Grindr is growing up: how the gay dating app became a major digital player

Catwalk shows, pop star hook-ups and fashion adverts are turning Grindr into a major digital player, says Rachael Sigee
Deisel power: the latest intimates campaign ran on Gridnr, Pornhub and Youporn
Desiel
Rachael Sigee11 February 2016

When Tinder launched, people were sceptical. It was viewed as the Grindr for straight people — and that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It was the hetero version of an app that many saw as only existing to link gay men for sex — no-frills virtual cruising.

And then we shook off the prejudices of online dating and all accepted that the story we will tell our grandchildren will probably involve swiping.

While dating apps became almost romantic, Grindr still had a raunchy reputation. It was left in the wake of Tinder, which established itself as a tool for relationships as much as sex.

The negative rap was enough to raise a few eyebrows when in January this year fashion designer J W Anderson decided to live-stream his menswear show from London Collections: Men on the app. There were even rumours that some modelling agencies were reluctant to commit their models over concerns of tarnished reputations.

But with a staggering 1 million users per minute worldwide, it’s not difficult to see the appeal of the app as an advertising platform. It would be painting with broad strokes to suggest that all gay men love fashion, but Anderson was ensuring that his show was made available and promoted to an exclusively male audience.

As for Grindr, the app aligned its brand with a genuinely cool, high fashion designer and generated coverage in the fashion press that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

The brand was also in the business headlines with a deal announced in January: gaming conglomerate Beijing Kunlun Tech bought a controlling stake for $93 million (£64 million).

There was immediate speculation that it wasn’t just the money that attracted Grindr to the company, but the potential for digital expansion.

Grindr’s tagline is “0 feet away” and while that usually means from attractive, single men, the company has taken its own advice by moving its headquarters to the heart of West Hollywood’s creative district. It will now be sharing office space with a host of edgy media start-ups like Clique Media and Whalerock Industries, the company behind Kim Kardashian’s app, indicating the company’s dedication to digital expansion.

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Landis Smithers, vice-president of marketing for Grindr, told Dazed magazine: “I feel like it’s very important that brands explore media, it’s the only way forward. I don’t see any differentiation between Grindr, Tinder and Instagram.”

The app has long been a lifeline for gay men living in regions or countries where homosexuality is disapproved of or worse, illegal. More than simply offering connections within the community, it can offer a window into gay culture.

Grindr isn’t, however, rushing for a cold shower after years of steamy sex. After all, it’s what users came for in the first place and, although it has become more common to arrange dates rather than hook-ups, partners need to understand that casual (safe) sex is still the beating heart of the brand.

Advertising on Grindr means acknowledging its reach within a very specific demographic that is ripe for marketers with a sense of humour.

The result is that among the shirtless singletons looking for love and the regular reminders to keep a check on sexual health, adverts for travel firm Expedia offer “hot and heavy discounts” and urge users: “Don’t let tonight be a flop,” while ads for Hotels.com urge users to “seal the deal”.

Grey matter: a J W Anderson model (Image: Catwalking.com)
catwalking.com

The latest brand to use Grindr is Diesel with its Intimates campaign. When you block a potential match, a pop-up suggests you might prefer a tanned hottie in bulging pants, or more specifically the pants themselves: “I’d look good on you. Get in now.”

Diesel’s artistic director Nicola Formichetti sees the collaboration as a no-brainer: “We are just bringing our advertising to where the traffic is the highest on the web, and it’s there.”

The music partnerships do read like they were hashed out by a straight person whose only knowledge of gay men comes directly from Will & Grace: Madonna, Lady Gaga. But these artists do have large gay fanbases and Live Nation saw that ads placed on Grindr for Madge’s Rebel Heart tour were one of the biggest ticket drivers.

Grindr is a brand that is getting to know its customer base better every day and wants to give them what they want, whether that’s an oiled-up beefcake or an early pre-sale for Nicki Minaj.

Grindr is growing up.

Follow Rachael Sigee on Twitter: @littlewondering

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