TBWA\NZ & Bumble: A banjo playing woman finds the man of her wish list

A campaign for a dating site that’s full of fun. Gosh, that’s appealing. TBWA\NZ’s very human commercial for Bumble features a banjo playing woman who imagines her ideal man. Curious director, Lula Cucchiara, has captured the perfect tone for the spot, underlining the woman’s self-confidence as well as the story’s humour.

Good Things Come to Those Who Don’t Wait is the first New Zealand brand campaign for Bumble, which stands apart in a very crowded sector by promoting the power of women making the first move. True to the Bumble ethos, the film’s lead character played by singer and musician, Ruby Esther, doesn’t leave it up to chance or fate, instead she takes an active role in meeting her ideal match.

Lucille McCart, associate director, APAC, PR and comms at Bumble stated, “Bumble’s mission is to empower women to be in the driver’s seat of their dating lives by flipping traditional gender norms on their head. We are really proud to be launching our first brand campaign in New Zealand with such a strong message about how empowered women can be when they make the first move, through content that is also comedic and fun.”

Shane Bradnick, TBWA\NZ chief creative officer, added, “We love that Bumble supports women by encouraging them to make the first move. This spot is a fun way to celebrate this in a way that’s bound to make Kiwis smile.”

The director and the majority of the team who worked on the creative were women, including TBWA\NZ art director, Emily Osborne, and copywriter, Simone Louis.

The campaign is now running across YouTube, TVNZ OnDemand, Facebook and Instagram and was timed to coincide with the annual surge in dating interest, between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. In that period last year, more than 7.2 million messages were sent within the Bumble community in New Zealand.

Kiwi women have made the first move over 8 million times on Bumble. From January 1 2020 – November 17 2020, 48 million messages were sent on Bumble in New Zealand with over 6 million matches.