Day 3: How Hinge is excelling at "endgame" marketing
Or, how becoming irrelevant may be your most profitable move yet.
In 2021, Apple made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
News broke that it was shipping iPhones with a feature called planned obsolescence: effectively, its hardware was designed to slow significantly after ~2 years of use (forcing users to upgrade to a new phone sooner than they would otherwise).
It's crappy when you pay for something that's designed to fail.
But, if you stop using a product… because it worked exactly as it was designed to?
Well, we call that a runaway success.
In their "Designed to Be Deleted" campaign, dating app Hinge explores an uncomfortable question:
At what point do you become so effective that your customer no longer needs you?
Press play below to watch👇
I love this campaign because marketing a product that people aren't excited to use is a hard ask, but Hinge does it with finesse.
Read on to see how Hinge is re-defining what it means to look for love in the 21st century. (If you sell anything that relates to self-help, business growth or personal development, this is one you won't want to miss.)
Campaign Breakdown:
“Designed to Be Deleted” by Hinge
The Background:
“I really love using dating apps,” said no one ever.
While other dating companies brag about their superior matching technology, free trials, or how easy it is to use their app, Hinge knows what their customers really want:
To find their match, delete the app and get on with life. Here’s a line from the campaign:
“When our users find love, we bite the dust. And we’re thrilled to death about it.”
The Question:
We love the idea of riding off into the sunset with our customers… but some things aren’t meant to last forever.
As a course creator, your work helps people solve problems. But if there’s no finish line, how will your customers know they’ve done what you promise them? Show them where the light at the end of the tunnel is, and exactly where their work with you ends.
Counter-intuitively, being unafraid to exit makes it more likely that people will keep you around. (As with dating, confidence is sexy.)
Your Creative Prompt:
Imagine you’ve been dumped by your customer, not because they’re unhappy… but because you helped them achieve everything they wanted it to.
When does that moment come?
Giving each of your offers a clear “ending” can help you create (and offer) a more potent result.
How To Use it:
Features, benefits, ease of use. These things are great, but at the end of the day, why do people choose you?
(It’s not because of your custom-designed membership site or the monthly coaching calls.)
They’re here because they’ve got a goal in mind. Make sure it’s getting the airtime it deserves.
The Big Idea… & What’s Next:
Before it went off the rails, Game of Thrones knew the power of killing off a main character.
Customers aren’t buying You + Them = Forever. They want you there to help them get something done. So keep the main thing, the main thing.
Tomorrow… we explore what may be the most artful, beautiful campaign I’ve ever seen. Bring your hiking boots 🏔 and keep an eye on your inbox for Day 4.