Hinge’s Mascot Begs Gen Z: Fall in Love and Delete This Dating App
By Heather Taylor, Icon Editor, Advertising Week
Remember Hingie? The brand mascot for the dating app Hinge?
Hingie still exists and this can only mean one thing. While previous Hinge campaigns have seen great success with millennial daters, the app is expanding to the next generation of Gen Zers. Like the millennials before them, Gen Zers are encouraged to find love. Once they find love, they can delete the app — and subsequently say bye to Hingie.
Hinge is partnering with Red Antler for its third ad campaign “Designed To Be Deleted” and reintroducing Hingie to a Gen Z audience. Gen Zers, please listen. Better yet, start swiping. Hingie is ready to die for your love.
“Designed To Be Deleted”
<!– wp:paragraph –>
<p>
Let’s get reacquainted with Hingie.
Hingie is a furry, bright-eyed app icon. Every time single Gen Zers go on a unique date, whether it’s a trip to the video arcade, a cozy lunch, or a swoon-inducing campfire under the stars, Hinge gets this much closer to being deleted from their smartphones.
Some of Hingie’s deaths include, but aren’t limited to, the following RIPs as seen in the new commercial spots.
Game over in a video game.
Burned up in a campfire. (It was either this or quietly await a shooting star to explode it to bits.)
Literal decomposition back into the earth.
And even more endings like being sliced razor thin in a meat slicer, swallowed by a snake at the zoo, and cracking to pieces as a piece of pottery art.
There is, of course, humor to be found in the various ways Hingie goes out. Designed To Be Deleted, according to Hinge, directly speaks to how Gen Zers approach dating. It’s much more of a situation where the dater decides to delete when it feels right. A meaningful connection could be long-term or short-term depending on what the dater is looking for and wants in a partner.
Hingie doesn’t mind sacrificing itself once you’ve found someone special. When the green flags are there, you are free to delete Hinge — and let Hingie destruct in the name of love.
You May Also Like
What the World Cup Reveals About Effective Sales Promotions
Any global event, whether sport or entertainment, creates the same temptation for brands to prioritise presence over purpose. But the biggest lesson from this World Cup is not that brands need to shout louder, it is that promotional activity performs best when it reflects how people actually experience the tournament.
First Came the Beards, Then Came the Coffee Shops
The brands that succeed over the next decade will be the ones that rediscover the simple truth of why they exist, and stretch towards the dream of how they can add more to the world, then express that clearly and consistently in everything they do.
Predictive ROI Is Becoming Marketing’s Most Valuable Currency
When agencies are able to demonstrate likely outcomes before campaigns launch, conversations become less speculative and more evidence-based.
