This month, we’re covering creative marketing campaigns for apps. And one thing’s for sure, dating apps have come out on top of attention-grabbing campaigns. Read on to find out more!
Laura’s Pick: Duolingo Adoption Centre
I recently started using Duolingo again after seeing their hit social media posts everywhere – They’ve gone viral on both TikTok and Twitter this year. A recent creative campaign that really caught my eye was the app’s launch of “Duolingo Adoption Centre” last month.
If you’re unfamiliar with Duolingo, the platform offers free language lessons, but you also have the option to pay for a solo pro plan or a family plan, both come with extra features and no adverts.
The idea behind the family plan is, you pay a fixed amount for the year and give 6 users access to pro features. The people in your family can learn and complete challenges together. However, developers found that many users had paid for the family plan but hadn’t given 6 people access.
This led to the launch of the Duolingo Adoption Centre! They’re allowing users who have a family plan with free spaces, to “adopt” a user into their family to gain access to pro features and collaboration without the need to pay.
They’ve created a dedicated website where you can register interest and put yourself up for adoption. You can also use the hashtag on Twitter to find and connect with other users who have a free space on their family plan. It’s a really clever incentive as it gets more people to connect, use the app and learn a language. No, I haven’t been adopted yet, but I will be putting myself forward – wish me luck!
Gemma’s Pick: Bumble Making the Internet a Safer Place
As part of its commitment to combat the sending of unsolicited nudes online, (cyberflashing) and make the internet a safer place, the dating app Bumble has made their Private Detector A.I feature open source. First debuted in 2019, the feature is used to detect unsolicited lewd images and automatically recognises these and blurs a potential nude image that are sent through the app, then giving the receiving user the choice of whether to open the image or not.
In a press release, Bumble stated “Even though the number of users sending lewd images on our apps is luckily a negligible minority — just 0.1% — our scale allows us to collect a best-in-the-industry dataset of both lewd and non-lewd images, tailored to achieve the best possible performances on the task.”
Now available on GitHub, a refined version of the AI is available for commercial use, distribution and modification. While the tool is not necessarily cutting-edge technology or unique, it may be time-consuming and expensive for smaller companies to develop from scratch and Bumble stated: “we hope to make a ripple effect of change across the internet and social media at large”. They have released this version to the wider tech community with the “hope of democratising access to our technology and to help scientists and engineers experiencing the same challenges around the world to improve their approach to online safety.” Bravo, Bumble.
Dan’s Pick: The Rebranding of Dice
Earlier this year, gig ticketing platform Dice undertook a major rebrand. The updated brand focuses more on the DIY indie zine culture, with the aim of this refreshed identity being to have music fans at the heart of the brand.
In addition to a new workmark, the rebrand has also introduced a mascot, which they simply name The Fan. The icon is inspired by Dice’s original diamond logo, but more personality has come into play. The animated icon is intended to capture that sense of anticipation that fans have before a show starts.
Ellen’s Pick: WhatsApp’s Eye-Catching 3D Advert
I’ve been seeing WhatsApp’s recent campaign on just about every platform in the last month or so. It’s all about the multiple layers of privacy that the app gives its users. They’ve launched three new features including the ability to leave a group ‘silently’, control who can see when they’re online, and screenshot blocking for ‘view once’ messages.
The campaign culminated in a week-long ad slot in Piccadilly Square, London. The ad itself is 3D and ridiculously eye-catching. It certainly gets the point across that messages on Whatsapp are secure! I’ve seen a few of these recently for gaming and film releases, but this is the first one I’ve seen for an app.
What do you think of these 3D ads?
Jai’s Pick: Tinder X Manchester City Collab
Dating app, Tinder, partnered with Manchester City a few years back. The aim of this collaboration was to allow app users and football fans alike to be able to engage in activities such as gaining exclusive access to events and games. As part of this Tinder offered multiple opportunities for marketing and creating awareness of the football club. This included social media campaigns and promoting events. It also became an effective platform to introduce new players to fans from around the world.
In the end, both brands were successful in attracting a young demographic to their respective businesses on a global scale, thanks to a shared interest in football. This example demonstrates the fact that when it comes to app marketing campaigns, it makes sense to partner with other brands that share similar values. By doing so, marketers can drive up sales from new and existing customers and deliver a unique mobile experience that benefits both the audience as well as the brands.
Beth’s Pick: Spotify Wrapped
If you’re any kind of music lover, chances are you listen to it on some sort of app. Spotify is one of the most popular in the world, and with stiff competition from the likes of Apple Music, SoundCloud and YouTube Music, attracting new users year after year is one of its biggest challenges.
The launch of the Spotify Wrapped campaign back in 2016 (although first introduced in 2015 as ‘Year in Music’) gave users an in-depth look at their listening stats, including their most played songs and top artists over the course of the year. This personalised experience has since become an ingenious promotion technique, as music lovers alike scramble to share their song of the year and brag about being in the top 0.01% of their favourite artist’s fanbase.
In 2020 alone, Spotify reported that 90 million people engaged with Spotify Wrapped and each year their subscription numbers and app installs continue to increase in December. But to see this steady incline, Spotify must keep users interested. As their algorithm gets smarter, the addition of more superior features such as the ‘Audio Aura’ in 2021, which could suggest your most prominent moods based on your listening habits, is one way they’re keeping the campaign fresh and tempting fans to keep sharing.
Getting your users to promote your platform for you is pretty smart thinking!
Georgie’s Pick: Thursday’s Guerrilla Tactics
What I like about the new dating app on the scene, Thursday, is their Guerrilla approach to its marketing. They have got people talking about their multiple stunt-like promotions, thinking outside the box. From getting their interns to walk through central London donning cardboard signs with bright pink balloons attached, to asking people to write and fill their marketing copy on billboards across the London Underground via LinkedIn submission in exchange for credit on the ad itself.
Although this is a creative approach, it’s been criticised for encouraging a culture where people prey on naivety as if they can afford to buy a billboard, they can afford a Copywriter. But, at the end of the day, it’s got people talking and there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?
