Bumble

Adapt your tone.
Engage a new crowd.

Tone of Voice
Copywriting

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Headlines we wrote for a collab between Bumble and Uber Eats

The Bumble social team leaning into relatability

The Bumble UK team used our TOV guidelines to inform OOH campaigns

We wrote headlines and press release for a virtual dating campaign in lockdown

Hover over the images to learn more

Key Copy

Is that dog in your profile picture actually yours? Do you clap when a plane lands? How are you with overbearing mothers (in particular, mine)?
Human beings need connection like Brits need tea (read: especially in times of crisis).
Racing heart. Dry mouth. No, not a flashback to your driving test just a normal reaction when making the first move.

Sonder and Tell have been wonderful partners to the UK Bumble team and helped us craft our localised tone of voice guidelines. The whole process was enjoyable and has left us with guidelines which help us streamline our onboarding process for new joiners and agencies. It’s given us a way to ensure consistency across our comms.

– Naomi Walkland, Director EMEA Marketing

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The need for a localised tone of voice.

Bumble is a dating app with a clear mission: to help women make the first move. In dating and then in all areas of their lives.

But they were struggling to find the right tone with their UK market, yet keeping it consistent with the central brand.

So Sonder & Tell came on board to help Bumble UK find its voice. Through a set of tone of voice guidelines which refocused their language: think fewer bee puns, and more relatable British wit.

The Approach

A British girl’s best friend.

We took inspiration from Bumble’s community and based the UK tone of voice on a British girl’s best friend. The kind of person that keeps your confidence up with messages like “you’ve got it today!” and “go for it girl”.

She makes every move feel possible but she also makes it feel fun. She believes there’s joy that comes from making the first move, and she wants you to experience it for yourself.

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Keep making moves

“Is that dog in your profile picture actually yours? Do you clap when a plane lands? How are you with overbearing mothers (in particular, mine)?”

The tone of voice guidelines we put together for Bumble helped them find their voice in the UK dating scene. They’ve taken this on across all their platforms – from relatable social memes to big-splash OOH campaign.

We also helped support Bumble with campaign platforms, positioning documents for other markets and personality-driven press releases. You could say the TOV work was just the first move.