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- 🤘🤘 Bumble's Billboard Ad Campaign Fail
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Bumble Celibacy Ad Campaign - How to Fail a Voice of Customer homework
Dating in the 30s suck - well, at least it feels way harder than in the 20s. And the statistics prove that 30% of men and women are single.
But the dating business is huge. Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder are competing for attention each with their unique positioning.
Hinge → for people looking for relationships
Tinder → for shorter-term situation-ships (is that what it’s called? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
Bumble → Putting the decision preference to women
Which is why their OOH made little sense… unless they were shooting for controversy.
In which case - they won 🙃
Bumble got into hot water after putting up billboards that mocked celibacy, suggesting it's not a valid alternative to online dating.
The backlash was immediate, with many women criticizing Bumble for implying that celibacy isn't a legitimate personal choice.
Bumble pulled the ads and apologized on Instagram, admitting their campaign missed the mark and didn't reflect their values of supporting women's choices.
The company plans to donate to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and other organizations and will let them use the billboard space for their ads.
Bumble's shares have been struggling, and they've laid off 30% of their workforce as part of a redesign effort aimed at attracting younger users.
What They Could Do Instead
The ad campaign talked down and attacked a primary audience. That’s not a great idea.
Something similar happened with the Gillette “Toxic Masculinity” commercial in 2019. The ad sparked massive backlash calling for a boycott of Gillette’s products.
#1 Instead of going with risky controversy, Bumble should study their main audience and pick up on what are the driving points for women on the dating app. In other words - do market research!
#2 Test the ad campaign in a smaller sandbox. Going big with billboards that haven’t been tested is risky, expensive, and hard to forget since it will garner social media sharing.
#3 Don’t stray away from the core positioning. Bumble is known as the dating app for women. Empowering them is the main goal and the main checkbox you need to fulfill. Aligning the messaging around that core value is a must.
#4 Most of the dating app dwellers are still men. The ratio is 3:1 in benefits of the dudes. Perhaps launching an inclusive campaign would be less risky even though it wouldn’t grant the amount of impressions.
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Spicy Tech News Nuggets
McDonalds doesn’t want to do AI blaming that leads for inaccurate orders (I SAID NO ONIONS!)
Elon regrets dropping an F bomb asking for companies to come back on X
Google’s Head of Search is rushing the team to catch up on AI even if they have to crack some eggs
Competitive Job Opportunities This Week
#1: Extreme Networks
Title: Sr. Competitive Intelligence Analyst
Location: North Carolina / Georgia / Florida / South Carolina
Salary: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Deets: https://jobs.lever.co/extremenetworks/2d5622d8-6c30-43dc-a8df-11189200dd8e
#2: Circle
Title: Principal Product Marketing Manager - Solution and Competitive Intelligence
Location: Chicago or Remote
Salary: $175,000 - $225,000
Deets: https://boards.greenhouse.io/circle/jobs/7493487002
#3 Glean
Title: Head of Competitive Intelligence
Type: Palo Alto, CA
Salary: $150,000 - $250,000
Deets: https://boards.greenhouse.io/gleanwork/jobs/4425502005
PS: If you’d like to receive job opportunities in CI/CE industry faster, I’m sharing them in Andy’s Healthy Competition Slack channel under Open-Jobs as soon as I spot them.
Have a great week!
Dejan
If this made your day a tiny bit - would you please share it with another human being?
Fresssshhhhhh sounds
😌 Mix for Work
I don’t know about you but lo-fi makes me sleepy. Way better - liquid drum and bass usually delivered by the YouTube channel - The Man from Del Monte
💓 Beats
Kaytranada’s new album is out. Which means more delicious beats to groove to.
▶️ Kaytranada - All Along
🤘 Best for Headbanging and Mosh-Pitting
Necropanther is giving the 80’s trash metal a huge revival. Their previous album Betrayal was one of my favorite finds last year. They just came out with another EP ***metalhead warning***
▶️ Necropanther - Into Danger