Tinder moves beyond hookups in surreal, global campaign from Mischief

Tinder gets wildly colorful and inclusive in its first global campaign, breaking Tuesday, which repositions the dating app—still primarily known for hookups—as a gateway to all kinds of love and relationships. The work, by the agency Mischief, carries the theme “It Starts With a Swipe.” It includes eye-popping print, digital and OOH ads illustrated by the hyperrealist French artist Pol Kurucz, along with videos directed by Los Pérez of Biscuit Filmworks (the duo of Tania Verduzco and Adrián Pérez). Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here The core message is that endless possibilities await Gen Z through the Tinder app, however they choose to define love—from “the hetero-normative, to the sapiosexual gender fluid, to everything in between,” the brand says. Many executions spotlight queer and trans love. Others take aim at Tinder’s longstanding reputation for facilitating one-night stands—suggesting the app can lead to long-term relationships, too. The 15-second spot below, for example, is about a relationship milestone everyone will be familiar with. “We're known as the hookup app, and I get it. That’s part of who we are, but we’re more than that,” Melissa Hobley, Tinder’s chief marketing officer, told Ad Age. “Over 40% of singles on Tinder are looking for something long-term. People are going to be a little surprised, I think, to see us talk about love and commitment.” Here’s a :60 that gloriously builds on the commitment theme: Support for LGBTQ+ daters is front and center, too, sometimes in provocative ways—like showing a gender-fluid couple in front of a church with the line, “Someone to go to heaven with.” This support for the LGBTQ+ community is rooted in Tinder’s DNA as well. “If you're part of that community, you possibly came out on Tinder before you came out to family and friends,” said Hobley. “It may have been the first place where you had a sense of belonging and were able to have connections. We still have huge issues with homophobia. You see the conversations around trans youth in America—they're really concerning. The opportunity to lift up those communities and those amazing connections is really important to nail.” Bianca Guimaraes, executive creative director at Mischief, said diversity is woven throughout the campaign—in the work, but also in its creation. “Tinder’s members are more diverse than any other app; by design, matches can’t be filtered by ethnicity,” she said. “Plus, their members are super fluid in how they view gender, sexuality and dating. So we wanted to be really intentional and authentic to the community being represented—both in front of and behind the lens.” In its talent search, the agency looked to cast for a range of ethnicities, members of the LGBTQ+ community and body diversity. “Our film and photography crew was very diverse as well, with heavy female representation as well as many BIPOC and LGBTQ team members,” Guimaraes said. “Essentially, we wanted our team and cast to represent the lived experiences of the stories we are telling.” The campaign reflects Gen Z in another way, too. It acknowledges this generation is making love connections over social, political and environmental issues. Indeed, one of the ads shows a couple staring up at a giant monster made of plastic bottles, with a line that reads, “Someone to save the planet with.” Hobley said Tinder’s research outside the U.S. helped inform that part of the campaign. “Gen Z in Europe is ahead of where Gen Z is in the U.S. on conversations and engagement on sustainability and climate change. And that's hot,” she said. “How awesome that people are connecting over this passion. It was just such a cool experience bring that to life with this futuristic neon plastic monster—and our daters in costumes, ready to take on the world.” The visuals are heightened and surreal throughout the campaign, for a few reasons. They evoke fairy tales, which is what dating, at its best, can feel like. And they’re also aspirational in a way that more traditional artwork might not be. Ad Age Leading Women and Rising Stars Last call for the annual awards Enter here “We wanted it to feel dreamy and beautiful. The longing a lot of folks have for those kinds of connections is pretty significant,” said Hobley. “Translating that to film and photography was what we aimed to do.” “The scenarios are grounded in real situations, but are portrayed in a surreal way,” added Guimaraes. “This way, people have room to see themselves within those situations, as opposed to portraying them in a very realistic way that may not leave room for interpretation.” A second video, below, much like the toothbrush one, also focuses on relationship longevity—with a fun take on moving past one-night stands, courtesy of associate creative directors Eleanor Rask and Trevor Joplin. The theme line, “It Starts With a Swipe,” itself nods to Tinder’s history (the brand invented swiping left or right on matches) while also framing its views on Gen Z dating as endlessly open-ended. “We power possibilities,” said Hobley. “I was talking to one dater who said something that stuck with me. She said, ‘One swipe changed my life.’ She's queer and found this incredible person on Tinder and told me their paths would not have crossed in another capacity. They didn't have the same social circles or work in the same industry. So, yeah, whatever it is you're looking for—it can start with a swipe.” “The swipe right or left is such an iconic part of the user experience,” said Guimaraes. “It felt natural to say the act of swiping is the beginning of it all. It’s the action that will lead to you finding someone you can share comfortable silences with, someone who will meet your parents, someone who you’ll buy two nightstands with.” The campaign launches Tuesday on social media and streaming, followed by out-of-home. It will roll out across the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Australia and Brazil—appearing in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid. For Hobley, the campaign will be a success if Tinder can get beyond the “hookups” label, and also make marginalized groups feel seen and supported. “It’s, first, are you thinking about Tinder in a new way? But also, are we elevating and supporting communities of daters that should be supported more?” she said. “We want to celebrate all daters—daters who are trans, daters who are non-binary, daters who are looking for tonight, and daters who are looking for Saturday nights forever.”

Tinder moves beyond hookups in surreal, global campaign from Mischief

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