Bumble · Dating app · UGC ads & creator partnerships · 2026
How Bumble replaced staged ads with real first dates
Dating creative has a specific failure mode: the more polished it looks, the less it feels like something that could happen to you.
The results, up top — every number is in the strip below
50+
ongoing content creators
always-on supply, not campaign bursts
Lower
CPA
reduction reported against previous creative
Brand lift
in paid-social sentiment
measured alongside cost metrics
View-through
as the optimisation goal
instead of clicks alone
Real dates
not staged shoots
creators filmed genuine first dates
Polished ads were working against the brand they were selling.
Bumble sells the possibility of a real connection. Its paid-social creative had drifted toward studio-styled scenes that read as advertising first and romance second, which hurt sentiment at the same time as it flattened performance.
Fixing that meant changing what got filmed, not just how it was cut.
“The ads looked expensive and felt like nothing. People do not download a dating app because an ad is beautiful — they download it because they believe the thing in the ad could actually happen to them.”
So creators were sent on real first dates, and the campaign optimised for view-through rather than clicks alone.
Creators on real dates, judged on view-through rather than clicks.
Rather than briefing creators to perform a date, the programme sent them on real ones and captured what happened. That produces awkward, specific, unrepeatable footage — exactly the material studio production cannot fake.
Measurement moved with it. Optimising on clicks rewards curiosity; optimising on view-through rewards the ads people actually watch, which is the closer proxy for brand sentiment in a category built on trust.
What the campaign actually consisted of.
The working parts behind the Bumble numbers above.
Real dates, not staged scenes
The footage could not be faked
Creators went on genuine first dates and filmed them. The unpolished moments became the hooks.
Always-on creator bench
50+ creators kept the pipeline full
An ongoing roster meant new creative was always entering the account instead of arriving in campaign-sized bursts.
View-through optimisation
Rewarded watching, not curiosity clicks
Optimising for view-through moved spend toward the ads people finished, which aligned performance with brand tone.
Sentiment as a KPI
Brand lift measured alongside cost
Paid-social sentiment was treated as an outcome the creative was accountable for, not a side effect.
Real first dates instead of staged content — and a lower CPA
Meta Ads Manager
Paid social
TikTok Ads Manager
Paid social
Spark Ads & whitelisting
Amplification
123Couvreur
95,129 impressions in 9 months from zero
Home services & trades
123Couvreur — Google Ads
103 quote requests
Home services & trades
3D Entrepreneur Général
124 forms + 109 calls
Home services & trades
419 Lafayette
4,239 sessions in the first 3 months
Events & venues
À l'Amiable
206 → 393 ad calls, flat spend
Professional services
Alpha Serrurier
139 → 260 ad-extension calls
Home services & trades
Arboxygène — SEO
25.5 → 18.9 avg position
Home services & trades
Arsenal Électrique
36 → 444 leads a year
Home services & trades
Benjel — SEO
24.8 → 18.8 avg position
Professional services
Booksy — Creator whitelisting
+1,700% signups · CPR −92%
Consumer apps & platforms
Bumble — UGC ads & creator partnerships
50+ creators · lower CPA
Consumer apps & platforms
Busuu — Performance-driven user acquisition
450+ assets · 60+ creators
Education & training
Canado-Nacan Équipements — SEO
36.2 → 25.8 avg position
B2B & SaaS
CFC & Elevate Health
16,387 leads at CA$33 CPL
Health & medical
ClearScore — Global creator-led acquisition
CPS −27% MoM · 33% thumbstop
Fintech & financial services
Clinique Majora
CA$9.00 → CA$6.27 per booking
Health & medical
Confort Prestige — SEO
6,168 clicks · +111% directions
Home services & trades
Cours Jeunesse
8 → 1,481 organic clicks
Education & training
Crowdtap — Performance creative & paid media
TikTok CPA −30% · volume +15%
B2B & SaaS
Dashing Diva — Full-funnel campaign
CAC −24% · 3→7 channels
Beauty & personal care
Dockers — Influencer & whitelisting
16M+ views · 80+ influencers
Apparel & fashion
Dr du Matelas — SEO
+118% profile calls
Retail & e-commerce
Electrolibre
498 first-time calls
Retail & e-commerce
EnMouvement
107 → 293 ad calls
Home services & trades
Entretien Squidgee — SEO
+58% impressions · +12% clicks
Home services & trades
Erco Électrique
−47% spend, +72% calls
Home services & trades
EVRY Jewels — Full-funnel growth
$6M → $100M · 7×+ ROAS
Retail & e-commerce
Fil Chauffant Toiture — Meta Ads
45 leads · CA$38.53
Home services & trades
Fil Chauffant Toiture — SEO
133 → 524 clicks
Home services & trades
Future Forward — Performance-driven creator campaign
CPA −20% · 5 platforms
Education & training
Geo Stone
275 leads at CA$19.59
Home services & trades
Geo Stone — Google Ads
93 → 198 calls from ads
Home services & trades
Geo Stone — SEO
1,476 → 3,025 clicks
Home services & trades
Gouttières Grand-Montréal — SEO
53 → 327 clicks
Home services & trades
HelloFresh — Dark posting at scale
17 countries · CPA −20% MoM
Food & beverage
Her-Age
6.63× tracked ROAS
Retail & e-commerce
Hopper — Performance creative at scale
300+ assets/mo · CAC −20%
Travel & mobility
HUBZ404
90 → 86,773 impressions
Events & venues
HUROM — Full-funnel paid media & influencer strategy
ROAS +300% · CPA −70%
Retail & e-commerce
Icelandic Provisions — Influencer-led branded creative
3M+ impressions · 9%+ CTR
Food & beverage
Impact Santé
ROAS 13.62× → 14.96×
Education & training
Impact Santé+ — SEO
+36% clicks · +91% impressions
Education & training
Inspections Nicolas Landry — SEO
+117% impressions
Home services & trades
iTrustCapital — UGC & paid media
CVR +100% · CAC −65%
Fintech & financial services
JDM Drive — SEO
37,831 clicks · from zero
Automotive
JDM Engine Direct
$1.42M tracked revenue at 14.62×
Automotive
Katchoo — Meta Ads
CA$11.15 per lead
Home services & trades
K&R Strategic Partners
$24,740 in tracked value from zero
Professional services
K&R Strategic Partners — SEO
0 → 76,344 organic impressions
Fintech & financial services
LAHA
24 → 475 tracked conversions
Health & medical
L'Entrepôt de la Réno
5.55× ROAS while tripling spend
Retail & e-commerce
L'Entrepôt de la Réno — Google Ads
CA$356k → CA$1.9M tracked revenue
Retail & e-commerce
L'Entrepôt de la Réno — SEO
111,651 → 280,019 clicks
Retail & e-commerce
L'Exterminateur en Ligne
ROAS 3.27× → 5.51×
Home services & trades
L'Exterminateur en Ligne — Meta launch
9.60× ROAS in the first 3 months
Home services & trades
L'Exterminateur en Ligne — SEO
+20% clicks · +47% impressions
Retail & e-commerce
Linktree — Organic social, series & design
5× reach · 10M views
Consumer apps & platforms
Living Beauty
+225% purchases, matched months
Retail & e-commerce
Living Beauty
402,490 → 1,007,144 impressions
Beauty & personal care
Madhippie — Performance creative
50+ assets/mo · 30%+ thumbstop
Beauty & personal care
Marvel Styles — Disney — Organic social
+40% saves · 9%+ engagement
Apparel & fashion
MDF Mécanique — Google Ads
187 ad calls · CA$37 each
Automotive
MDF Mécanique Laval
240 leads at CA$33 from CA$7,966
Automotive
Medic Québec
152 → 3,855 organic clicks
Health & medical
Mindbloom — Influencer marketing & paid social
CAC −25% · referrals +40%
Health & medical
Miniso — Influencer activations
7M+ views · 200+ activations
Retail & e-commerce
Miro — B2B creator marketing
20M+ impressions · 25 KOLs
B2B & SaaS
Mogu Mogu — Influencer-led high-reach campaigns
#28 → #3 · 445M+ views
Food & beverage
National Consumer Panel — UGC-driven acquisition & paid media
CPI −30% · CPA −20%
Professional services
National Debt Relief — UGC, performance creative & influencer strategy
CVR +25% · CAC −30%
Fintech & financial services
NATIVE — UGC, studio content & retouching
1,000+ assets · 50+ creators
Beauty & personal care
Nettoyage Danfour
+39% leads at −26% cost, flat budget
Home services & trades
Nettoyage Danfour — SEO
+228% organic impressions
Home services & trades
New Balance — Casting, post-production & influencer marketing
7 athletes · 750k audience
Apparel & fashion
NielsenIQ — Global UGC at scale
100 creators/mo · $20M+ media
Professional services
Nordstrom / Wildfang — Micro influencer & gifting
500+ assets · 10M+ views
Apparel & fashion
Nurse.com — Influencer-led creative strategy
200k+ users · <$0.20 CPC
Health & medical
Nuun — Nestlé — Influencer marketing & UGC
60%+ TOFU capture · +30% engagement
Food & beverage
Oever — Event promotion (Google Ads)
1,678,801 impressions · $3.05 CPM
Events & venues
Peintres Montréal — SEO
+441% sessions
Home services & trades
Peinture Marcil — SEO launch
0 → 2,176 sessions
Home services & trades
Pièces d'auto La Plaine
561 → 1,669 calls, flat spend
Automotive
Plomberial — Meta Ads
30 leads · CA$32.97
Home services & trades
Plomberial — SEO
+887% impressions
Home services & trades
Polarsteps — UGC strategy & content production
136+ assets · 60+ creators
Travel & mobility
Prépa PPL — audience launch
0 → 1,575 sessions/month
Education & training
Rail Europe — Creator-led UGC & content strategy
28+ outputs · 2 audience contexts
Travel & mobility
Réparation Toiture Montréal
Sessions 523 → 1,367 matched
Home services & trades
Santoy Calgary Painters — SEO
+46% sessions
Home services & trades
Secourisme RCR Plus — SEO
+100% impressions · clicks steady
Education & training
Slynumber — Creator strategy & paid media
90K+ installs · 20K+ signups
Consumer apps & platforms
Soffite Fascia Montréal
143,856 impressions from near zero
Home services & trades
Solution Cimex
48 → 387 calls from ads
Home services & trades
Solutions Prox-Secur — SEO
565 → 5,195 clicks
B2B & SaaS
SOS Électricien Montréal — SEO
+17% clicks · +24% reach
Home services & trades
SOS Plombier Montréal
+263% organic sessions
Home services & trades
Sudipta Fitness
CPL $876.65 → $32.43
Health & medical
Texas JDM Motors
ROAS 6.97× → 13.61×
Automotive
The Farmer’s Dog — Performance creative & paid social
$20M+/yr · 70+ assets/mo
Food & beverage
The Online Exterminator — SEO
7,250 clicks · new market
Retail & e-commerce
Over 253x 5-star
reviews
"Their transparency, attention to detail, and collaborative approach made them feel like an extension of our own team."
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