EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2015, Vanity Fair published “Tinder and the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse” describing the aimless culture of swiping apps.  Hinge, a second-tier competitor to Tinder, had reached a plateau in users following the swiping model. The article accelerated their decision to rebrand and re-launch as an antidote to swiping. Could Hinge reposition itself as the Relationship app and reach an even more ambitious goal: shifting from being a free app to a $7 monthly subscription model.  

 Katie Hunt, who drove the early strategy of Warby Parker, was bought in as consultant. Marketing dollars were scarce - media dollars non-existent. Katie’s strategy: create something notable enough to be newsworthy. She commissioned the STUDIO to tell a story of a disillusioned dater in a freakish landscape of dating games. After surviving The One Nighter, Catch-a-Catfish and Date-Em-All, our dater finds a doorway to Hinge and an implied relationship. The strategy worked. The animation was the lead in to over 300 news stories for Hinge founder, Justin McLeod. The app re-launched as a paid model. Hinge, founded in 2012, doubled its user base in 6 months, essentially increasing earnings 7 fold. The app continues growing, adding 15% more users each month.

MARKET BACKGROUND + OBJECTIVES

One of the pioneers of dating apps, Hinge was lingering below the top ten dating apps in every metric in 2015. While a national app, most users were east coast based. Hinge decided to take a step back, ultimately agreeing with Vanity Fair’s assessment: they weren’t part of the solution for building relationships - they were part of the problem.

While they set out to build product and brand that would encourage relationships, they had also fallen into the Tinder trap of gamification, abundance, and objectification. Founder Justin McLeod was moved by to go back to his basic concept around the app: to create a tool that allowed for meaningful relationships to develop. With a second round of financing, the business objective was twofold: increase downloads and move the app away from mindless swiping that discourages real world connection.

A few insights came from focus groups. Our audience was not blanket “millennials” – but the specific target age of millennials actively seeking a long-term relationship: women 25-35 and men 28-38. Operating with little or no media budget, Hinge’s strategy was to create a branded content piece that would generate PR to increase awareness, increase downloads and hopefully increase brand love. Over the next year they would use the data of their previous product, in tandem with focus groups and multiple beta releases to existing users in targeted cities, to build The Relationship App.

Leading up to their relaunch, Hinge knew that they needed to generate positive buzz around their new product and brand. A 3D animated film had never been utilized by a dating app, and they believed the medium would allow them to tell their audience what was wrong with current dating culture and set the stage for a completely reimagined approach.  Katie Hunt approached the STUDIO having been moved by “Scarlett” - a viral animated video they had created the previous year. She was particularly moved by the audience engagement and international press that the powerful wordless story achieved with zero media spending. 

MARKET BACKGROUND + OBJECTIVES

“Nobody joins Tinder because they’re looking for something. They join because they want to have fun...swiping is so fun."

-Tinder Founder and CEO

Hinge’s disruptive insight: SWIPING KEEPS YOU SINGLE. Swiping apps are staggeringly ineffective at helping people find relationships. Not everyone on these apps are looking for relationships, of course, but among those that are, only 18% have found even one relationship, ever. It became clear that swiping apps are not “successful” because they help users find relationships; rather are successful when they maximize user engagement (and therefore advertising revenue). Their interface is designed to trigger the same neurobiological mechanisms as a slot machine. Tinder boasts that users login on average 11 times per day -- spend up to 90 minutes per day swiping, and accumulate on average over 200 matches. But, for the vast majority of users this has led to exactly zero relationship

Hinge’s strategy was to “Get Past the Games” and so the STUDIO designed a world of relentlessly swiping near zombie-like daters in a dystrophic carnival. A world where aimless rides abound:

·       Catch a Catfish

·       The Wall of Filters

·       The One Nighter

·       Ghosted

·       Swipe Out

The animation posited two allegorical worlds: a dark and depressing carnival universe of dating zombies, and its antidote - the Hinge world were relationships are possible. Based on the insight of the target age, the Hinge world is not only full of beautiful romantic, pastoral imagery but of tropes from iconic 80’s love stories like Dirty Dancing and Ghost. The song What about Love by Heart, sung almost as a challenge, was licensed for 90 days - the limited period of time that Hinge was relying on for a turnaround. 

PERFORMANCE AGAINST OBJECTIVES

Hinge’s strategy was to “Get Past the Games” and so we designed a world of relentlessly swiping near zombie-like daters in a dystrophic carnival. 

• 15% increase in new members every month after the launch

• Doubled user base in 6 months

• 300 media outlets covering the relaunch and branded animation

• Switched from free to $7/month subscription model

TAKEAWAY

“It was one of those things where it's overdue that somebody came along and exposed the reality. I think that there was something very fresh about the insight, it left you with a strong sense that that's something that people have a lot of pre-existing interest in. It ticked all the boxes it needed in order to be successful in the content space.”

-WARC Judge

“They really went in, picking up on the cultural tidbits and common phrases, and turning them around, closing the door on a lot of those other competitors and pointing people in the right direction, or their direction, for a better solution.”

-WARC Judge

The idea of crafting a symbolic and emotional story rather than a new “features” demo video was a bold approach for an app relaunch. You don’t have to show how an app works to promote it; you have to communicate a compelling reason to explore the new feature. Being open receptive to feedback and criticism helped the brand evolve.  

The video was enough for people to opt in to a $7 monthly fee. 

Creating a memorable visually stunning story can do double duty when media dollars are scarce.