The Truth Behind the World’s Biggest LGBTQ+ Brand with the SVP, Brand Marketing of Grindr

In this episode, we are joined by the SVP of Brand Marketing and Communications at Grindr, Tristan Pineiro. Grindr is an online dating & meetup app predominantly used by gay and bisexual men and the trans & queer community. Tristan’s marketing philosophy is to understand and align the three brand truths - who you say you are, who people say you are, and who you really are. He emphasizes that finding the authentic, true brand narrative serves as the foundation for a successful marketing function 📈.

Throughout the episode, he advocates for a ‘social-led’ marketing discipline, which means that you create engaging content to drive brand affinity while focusing on insights around how the most engaged users actually use the product. He breaks down the mental models that he uses to get buy-in from leadership on brand positioning while balancing commercial realities with the brand's purpose. We also discuss how Grindr uses content to extend the brand’s story across different channels & markets 🌍. If you want to learn how your team’s content efforts can help in building an authentic yet differentiated brand, then this episode is for you!

Watch the video version of this podcast on Youtube ▶️: https://youtu.be/RjxLbD5yss8

📚 Chapters:

• (00:00:00) - Intro
• (00:05:32) - Why Barbie killed it 🌟
• (00:09:10) - What is Grindr 💡
• (00:11:45) - Grindr’s Positioning 🎯
• (00:13:30) - First 6 months as a CMO
• (00:21:15) - Differentiation: Grindr’s perspective 🔍
• (00:31:30) - Social-Led Marketing 🌐
• (00:42:09) - Strategy - the Art of Sacrifice 
• (00:43:35) - Lightning round ⚡
• (00:43:42) - Best Career Advice
• (00:44:24) - Marketing Pet Peeve
• (00:45:30) - One thing People Should do Differently

🖊️ Mentioned in the show:

• Favorite challenger brand - Mattel 
• Who’s the asshole podcast from Grindr 
• Stats wrap report about Gay culture - 
• Grindr partners with HIV testing company

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Eric Fulwiler, and he’s joined by Tristan Pineiro of Grindr in this episode

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn.

Find Eric on LinkedIn.

Find Tristan on LinkedIn.

Say hi at media@wearerival.com, we’d love to hear from you.

Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗 https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024