Tinder swipes right on performance marketing agency for SEA duties

Tinder has matched with M&C Saatchi Performance for performance marketing duties in Southeast Asia. While the agency declined to comment further on MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's queries, M&C Saatchi Performance said in a LinkedIn post that it looks forward to playing an integral role in charting out Tinder's next phase of growth and establishing a long and fruitful partnership. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Tinder for comment.

M&C Saatchi Performance is a global digital media agency and its team of specialists manage campaign effectiveness with a focus on optimising channels, content, format and placements. Earlier this year, M&C Saatchi Performance promoted Kabeer Chaudhary to the role of MD APAC. Chaudhary  served as managing partner, APAC for the past two years and has been with the agency since 2015. This comes as former MD APAC Chris Steedman returned to the UK last December and is currently on a year-long sabbatical following the birth of his second child. Steedman founded the performance agency in APAC in 2013, and has since expanded its operations into Singapore, Jakarta, Sydney, Bangalore, New Delhi and Bangkok.

Globally, the dating app recently announced that it is launching what seems to be a new in-app event called Vibes which will only last 48 hours. Tinder users will be alerted via a push notification when Vibes kicks off in their area or when they open their app. Participants will then answer a series of questions to give potential matches more insights into whether they will "vibe". The people "vibing" will be displayed on potential match profiles for 72 hours to give them more time to start conversations within the chat window. Tinder's VP of product Udi Milo said this is the first of the many initiatives it is creating for the community this year to enable them to show off more of their personalities on the app. Last year, it also launched a face-to-face video chat that is enabled on a match-by-match basis.

Separately in Indonesia, Tinder appointed TBWA\Indonesia in October 2020 to handle creative duties on a project basis. The team currently manages Tinder's #BisaBareng campaign and helps to innovate and find new opportunities for people to meet and connect with friends and communities. At the same time, it also rolled out the #BisaNyambungBareng campaign featuring celebrity aunt agony Bude Sumiyati to train Gen Zs to continue engaging and expanding their social discovery. Last September, Tinder's parent company Match Group also named adtech company MediaDonuts to handle marketing and ad sales in Southeast Asia and India.

Earlier this year, Tinder also partnered up with Wunderman Thompson Thailand to change its perception and positioning to the Thai Gen Z as a social app that offers more value beyond just dating and hooking up. This comes as for years, Tinder had been established as a dating app with a stereotype for finding one-night stands and friends with benefits. This reputation posed a challenge for recruiting new users in Thailand, where research showed that Gen Z is the most likely group to quit the app within one week for not wanting to participate in hookup culture. On the other hand, however, other Gen Z users who stayed also showed the highest interest in using the app for non-dating or non-sexual purposes.

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Tinder matches up with agency partner in Indonesia
Tinder appoints MediaDonuts as marketing and ad sales partner for Indonesia