🚦 Tinder Hosted A Pop Up Rave in an East London Bagel Shop — And It Was Awesome.

Last week, Tinder took over a local bagel shop in East London for a surprise DJ set by Louis Bekk. Attendees got free bagels from a dating-themed menu, exclusive Tinder merch, and an experience far more exciting and memorable than swiping left or right.

If you don’t know Louis Bekk, he’s built a reputation for wild, unannounced DJ sets — like at a matcha shop in London, a burger joint in Istanbul, the Pomona Club in Madrid and even on the London Tube. His latest pop up was at Buck Fried Chicken in Paris, sponsored by UGG.

❤️‍🔥 Enter Tinder…
Tinder saw the opportunity to tap into Louis Bekk to help make Tinder more culturally relevant through music and events.

Tinder is still a market leader in the dating app space but they are facing fierce competition from large numbers of competitors. And despite large market share, Tinder has the brand perception of being one of the “lower quality” dating apps.

In 2014–2015, it felt like everyone was obsessively using Tinder but today, I hear more people talking about every other dating app and NOT Tinder.

So what’s a brand to do in order to drive more desirability and shift perception?

In a world of boring ad creative and obsessions around performance marketing on digital platforms, there is still room for activations in the “real world.” People love experiential popups and it’s a breath of fresh air that makes a brand stand out.

Now I can’t think of another dating app other than Tinder that I would associate with music. Everyone who attended the event now has created user-generated content that has spread around the world, perpetuating the cultural relevance of the Tinder brand.

This likely cost a fraction of a typical ad campaign — with way higher ROI in terms of brand perception & cultural credibility.

Sometimes, you just need to throw a rave in a bagel shop.