BOW Thought: New Series!

New series!

I’m going to see an ad in the wild, and ask the question:

“What were they thinking?”

Just like Tony Romo predicts future plays while calling a football game, I’m going to try and get inside the heads of the strategists who planned the campaign, to understand what they are really trying to achieve with their new campaign.

I hope you enjoy.

First, today’s first edition of “What Were They Thinking?” is sponsored by newsletter is Jimmy Fusco. Jimmy is the man. He’s sponsoring my next 5 newsletters, which is an incredible show of faith in a baffoon like me.

Jimmy works for NCM, which sells cinema ads and is doing incredibly exciting stuff as people storm back to the movies (see: Barbie, Oppenheimer).

If you want to be savvy, reach out to Jimmy to buy media around the Taylor Swift concert movie this October (spoiler alert: The League should).

It’s going to be an insane event.

BOW Thought

First up is The League. I wrote a bit about them yesterday.

They are a dating app billing themselves as more exclusive than the rest.

But the ads have been all over NYC, particularly in subway cars and platforms.

They’re also getting shit on by Gen Z.

So what’s the strategy here? Let’s take a look.

What: stand for settling down

The League is trying to stand for goals and go getting.

But really, they want to be the settle down app.

Why?

Dating app usage is declining.

The only app that’s seen increased usage is Hinge.

Hinge is for more serious relationships, so riding that trend works.

And, the League was lowkey acquired by The Match Group last July.

Thus, this is clearly part of a portfolio strategy.

The Match Group owns pretty much every dating app, aside from Bumble.

This spring, they positioned Tinder for spring / summer hookups and flings.

Hinge is for relationships that materialize in your mid-20’s.

The League is trying to be for 30’s and up.

These people are not only likely to be incremental to their portfolio (they might have been on the sidelines waiting for an app for them), but also likelier have higher household income, which gives them higher lifetime value for premium app tiers and juicier data to sell to advertisers.

Who: Millennial women

It’s obvious this campaign is mostly to appeal to women.

On dating apps, men far outnumber women.

Tinder, for example, is about 75% men.

Even Bumble, the female forward dating app, is 58% men.

It’s not clear what The League’s ratio is.

But what is clear is they’re trying to position themselves as the anti-Bumble.

Bumble’s messaging is progressive, comforting, positive.

They’re as much for their friendship and career apps as they are for their dating app.

The League’s messaging is raunchy, sarcastic, inappropriate.

Check out these ads. They’re pretty on the nose, if not cringey.

They’re also using influencers like Hannah Berner, known for their comedy and openness talking about relationship taboos.

When: cuffing season

This launched on purpose in September.

Why?

Think about it.

Your summer fling just ended.

You have anxiety about finding someone before winter’s cold kicks in.

You want to lock something up pronto.

So here’s an app that promises worthy people focused on the same thing.

Where: higher income Millennial locations.

The League is running ads specifically in the Upper West Side (Columbus Circle), West Village (West 4th), and Williamsburg (Bedford Ave) in NYC.

These are higher income, less sloppy places than other locations in NYC like Murray Hill or the East Village.

In LA, they’re focusing in airports, trying to reach an upscale traveller crowd.

These are also high word of mouth markets, which allows the campaign to get traction online.

They also lend credibility; if you’re buying outdoor ads in NYC, you give off a sense of commitment and swagger to the people you’re trying to reach.

Finally, an outdoor post-summer strategy in particular makes sense.

While people are still working from home, higher paying jobs are demanding at least 3 days a week in the office, especially post-summer.

Thus, it’s likelier than before they’re going to reach the people they want.

I’m also curious if they organized their digital outdoor media specifically to cater to in-office trends, e.g. heavying up Tues, Weds, Thurs vs. Mon and Fri.

How: clever copy, lots of rectangles

They probably spent $3 million in OOH alone between NYC and LA.

In particular, the campaign includes a lot of subway ads.

Subway ads are basically newspaper ads for Millennials.

They give you enough dwell time to digest the copy on your way to work.

The campaign doesn’t overly rely on custom media executions.

Instead, it favors abundance of media, relying on the copy to break through.

What would I have done differently?

Honestly, I think this is a pretty good campaign (shitty targeting aside).

It has a purpose, the flighting makes sense, the target is clear, and the media balances efficiency, effectiveness and reach well.

If anything, the copy definitely is a bit much. Comes off a bit corporate, and also just asking for word of mouth vs. earning it.

And I would have likely tried to steer the campaign further in these 3 directions:

1. Give off a better sense of exclusivity. Right now, the frequency of the campaign suggests its trying too hard to get users. This is supposed to be a premium app. Some media choices are premium (outdoor), but some of them are more thirsty (paid influencers). More exclusivity in the media strategy may mean less reach, but might further spur buzz with something bigger and better.

2. Create better testimonials. Most of the influencers they’ve deployed are already married, or come off as inauthentic. Using actual customer stories accomplishing large goals, or celebrities that embody high achievements, could have been a nicer touch.

3. What about the WFH crowd? Plenty of people still work from home, so curious how their strategy rounds out this approach to reach people not yet back in the office (gym media, digital, podcasts, etc.).

But again, these are nitpicks - especially the first one.

Every good media campaign needs to advance mental availability, and even an exclusive app should be seen by enough people so they can decide for themselves if they want to be a part of it.

So, good job The League.

Sure, Gen Z thinks your ads are cringy, but they aren’t for them.

Because when you’re part of a portfolio,

Stay thinkin,

Danny