Bumble

Image: Newsweek

In today's highly competitive business environment, companies are constantly fighting for consumers’ attention and loyalty. Those that manage to secure it set themselves on a path to market domination and financial success. Those that cannot face an uphill battle. Though we’re used to hearing that “the customer is always right,” the reality is that not every company lives by that credo.

Few industries are more competitive today than the online dating industry. From the major players of Match Group and Spark Networks to countless hopeful startups, dating services around the world are locked in a fierce feud to become the go-to matchmaker of tech-savvy singles.

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd has secured a 4 million pound dividend payout from parent company Magic Lab, who saw record earnings thanks to its star dating app.

According to The Telegraph, the Bumble windfall is the result of a dividend payout of 20 million pounds from its parent company, and Herd owns about 20% of Bumble. Magic Lab saw earnings skyrocket at the end of 2018 to about 270 million pounds, up 51 percent from the year before. This quarter, the company reported a loss of about 4.8 million pounds.

Bumble’s revenue made up about 48 percent of Magic Lab’s overall business.

Popular beauty brand Urban Decay has partnered with dating app Bumble in its latest marketing campaign launch to promote its new line of Naked Honey makeup products.

Urban Decay will give away 1,000 of its new eye makeup palettes over Bumble’s app. The campaign will target users across all three of Bumble’s services – BumbleDate, BumbleBFF and BumbleBiz - to reach the app’s 63 million users. Bumble will also cross-promote the campaign on Instagram.

Urban Decay’s partnership with a female-forward dating app is an extension of its existing Instagram campaign, which featured megastar singer and body-positive advocate Lizzo wearing the new makeup line.

Lauren Daigle

Grammy-winning Christian singer Lauren Daigle has partnered with Bumble BFF to help promote its “Asking for a Friend” campaign.

The star joins other celebrities such as Jameela Jamil and celebrity gamer Kristen Valnicek, who have joined forces with Bumble to encourage its users to build friendships and support networks to counter the growing problem of loneliness and isolation around the world, especially among young women. According to studies, social media is part of the problem, with one in five people saying browsing through their feeds makes them feel lonely.

“At its core, music is about connecting with others - whether sharing a favorite song or hanging at a concert (with a couple thousand friends),” Daigle told The Christian Beat. “Bumble BFF is similar in a way, in that people can find comfort and connect to others through conversation.”

Dating services have collaborated with fashion labels, food brands, artists, candlemakers, musicians, movies, television networks, sports teams and charities - but a new crop of partnership deals may be the most surprising yet. According to a recent report by the Houston Chronicle, Tinder and Bumble are hosting parties with fraternities on college campuses. In return, the fraternities are signing contracts declaring that they are exclusively a Tinder house or a Bumble house.

“Simply scan to enroll!,” read a sign posted outside a University of Texas party earlier this year, referring to a scannable QR code printed below. “Must: be within five miles of campus, be ages 18-22, have an existing Tinder profile, have UT Austin in your profile.”

Image: Bumble

Bumble announced its most recent partnership with Gen. G to create the first all-female team of professional Fortnite players.

According to CNBC, the female-friendly dating app will also become the official partner for Kristen Valnicek (a.k.a. KittyPlays), a content creator and Twitch player who is head of new gaming initiatives for Gen. G, a global esports organization that was originally founded in South Korea.