Tinder Pivots Thai Marketing Strategy to Offer More Than Dating

Tinder has taken a marketing pivot in Thailand to position itself as ‘more than just a dating app’, but a social platform as well.

A newly released marketing campaign is the culmination of research that showed that those with the highest interest in the app were using it for non-dating and non-sexual purposes.

Creative agency ‘Wunderman Thompson Thailand’ dug deep into the Gen Z’s user data and found that they were more interested in finding platonic friendships through the app, as opposed to sexual relations.

Based on this insight, the agency came up with the idea ‘Friends with (Other) Benefits’, which twists the Thai word for ‘sex’ into a brand new word for ‘friendship’. The aim is to capitalise on the emerging trend as a new attraction for the Gen Z audience to give Tinder another chance.

Thasorn Boonyanate, Executive Creative Director at Wunderman Thompson, told Branding In Asia: “Our goal is to show Gen Z users just how endless the possibilities are for forming meaningful relationships on the app, platonic or otherwise.

“I knew immediately that’s what Tinder should be about in the year 2021, an app that multiplies your love for life by matching you with new friends who share and expand your passions, real friends with long-term ‘benefits’ who are here to stay and may even develop these connections into romance that’s not based on mere physical attraction.”

In less than one week, the launch film for the campaign received over 9 million views.

At the end of last year, Tinder partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to encourage domestic tourism. It offered special events and trips for people to discover new areas of their country while also meeting other singles.

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