NSAC 2021 - Tinder
What is NSAC?
The National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) is an annual student marketing and design competition held by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). Each year, a new client provides a brief that summarizes a problem. Each team creates a marketing campaign they think would solve that problem. Then the teams compete for the best marketing campaign. In 2021, the client was Tinder.
My Role on the Team
My role on the team was Marketing Strategist. I worked with the marketing team to research and build the marketing strategy. I helped research and build the budget with the Media Planners’ help. I also helped the team develop ROIs and KPIs.
The Problem
When Tinder launched in 2012, they rapidly grew popular, causing the users to define Tinder’s brand image before the company could define itself. Since then, Tinder has been known as a hookup app. We were asked to create a campaign that would reposition Tinder’s brand image and build a connection with Gen Z.
Research
To further understand the market landscape, we researched Tinder, Gen Z marketing trends, social and dating trends, competitors, and the target market.
We surveyed 318 qualified respondents and found Gen Z felt lonely. Depression and anxiety were at an all-time high during the pandemic. The quarantine and heavy use of social media led to Gen Z being secluded and struggling to form meaningful connections. We believe Tinder can help Gen Z make those connections.
Concept
We created five persona segments from our data that accurately represent the target audience. These persona segments provided a foundation for the campaign. They are the Anxious Achievers, the Forever Procrastinators, the Easy Goers, the Socially Responsible, and the Passion-Fueled Perfectionists.
The campaign we created is called “Fully Alive.” The “Fully Alive” campaign encourages Gen Z to embrace themselves and boldly break through the communication barrier to experience connection with their world. Tinder is the place for this relationship revolution where authenticity, boldness, and self-expression make us fully alive.
Strategy
At the center of the “Fully Alive” campaign are four main pillars that will improve Tinder’s brand image. The four pillars are: promoting self-love, building a bridge between real life and online, highlighting the small moments, and promoting life-changing experiences.
The “Fully Alive” campaign focuses on heavily on social media to connect with Gen Z. There is some use of brand partnerships and influencer partnerships as well.
Design Execution
With the strategy built, we handed the plan over to the creative team to create it visually. Below is a collection of the creative deliverables the team made. Read our team's case study for an in-depth explanation of our “Fully Alive” campaign. We placed 3rd in the AAF District 5 competition.
