Match's Cheeky Campaign Encourages You to Embrace a Cringey Kind of Love

Match, the global leader in dating services, has unveiled a new campaign that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at public displays of affection (PDAs), calling out those who frown upon it – the ‘haters’ – and encouraging them to admit that it’s actually what they crave; a relationship where you only have eyes for each other. 

Building on Match’s ‘Start Something Real’ narrative, ‘Be the Lovers you Love to Hate’ is a multi-channel campaign across radio, digital and social, consisting of three individual creatives, devised and created by Recipe. The main premise behind the adverts is that, while people tend to be overly cynical of PDAs, everyone has been – or will be - guilty of it at some point in their dating journey.

The comedic video clips, running on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, play out as a mini-series, with each of the stories interlinking. In over-the-top scenarios, without a care in the word as to who is watching, each couple declare their love for each other, making the disgruntled onlookers - the ‘haters’ - feel uncomfortable. Yet it transpires that it has actually spurred them on to find love themselves, as these ‘hater’ characters become one half of the loving couple in the next clip after using Match.

Commenting on the campaign, Joanna Pons, UK marketing director, said: “At Match, we’ve never been afraid to shout about love. Through this campaign, we’re aiming to celebrate that cringe-inducing love bubble because, deep down, we’re all looking for that meaningful relationship where we don’t care who sees or what they think because nothing else matters. We want to help our members find that real connection and encouraging couples not to shy away from showing their love publicly is an important part of that process.”