Tinder Rolls Out New Global Ad Campaign Reminiscent of 90s Rom Coms

Tinder is rolling out a new ad campaign inspired by 90s rom-coms, featuring young singles playing out their meet cute moments on the app in real life.

According to AdWeek, the ads continue with “it starts with a swipe,” the tagline from its previous global campaign.

One video starts out with two people meeting in the library, with a young woman stumbling over her words as she falls off a ladder in the stacks and a young man catches her. “Thanks for making my day with your hace,” she says, shaking her head and correcting herself: “Face. Typo.” It then becomes clear that they are voicing their text messages.

In all of the videos, the text exchanges acted out are based on real-life Tinder meet cutes. Things don’t go smoothly at first for the future couples, pointing to potential users to give love a real-life chance.

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

In another video, a young woman stands in front of her love interest in a field in the pouring rain and asks, “so what now?” Her love interest responds: “birth charts, obviously,” as they continue to chat despite the inclement weather.

In the last of the ads, a young couple meets while hailing the same taxi, and the man asks: “do you believe in love at first sight?” and she responds with: “idk, shrug emoji.” He says, “I do now,” and then repeats himself, a reference to accidentally sending the same message twice.

According to AdWeek, the ads were done in collaboration with Mischief, who has worked with Tinder on previous “love at first swipe” campaigns. “We tried to keep it awkward,” Bianca Guimaraes, executive creative director and partner at Mischief, told Adweek. “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.” 

Tinder has struggled over the last year to grow its user base, as the dating app market goes soft. Many younger singles are abandoning dating apps for social platforms like LinkedIn or in-person events to meet people.

Tinder is trying to change perceptions about its app being a place for hook-ups and nothing serious. It also wants people disengaging with dating apps to take another look. “It doesn’t have to start like a rom com to become a romance,” Tinder’s chief marketing officer Melissa Hobley told AdWeek.

Hobley says this multi-part campaign is intended to change minds, and it’s working, but acknowledges to AdWeek that “change doesn’t happen overnight.”