Tinder Writes Its Own Romcoms for the Dating App Era

Samantha slips from a ladder while reaching for a book in the library, but just at the right moment, John steps in to catch her. It’s a classic meet cute moment, reminiscent of countless sentimental scenes from romantic comedies. 

But this meet cute didn’t happen in real life. As Samantha fumbles over her words, it becomes clear that this interaction actually played out on a dating app, specifically Tinder.

“Meet cutes happen every day on Tinder, just not like they do in the movies,” the voiceover says. 

Tinder has gone full romcom in the latest chapter of its ongoing global campaign, “It Starts With a Swipe.” As the brand continues its attempt to woo audiences who are disillusioned by dating apps, this time it wants to challenge “inaccurate perceptions of how romances should start, which can get in the way of real love and connection,” chief marketing officer Melissa Hobley told ADWEEK. 

“It doesn’t have to start like a romcom to become a romance,” she said. 

Created by agency Mischief @ No Fixed Address, the three new ads are inspired by the first messages of real couples who met on Tinder. 

“Rescue,” set in the library described above, is the first time that Tinder has worked with celebrities in this campaign. It features actors Lana Condor (star of Netflix’s To All the Boys film franchise) and Evan Mock (from HBO’s 2021 Gossip Girl remake) as Samantha and John. 

The fantasy scene imagines what Samantha and John’s initial interaction would have looked like if they had met in real life first. In homage to the genre’s most recognizable moments, the soundtrack is Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me,” which became famous as the theme song for 1999 teen romantic comedy She’s All That.

A second spot, “Rain,” illustrates Tinder messages between Kate and Lain, whose encounter is rife with romcom tropes: They find each other in a field of flowers in the middle of a rainstorm. As one of them shares the details of her astrological birth chart, they embrace under parting clouds that reveal the message bubbles of their Tinder chat. 

And in “Taxi,” Danielle and John bump into each other while hailing the same yellow cab. After delivering a cheesy pickup line, Matthew awkwardly repeats himself—mirroring the accidental “double send” that started their conversation on Tinder.  

“We tried to keep it awkward,” just as dating app interactions can be, said Bianca Guimaraes, executive creative director and partner at Mischief. “Ultimately, we want anyone watching this to see the Tinder ‘sup?’ as the equivalent of your dog knocking down a stranger you end up falling in love with.” 

The ads will run globally across online and digital streaming platforms beginning Monday. Tinder is also promoting this year’s Single Summer Series, its singles events that will take place across the country in partnership with Smorgasburg and Chaotic Singles Party. 

Romance for dating app skeptics 

Tinder’s ads tap into the nostalgic affinity that younger generations have for 1990s culture, including sitcoms and movies that popularized romcom stories.

“We wanted to acknowledge what we’re hearing out there, which is this desire for an IRL (in real life) meet cute, like the ‘90s romcom scenes that I have burned in my memory. Gen Z has this love of ‘90s nostalgia,” Hobley explained. “We wanted to incorporate that but make a statement that Tinder works and meet cutes happen every single day [on the app]—they just don’t happen like they do in the movies.” 

Since launching “It Starts With a Swipe” with Mischief last year, Tinder has been on a mission to revamp its image from a hookup app to one that facilitates meaningful connections. It has so far proven effective for the business, with owner Match Group crediting the campaign with boosting user sign-ups, particularly among women and young people. 

Nevertheless, Tinder and its rivals face challenges in attracting and maintaining users in an era of dating app fatigue. A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that about one-half (49%) of online daters said dating sites and apps are not safe, while 48% reported encountering negative behaviors on those platforms, including receiving unsolicited sexual messages or images, unwanted continued contact or physical threats. 

Tinder’s competitors, including Bumble and Hinge, have addressed users’ wariness in their campaigns. Hinge also drew on real app success stories in its recent ad.

For Tinder, the original dating app that launched in 2012, its latest commercials “take a harder stance on the fact that relationships happen here every day,” said Hobley, pointing to the brand’s statistic that a relationship starts every three seconds on Tinder.  

“We’re a little late to brag about that,” she continued. “We still have some perception change to do. This campaign has been working, but change doesn’t happen overnight.” 

ADWEEK will be publishing a breakdown of the Effie Award-winning campaign that Tinder used to kickstart this strategy.