Hinge Fights Dating App Burnout With Serendipitous Love Stories

The real couples featured in Hinge’s new campaign share a funny coincidence: All of them unknowingly crossed paths with their future partner in person before connecting on the dating app. 

Hinge tells these surprising, true love stories in its latest ads, which continue its long-running “Designed to Be Deleted” platform. The campaign–launching amid reports of growing dating app fatigue–is meant to remind people that romance can begin in all sorts of unexpected ways. 

“This work is about the twists and turns, celebrating that everyone’s start point [in love] can be different,” Hinge chief marketing officer Jackie Jantos told ADWEEK. 

“It’s Funny We Met on Hinge,” developed by creative collective Birthday and directed by India Sleem through Serial Pictures, comprises a film series spotlighting seven real-life couples who met on the app. The couples, of diverse backgrounds, ages, genders, and sexual orientations, candidly reflect on the coincidences, near misses, and unforeseen connections that ultimately brought them together. 

The spots will run from Dec. 26 until early March 2025 on social media and streaming services in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Australia. Starting in January, a group of creators will take to social platforms to share their own stories of connecting with people on Hinge. 

The campaign aims to persuade those who haven’t tried dating apps before. It coincides with the new year, which tends to be a busy time for dating apps as many people “set intentions for the next year… including the relationships they want to be in,” Jantos explained. 

Among dating app novices, there is sometimes a “deep desire to find a relationship in more serendipitous ways,” she observed. “What we hope to show is whether you crossed paths with someone in the past or are hoping to meet serendipitously, Hinge could be another channel for you to potentially meet a partner.”

Hinge’s new campaign progresses its “Designed to Be Deleted” platform that launched in 2019 and remains one of the most enduring taglines in the dating app sector. 

“Everything we do is intended to encourage people to literally get off the app and into great dates,” Jantos said. 

Lately, the brand has emphasized this by turning to real life dating stories, which “feel more truthful and honest” than the love stories found in pop culture, said Jantos.

Earlier this year, Hinge created a zine of love stories written by authors including Roxane Gay and John Paul Brammer based on six real-life couples who met on the app. With a focus on Gen Z, the project was inspired by the popularity of romantic literature on TikTok’s #BookTok.

Tackling dating burnout and loneliness

Hinge’s message, aiming to challenge “all the tropes that make romance look idealistic and full of easy starts,” per Jantos, echoes a sentiment in a summer campaign from rival dating app Tinder. In those ads, Tinder subverted traditional notions of romance by reimagining romantic comedies for the digital age. 

Both brands are looking to resonate in a challenging sector, as some reports point to negative sentiment about dating apps, especially among younger users. A 2023 Axios / Generation Lab survey revealed that 79% of college and graduate students in the U.S. said they don’t use any dating apps even as infrequently as once a month. 

Nevertheless, Hinge has been a bright spot for parent company Match Group, which also owns Tinder. In Q3 2024, Hinge’s direct revenue grew 36% year on year, making it the second most downloaded dating app in the U.S. for the first time ever, according to Match Group’s latest earnings.  

Yet Hinge faces the same marketing challenge as many of its peers: dating app fatigue, a phenomenon that has been dissected on social channels like TikTok and in mainstream news outlets including The New York Times. 

Jantos said dating app burnout is particularly acute among young adults for a few reasons, including the widely reported loneliness epidemic. A rise in loneliness and craving for in-person interactions is “testament to the rise of technology, but also the reality of young adults’ experiences in the pandemic,” she said.

“Their comfort level going out and meeting people is different than for previous generations,” she added. 

To address this issue, Hinge has made loneliness the focus of its social impact program, One More Hour, which this year granted $1 million in funding to social groups across the U.S. that aim to foster community among young people. 

On the app itself, Hinge has also introduced new features like Your Turn Limits, a notification that reminds users when it’s their turn to respond in a conversation with a match. 

“There has been this idea that on dating apps there is an opportunity to see a higher quantity of people, but we’re trying to encourage users to focus on quality over quantity,” said Jantos.