The story behind Hinge’s first audiobook campaign

Sometimes you have to see hear it to believe it.

For the third year in a row, the dating app Hinge is bringing back its “No Ordinary Love” campaign, which tells the stories of real-life couples who met on the platform. While past campaign stories were entirely in written formats, this year is all about audio, Tamika Young, chief marketing and communications officer at Hinge, told us.

It’s part of Hinge’s efforts to further target Gen Z daters by reaching them where they are. Last year, Hinge introduced a brand newsletter into the campaign that has also included physical books and zines; this year, the brand is adding an audiobook in response to younger audiences’ growing appetite for the medium.

“It’s a space where you’re able to tell deeper and more emotional stories,” Young said. “We wanted to expand in that format so we can tell those stories more widely.”

We spoke with Young about the campaign and why it’s going all-in on unconventional storytelling to reach younger audiences.

It’s a love story

This year’s iteration of “No Ordinary Love” is being released on platforms like Spotify and Libby and features stories by new and returning writers, including podcast co-host and Substack author Hunter Harris and Rufi Thorpe, author of the novel-turned-Apple TV series Margo’s Got Money Troubles. The overarching theme centers on the value of sharing feelings early on in dating, inspired in part by findings from Hinge’s 2025 Gen Z D.A.T.E. Report that found that many Gen Z singles share fears of rejection and judgment, according to Young.

The goal of the effort, she said, is to help “daters show up as themselves in this world of navigating different complexities.” On the brand side, Hinge is hoping to boost brand consideration metrics and shape brand perception, she told us.

To help promote the audiobook, Hinge created its first-ever audio ads, Young said, and is also running an OOH campaign in New York and London. The real-life couples whose stories are being told have recorded voiceovers that will be released on TikTok and Instagram, and they will provide epilogues at the end of each audiobook story, she added.

Because “No Ordinary Love” was inspired by the increasingly popular genre of romance literature, Young said it was important to keep the written component of the project, which can be found on the brand’s Substack. Week-over week engagement in the comments for each of last year’s story drops made it clear to Hinge that returning to the platform made sense.

“It was really incredible to see how well those stories resonated with our daters, but then also with other folks within the Substack community,” Young said.

Storytelling has become an increasingly key marketing tool for Hinge, which earlier this year released its “Can’t Believe We Met on Hinge” campaign that explored the meet-cutes of couples who met on the platform in video format. The campaign ran in movie theaters in response to Gen Z’s rising attendance there, Young said.

“We’re trying to be a bit more experimental and understand what is working for our audience,” she said, adding that “our priority is really understanding how daters are feeling seen and supported by our storytelling.”