Hitting Targets with Cupid’s Bow
OkCupid wanted to make a strategic communications splash in the overcrowded dating app market in Australia. Our PR agency in Sydney was tasked with driving app registrations and downloads from its key audience – women aged 25-35.
Then COVID-19 hit, and dating suddenly took on a fresh meaning. Covid and the resulting isolation and lockdown requirements meant the strategy and communication needed to be changed significantly.
For our PR agency, it was a way to show up as a creative, resourceful team, during a time when media really didn’t care about ‘dating’ stories. So to navigate a news agenda swamped by COVID, we endeavoured to create something unique for OkCupid, something they can own, or coin. Which is when we hosted an internal brainstorm and iso-mating was born!
Hotwire adjusted its strategic communications, using the term ‘Iso-Mating’, to define, and put a female led slant on this extraordinary moment in dating history. Hotwire then created a copywriting campaign around it, using a combination of media relations content, and leveraging OkCupid’s international thought leaders for media opportunities.
The aim was to reinvigorate the brand story to encourage women to register and download the app.
Hotwire’s copywriting secured a raft of media opportunities, including a live broadcast interview between Channel 7’s ‘The Latest’ anchor, Melissa Doyle and OkCupid’s CMO.
From there, Iso-Mating took on a life of its own, moving into the Australian vernacular, as well as resonating for OkCupid in global markets – in fact it is still being leveraged for media opportunities and content strategy today.
The impact was instantaneous. Hotwire’s strategy marketing resulted in a 66% increase in app registrations, with a 3.5 million plus reach through both media relations and social media, and a 107% increase in target audience app registration. The borderless nature of the idea means it is still being used globally in campaigns.
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