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Marketing the Perfect Match

Vicki Shapiro (Comm'93) is vice president of marketing at , which serves the sales marketing needs for many of the world’s largest dating sites including Tinder, BLK, Chispa, Match and OkCupid. Shapiro has held the role since 2017 and lives in New York City.

What initially drew you to marketing as a career? 

I love the variety of being in marketing. For me, it never gets boring. I love working with different brands and helping find solutions for people to reach audiences in new, clever and meaningful ways. I’m using the creative side of my brain to come up with new things for different partners, and I think it keeps it really interesting.

How has the online dating industry changed over the last few years?

COVID actually brought about a lot of change in our industry. It fueled a lot of innovation because people were in lockdown. You couldn’t go out on dates. It sparked the video dating trend, and that has actually stuck. Surprisingly, a lot of people thought, ‘Oh, that will go away.’ But who wants to put makeup on for someone if you know it’s going to be a waste of time? Right? So I think that was something that changed for the better; more intentional dating.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I get to work with a vast array of partners. I may not be saving lives, but I am helping fuel the need for human connection. I think that’s inherent in everybody. We love love, and our team gets to spend time enhancing users’ experiences on these apps to help in the process of finding love. When you spend so much time at work, it has to be fulfilling and it has to be fun. And I think we get to do that.

Are there any specific marketing campaigns that stick out to you?

We did a fun Halloween activation with Peacock [streaming] and Tinder where we took over a cemetery in LA. We previewed a horror movie, and people could bring a date. It really brought to life the experience of a movie date in a graveyard at Halloween. And then we’ve done really simple things — for example, promoting the Valentine’s Day ‘Cardi B & Offset Meal’ at McDonald’s to our members because it makes for great date-night options.

Any advice for people who are online dating? 

When you’re writing your profile, it’s important to give people something to respond to. So if you say, ‘I love sushi,’ it doesn’t provoke a response; if you say, ‘I know the best sushi spot in New York,’ you will likely get asked what that is. Your picture should be smiling. Take off your sunglasses — no hats — and try to limit the amount of people in your photo so that they know who you are and it’s not a Where’s Waldo situation. And then I say put it all out there. If you are looking for long term, say you’re looking for long term. If you’re not sure, say you’re not sure. It has to be so authentic, and that’s when you’ll get the best results.