Tinder Reimagines the Summer Fling as Its Marketing to Gen Z Pays Off
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Love is in the air as Tinder tries to woo Gen Z daters.
The dating app has launched the next chapter of its global campaign, “It Starts With a Swipe,” emphasizing meaningful connections to attract younger users.
Created by agency partner Mischief @ No Fixed Address, Tinder’s three new commercials are sentimental depictions of one-night stands and summer flings that turn into long-term relationships.
As the voiceover says in one of the ads: “You got on Tinder to find a summer fling, but you accidentally found a fall, winter and spring fling.”
The protagonist in another spot wakes up to find their Tinder date left before they woke up—not usually a sign of a lasting connection. Instead, it turns out the date only went out to surprise them with breakfast.
The third video in the trio is about bringing a Tinder date home to meet the family.
“Possibilities are at the center of this global Tinder campaign,” global chief marketing officer Melissa Hobley said in a statement. “We’ve cracked a brand platform for the long term that truly reflects the bold, unapologetic and unignorable shift in how youth culture approaches dating and relationships.”
Seductive marketing
Tinder parent Match Group, the world’s largest dating app company that also owns Hinge and OKCupid, this month credited the “It Starts With a Swipe” campaign with increasing Tinder’s user sign-ups, particularly among women and younger people.
Tinder’s second-quarter revenue growth outpaced its owner’s, increasing 6% year on year to $475 million. Match Group’s overall revenue in the period grew 4% to $830 million.
Since launching “It Starts With a Swipe” in February, Tinder has sought to overturn a perception of the app as only facilitating surface-level connections. “Tinder is for so much more than hookups,” svp of marketing Stephanie Danzi told Adweek earlier this year.
The brand is also openly courting Gen Z, who it reports make up most of its users, are less jaded when it comes to online dating and care more about connection, according to Danzi.
Later this year, Tinder plans to launch a new “high-end” membership program and a product refresh that will cater to its Gen Z audience with features such as prompts, quizzes and conversation starters.
The app also said it is testing an artificial intelligence tool that could enhance users’ profiles by selecting their best photos.
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/tinder-reimagines-the-summer-fling-as-its-marketing-to-gen-z-pays-off/