Hinge turns match stories into BookTok-worthy romances

A new campaign from dating app Hinge turns six couples who matched on the app into romance protagonists fit for BookTok, the TikTok community that has driven a resurgence in popularity of romance novels.

Inspired by the online trend, the work commissioned six popular writers—Roxane Gay, John Paul Brammer, Isle McElroy, Brontez Purnell, Oisín McKenna and R. O. Kwon—to tell six real couples’ stories in their own style. 

The pieces are collected in an anthology zine titled No Ordinary Love, where the stories are spliced together with photos of each couple today, as well as anecdotes and images from the early days of their relationships. 

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Jackie Jantos, Hinge’s CMO, said the work was “built to show what different kinds of start points can look like” in relationships. Instead of characterising partnerships as destined from the start, each piece shows the uncertainties, disagreements and misunderstandings daters might face at the start of a lasting romance.

This contrasts with the “very generic way that stories of people meeting have been told over time, where it can feel quite perfect, like a fairy tale, or like it comes out of Hollywood,” added Jantos. “The goal of this work was to help people feel open and encouraged for all different sorts of start points."

Showing the messiness of these real-life relationships, she said, aims to speak directly and authentically to Gen Z, which values brand 'being honest and focusing on intentionality'.

One such collaborator is Dazed Magazine’s in-house creative agency, Dazed Studio, which created No Ordinary Love with Hinge. 

“It’s important to do our work in a way that feels more credible and honest, and partners like Dazed Studios helped us cut to the core of the truth of what relationships look like when they start,” said Jantos. 

No Ordinary Love is part of Hinge’s Designed to be Deleted brand platform, which debuted in 2019. The zine is available digitally today (August 21) on Dazed as well as on a dedicated site; a print version will launch in New York City and London on September 9.