the very least, it doesn’t hurt to start looking for their next home.

An out-of-home takeover campaign features artist Sam Spratt’s pulp noir illustrations of city dwellers in cramped, uncomfortable environs longing for a little bit more. A man folds into himself on the floor of his shower, dreaming of a bathtub. Another guy hand washes his dishes as water spills out of the sink, while copy reads, “Does the thought of a dishwasher get you all hot and steamy?” A woman sits surrounded by her menagerie in another ad asking, “Want a landlord that won’t judge your domestic partners?”

The work, running on billboards, taxi tops, kiosks and in the subway, follows the company’s 2019 campaign, “There’s Only One City,” out of Lightning Orchard, as well as the “Find Your Formula” campaign out of Office of Baby that whimsically illustrated trade-offs of NYC apartment life. 

This is the first to emphasize that the platform’s listings are all “vetted and verified across all five boroughs,” as noted in additional ad copy. 

“Our new campaign taps into a New York City truism: New Yorkers are always looking for their next place to live,” said Amory Wooden, StreetEasy’s senior director of marketing, in a statement. “‘It’s Okay to Look’ encourages New Yorkers to … fantasize about everything their future home could have. We wanted to capture the easily forgotten excitement and opportunity an apartment search can unlock and bring some much needed energy and levity back to the apartment hunt.”