A promotion unlike any before, one that sparked an evening of romance via an app called Tinder. This certain application enables people to connect with each other in the surrounding area. Tinder gives you recommended people in the area, then, swiping right on a picture is to like and swiping left to pass on the individual. If someone likes you back, it’s a match.
This is the promotion that the Atlanta Hawks were running for a Wednesday night game against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Hawks encouraged fans to look for and meet up with the Tinder matches during the game. They called it #SwipeRightATL. For all the people that were matched up via Tinder and met-up during the game, free roses, Altoids, and a special suite was presented to them.
What an interesting way to draw people to a basketball game. This past year for the Hawks was a successful one in many ways. Although, I don’t care for Tinder in the least bit, this would be included in one of the successful promotional stories across the NBA. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin commented before the night saying, “Hawks games have always been a great place to meet fun and vibrant people and we thing ‘Swipe Right Night’ will take that to a whole new level.”
The Hawks organization considers themselves innovators when it comes to making those connections. Koonin stated, “We were pioneers of the in-game ‘Kiss Cam’ and are hopeful that we can assist in making some more love connections at our games.” Koonin met his wife at a sporting event and hoped he could recreate what he was able to experience.
There was a whole “Love Lounge” dedicated for the Tinder meet-ups. With roses and red carpet laid out, the singles were encouraged to mingle in efforts to try to find their new love.
There’s no way this worked, right? Wrong. Plenty of people were matched up throughout the game and the “Love Lounge” was absolutely bumpin’! Apparently the night couldn’t have gone any better… But sure enough, it did. The Hawks were shooting on all cylinders. One could say they were swiping right, dominating the game. This was their sixth straight win, beating the vaunted Grizzlies 96-86. Al Hoford, the starting center, said, “it felt like a playoff atmosphere.”
One of the most interesting promotions that unraveled to be a success happened in Phillips Arena January 7th. Oh and the security wore this:
[photo of red shirt with Hawks emblem, with "Swipe Left Patrol" beneath in white letters]
This post was written by Samford University JMC student Michael Moye.
References
http://nypost.com/2015/01/08/were-calling-the-hawks-tinder-night-an-unlikely-success/
http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/downtown/2015/01/08/tinder-night-atlanta-hawks/21428257/
http://www.businessinsider.com/atlanta-hawks-hosting-tinder-night-2015-1 http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2323194-the-atlanta-hawks-tinder-night-was-a-strange-and-beautiful-success
