UNO brings its A game to Tinder

You know it, you've played it, you've even turned friends to foes over it. Yes, we're talking about the universally loved game — UNO. You know, the one that always helps reveal your WILD Side?

While it's a game everyone knows about, the internet isn't necessarily talking about it. So when challenged with the task of creating a digital presence for a classic game, UNO's marketing team decided give it an innovative twist.

It's not very often we see new platforms being explored for branded content, in fact, most brands are constantly fighting to stand out on the usual suspects: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

Mattel Games and Schbang, however, gave UNO a platform where users weren't just swiping aimlessly, but doing so with the actual intention to spark conversations. That's right, they made an UNO Tinder profile.

"Uno is a classic game but now has new features which even most UNO enthusiasts are unaware of. In addition, internet talkability is minimal so it became evident to us that we needed to do something out of the box to drive conversations around CWO. We were thinking of the various platforms our audiences are present on- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube but we felt they were already rife with other brands at a high content velocity. Therefore, we decided to explore Tinder, where you can actually get the user's attention...It appears that the pursuit of love can do that to people! Rarely does it happen that the platform helps form the idea, but it was very clear to us in this case,” said Lokesh Kataria, Head of Marketing, Mattel India.

Once the plan was made, things were quick to get into motion.

"The idea was simple really, put up a Tinder Profile for CWO, with quirky profile pictures and a creative bio that speaks to Tinder's audience and then wait for the magic to begin! But honestly there wasn’t much of a wait, within the first 5 minutes, we already had over 25 matches and a message box filled with chats, proving our game was strong! Now if you're actually a game, what else do you want? From there on it was just about keeping it creative. Rarely do users initiate conversations and having engineered a way to do that, we went all out with our responses! And hook, line and sinker, it worked like a charm!" said Akshay Gurnani, CEO, Schbang Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

UNO's Tinder profile got over 850 matches in the span of one week and the responses from the audience were nothing short of creative, with everyone upping their word play game. UNO, with its gender fluid personality reached out to both men and women. And it all finally came together with UNO inviting users to 'come over' to Doolally on Saturday, the 29th of September through a Facebook event link — which also got hundreds of responses.

People were more than interested in this event and there was an enthusiastic bunch ready for a wild evening! The event started with the host, Zeenia Kolah, introducing the audience to UNO's new features and then dividing them into smaller groups of 4-5 players. The place was filled with the sound of cheers, arguments, laughter, and of course, everyone was screaming one name the loudest — UNO!

The winners of these groups then went on to competing against each other. All the participants received a cool UNO t-shirt, some won a pack of UNO's latest addition and the ultimate winner, Shalin Bhansali, received an exciting Mattel Games hamper!

Simplicity and relevance is how brands stand out and through this simple activation, we established UNO's playful personality, drove product understanding, sparked organic engagement and even enabled a physical meet up, all by utilising Tinder.

All in all, the brand stayed true to the platform and then did what UNO does best — brought strangers together (and maybe even turned friends to foes). But what's most important is, everyone left with a smile on their face and an evening to remember.

So going by the rules of the game, sounds like UNO certainly won this round!