Hinge Offered Users $100 to Go on A Date IRL
Contributed by: kellyseal on Monday, April 06 2020 @ 11:44 am
Last modified on Monday, April 06 2020 @ 12:00 pm
Dating app Hinge wanted to get people meeting IRL back at the beginning of March. This promotional effort offered $100 to users who take a break from the app for one day to go on a date.
For those who wanted to cash in, Hinge required users to go on a date on Friday March 6th and discontinue using Hinge for the next 24 hours. The date the company chose coincided with the National Day of Unplugging.
According to Yahoo! Fianance[*1] , users were given a simple set of instructions to follow: log in to the app to set up a date for March 6th. At 4:00pm EST on that day, users were instructed to open their apps and hit “pause your account” before closing the app. Hinge asked that they note the time, because the app will need to be paused for a full 24 hours in order for the user to qualify.
That’s not all – Hinge also wanted an update on your IRL date. Once the 24 hours had passed, users could log in and go to Hinge’s “Let’s Unplug Together” form and provide all the details. But you snooze, you lose – Hinge was only accepting these forms between Saturday March 7th starting at 4:00pm EST through Sunday March 8th at 11:59pm EST to be eligible for the payout.
Hinge was doling out $25,000 total, so only 250 people will be awarded the money.
More people are volunteering to unplug for short periods of time to alleviate the everyday stress of smartphones. According to the latest numbers from Pew Research, about 80 percent of Americans now own a smartphone, up from just 35 percent in 2011. Research has shown that smartphone use can be addictive, and this is true for people swiping on dating apps. In addition, many dating app users experience dating fatigue, typically from the endless swiping and messaging that doesn’t lead anywhere.
Hinge intends to change that. The company rolled out a global campaign with its new mascot “Hingie” last year, coaxing people to get off the app and go on dates so they can reach their ultimate goals of building relationships. This latest move is an extension of that campaign and adds to the brand’s reputation for being a dating app for more serious daters.
"Introducing people on Hinge is just the beginning of a connection," Nathan Roth, Hinge’s chief marketing officer. said in a statement. "The real magic happens in person and in real life. We’ll never stop encouraging our users to meet up, and this Friday, we’re excited to give them a little extra incentive to set up a date and put Hinge away."