Bumble Wins Award for Dating Safety Ad Campaign

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is showing users it puts safety first according to its recent ad campaign “The New Rules of the Game,” which won an award from The Drum for Marketing the Americas 2023.

According to The Drum, Bumble wanted the campaign to speak to women, who are often worried about meeting people on a dating app because they are likely to encounter rude or explicit messages or photos when they are searching. The company highlights all the ways Bumble is creating a safe space for singles, where dating can be both safe and fun.

The campaign focused on real and important issues for daters while at the same time making it playful and engaging by doing a series of sports-related ads. In one, a female baseball player is up for bat and waiting for the pitch while the narrator talks about the “Private Detective” feature which keeps photos blurred, unless the user says it’s ok to see. At the end, the batter catches an eggplant and smiles, adding to the humor.

In another, a football coach is giving a talk to one of her players after she didn’t perform well in the first half of the game. But instead of asking her to get out there and fight, she orders her to rest (and hit Bumble’s Snooze feature), which lets you take a break from dating on the app.

In the third video, two tennis players (a man and a woman) are playing against each other, and when the man tries to hit the ball outside the lines, his opponent says “nope,” and immediately hits the “Unmatch” button, where she can undo her match with him.

Bumble kicked off the campaign on ESPN during the Women’s US Open and WNBA Finals to take advantage of the sports-related messaging, according to The Drum. They encourage women to play the dating game by their own rules – and by using the features that Bumble developed for safety.

In addition, Bumble partnered with health tech provider Birdie and distributed almost 1,500 personal safety alarms to college students and athletes as part of the campaign.

The company has also been lobbying against cyberflashing in many states, and successfully winning some, including California.

The ad campaign received millions of views on social media as well as during the broadcast. In fact, The Drum pointed out that: “Bumble saw the public perception of the app being committed to user safety increase by 4%, while its perceived ability to prevent unwanted non-consensual behavior grew 5.2%.”

For more on this dating service, check out our dating app review.