Tinder set out to establish the brand as the leading dating app for Gen Z by emphasizing authenticity and showcasing Olympians in a relatable and engaging manner. Our strategy centered around using athletes and influencers to create social-first content that resonated with Gen Z's desire for real connections and fun dating experiences. By featuring Olympic athletes, Tinder aimed to amplify its presence during the 2024 Olympics and highlight the app as the go-to platform for meeting athletes as well as cool, authentic individuals. To achieve this, Tinder activated four athletes—Ilona Maher, CJ Nicholas, Ziyah Holman, and Miles Chamley—who built Tinder profiles and shared their lives beyond sport.
This helped position Tinder as the app where "cool" people connect, with a special focus on Olympians. The campaign’s core objective was to drive engagement, and positive sentiment, and increase brand love among Gen Z women while ensuring that Tinder became synonymous with meeting unique, like-minded people.
Through influencer partnerships and integrating Tinder PassportTM Mode, the campaign sought to create buzz, drive positive sentiment,z and establish Tinder as an exciting, modern platform that aligns with Gen Z’s values and interests, especially in the context of the Olympic Games.
The social-first campaign was carefully executed in three phases across TikTok and Instagram, each designed to maximize engagement and showcase Tinder’s unique features while creating an authentic, fun narrative.
In Phase One, Tinder focused on four Olympic athletes—Ilona Maher, CJ Nicholas, Ziyah Holman, and Miles Chamley building their Tinder profiles from scratch. These athletes, who were active in their sport and passionate about connecting with others, shared a personal side of their lives on Instagram and TikTok, including their hobbies, personality traits, and aspirations outside of athletics. Their Tinder profiles became a window into their authentic selves, positioning them as relatable figures in the dating scene. To amplify the campaign, Tinder used the Olympics buzz to create timely, social-first content that resonated with Gen Z, who were eager to see athletes in a more humanized light. This content was designed to be entertaining and engaging, with each athlete showcasing their journey on Tinder while subtly integrating the Olympic Games into their narrative. This approach struck a chord with Gen Z, who values real connections and authenticity.
In Phase Two, Tinder partnered with seven influencers who used Tinder PassportTM Mode to connect with athletes. Tinder PassportTM Mode allows users to virtually "travel" to other locations, in this case, the Olympic Village in Paris. Influencers were matched with the athletes and then shared their comedic experiences searching for their "perfect athlete" on the app, and then becoming obsessed with the sport. Simultaneously, global Tinder accounts were activated to respond to user-generated content (UGC), comments, and direct messages, ensuring an ongoing conversation and community interaction via a tight-knit community management plan. This helped increase the impact of the campaign, with reactive content and engagement amplifying the overall impact. By tapping into the global excitement of the Olympics and leveraging influencers to amplify the message, the campaign was able to break through the clutter and deliver a fresh, fun perspective on the Tinder experience.
Phase Three took the dating experience to real-life activations by making Tinder the official partner of Casa Brasil (House of Brazil) and the exclusive sponsor of its iconic parties in Paris during the games. This edition was the most complete and innovative in history—the only one featuring a party at the athletes’ accommodation!
Tinder not only created a space for Brazilian athletes to celebrate their victories but also captured the energy of the events with exclusive content, amplifying the moment across social media. The brand partnered with Flavia Saraiva’s Tinder to create her Tinder profile which became a global phenomenon, driving massive organic engagement and media coverage.
The use of relatable athletes who appeared genuinely active on Tinder, coupled with authentic content from influencers tapping into this talent, led to substantial engagement. The approach received positive feedback, driving viewers to download the app to connect with our athletes.
Our campaign generated significant positive sentiment from successful Tinder users and enthusiastic friends or fans of our partnered athletes and influencers.
The chosen athletes played a huge role in the campaign's success, as they were authentic talents who were single and looking for relationships. The growing profile of the athletes since this campaign (for example Ilona Maher has gone on to create an increased profile for herself, including being cast on Dancing With The Stars) shows the strength of the campaign’s talent choice.
Between the phases, the campaign amassed:
