As India continues to unlock, Bumble, the women’s first social networking app, has installed socially remote benches at different locations in Bengaluru and Goa. Bumble’s yellow benches, with two seats positioned six feet apart at each end, were launched to promote a cleaner, healthier, and socially distanced meetings. Even though 2020 has been an extraordinary year, putting our lives to an end in several respects – redefining dating rules, navigating interactive and emotionally distanced dating etiquettes, and diverse approaches to partnerships in this new setting.
Dating during COVID has become increasingly ‘virtual-based,’ particularly when the world enters a global lockdown. For a long time, face-to-face gatherings were prohibited to avoid the outbreak of the pandemic. However, as the world starts to return to a new degree of normality, dating sites are developing new ways to get users back to face-to-face again.
Many observers claim that virtual dating and video dates would be popular in the future. The Match.com study showed that 70 percent of singles attempted video dating relative to the extremely poor pre-COVID acceptance rate. Although it is generally agreed that this rate of adoption will be smaller as people will begin to openly connect in person, video dating will not only go down but will also become part of the ‘Getting to Know You’ phase, building stronger and more lasting relationships.
Bumble’s bench is a clear example of an innovative marketing campaign that genuinely accepts the realities of the moment. It is also a perfect reminder that the best marketing right now is not marketing that has a long history of normality or pretends that the truth of the COVID-19 pandemic is not occurring. It also shows how to sell an internet commodity in a tangible, offline manner.
